Over the last three days, the Ethereum Foundation has shaken up the market by selling off 500 ETH. The organization has reportedly offloaded $10 million worth of Ethereum this year in separate events.
Despite the sales, Ethereum’s price is relatively stable in the short term but concerns grow for the market reaction in the longer term. Meanwhile, the community looks to Vitalik Buterin for clarification about the sales.
The Ethereum Foundation sells 200 ETH three days after selling 300 ETH
Just three days after offloading 300 ETH on the market, the Ethereum Foundation has reportedly sold off another 200 ETH for around $528,000. The sell-off happened over 2 transactions of 100 ETH each, with an inflow of 264K DAI from each sale.
Per Arkham‘s dashboard, the Ethereum Foundation now has a portfolio of $721.5 million, with $719.2 million in ETH.
Stop jeeting bro @VitalikButerin
The #Ethereum Foundation sold 200 ETH ($528K) just now. pic.twitter.com/N0bb3OzLIM
— ᴠ x ɴ 🐺 (@VXN_618) September 23, 2024
According to Spot on Chain, the organization behind Ethereum offloaded its holdings at an “alarming” rate in September. So far, the foundation has reportedly sold 1,150 ETH worth around $2.8 million this month. On September 20, the foundation sold 300 ETH for 763K DAI. The total sales for this year now inch towards $10 million as the non-profits sell 3,566 ETH in 2024.
The effect of the sale on ETH price has not been immediately apparent. Per CoinGecko, Ether has gained around 3% on the daily charts and close to 15% on a weekly basis.
A crypto commentator on X speculates that the Ethereum Foundation is selling ETH to manage volatility by buying DAI. At the same time, critics have been questioning the foundation’s spending transparency. Ethereum Foundation’s Josh Stark previously clarified that the foundation will soon release a report covering its spending in 2022 and 2023.
Stark noted that around 62% of the EF budget went to external grants, while 38% was for internal teams like Geth, PSE, and Solidity.
On-chain netflows paint a bearish picture
Lately, Vitalik Buterin has been interacting with the community on Ethereum scalability and a rollup-centric roadmap. The community has been seeking an explanation from Buterin about the foundation’s recent sales as well.
Their questions come at a time when concerns about the price of Ether are mounting. Cryptopolitan reported that two major Ethereum whales moved their funds into multiple CEXs.
According to IntoTheBlock’s on-chain netflows, more selling pressure might be incoming for the second-largest crypto by market cap. The 24-hour netflow stands at 16.05K ETH, indicating more ETH has been added to exchanges. This could mean increased selling pressure if investors liquidate their holdings.
The 7-day change is also positive at 3.26k ETH. The 30-day on-chain flows were negative at 9.83k ETH, which indicated potentially growing demand, which has now reversed.
Any major sales by an Ethereum whale or the foundation itself is considered bad news for its price.
The foundation and Buterin have repeatedly maintained that the sales are not to realize profits but to develop the Ethereum ecosystem.
