Ethereum Foundation unstakes 21,271 ETH worth $49.6 million, withdrawing 30% of staked ETH

The Ethereum Foundation has today unstaked 21,271 ETH, valued at roughly $49.66 million, according to on-chain data from Arkham Intelligence. This is the second large liquidity event by the foundation in a space of only two weeks, with more than one-third of its built-up 70,000 ETH stake removed.

This move is one that has been met with uncertainty by the broader crypto community, as it does little to reinforce the Ethereum Foundation’s belief in Ethereum.

Ethereum Foundation’s policy rollercoaster

The Ethereum Foundation spent the first four months of 2026 building up its staked position in Ethereum. It deposited 2,016 ETH in February, 22,517 ETH in March (its largest single-day Beacon Chain deposit at the time, according to Cryptopolitan’s prior coverage), and a final batch in April that brought the total amount of ETH staked to 70,000 ETH, a target first announced earlier in the year.

That staking campaign in itself was a policy shift from what the Ethereum Foundation had been well known for. For years, the foundation funded its operations by selling ETH on the open market, a practice that drew persistent criticism from the community. However, a pivot toward generating yield through staking and DeFi rather than repeated token sales was agreed upon in a June 2025 policy update, as previously reported by Cryptopolitan.

This latest unstaking reverses roughly 30% of that accumulated position over months in ONE single transaction. On-chain tracker NS3.AI pegged the foundation’s current balance at 103,731 ETH after the withdrawal.

Not the first large withdrawal this month

Earlier in May, the Ethereum Foundation sold 10,000 ETH to BitMine Immersion Technologies via an OTC transaction. This, combined with the unstaking, brings the amount of ETH moved by the foundation off its staked or held positions to more than 31,000 ETH.

The foundation’s own treasury policy states that it calculates how far its assets have moved away from an internally known buffer target over a period of time, which then determines how much ETH to sell off over the following quarter. Conversions are said to “typically” fund research, foundation operations, and ecosystem grants.

It is worth knowing that unstaking does not automatically mean selling. Organizations rebalance portfolios and reposition assets for a range of reasons. It is, however, unsurprising that the speed and scale of this month’s actions have drawn scrutiny, especially seeing as the 70,000 ETH staking goal was completed only weeks ago.

Crypto community reacts

Crypto Twitter lit up within minutes of the on-chain alert, with most people responding negatively.

Crypto analyst kirbycrypto noted on X that the foundation had unstaked 30% of its original 70,000 ETH position barely a month after completing it, calling the timeline into question.

The Ethereum Foundation Does It Again!

Just one month after staking 70,000 ETH, the EF has un-staked 21,270 ETH or 30% of original stake.

Timeline:
Jan 20, 2025: EF Exploring Staking Options
June 4, 2025: Introduces Treasury Policy
“Core deployments are re-evaluated… https://t.co/lSpIsty9e0 pic.twitter.com/fyTdQNfwnJ

— kirbycrypto (@kirbyongeo) May 11, 2026

Multiple community members mentioned that ETH is already under pressure due to repeated whale transfers to exchanges and a growing weakness in the ETH/BTC pair.

The community is unsure if the crypto market will remain stable in the face of large-scale selloffs and withdrawals from institutional wallets.

Traders and analysts will be watching on-chain data for movements of the unstaked ETH to exchange wallets or routing through OTC desks. ETH was trading at approximately $2,331 at the time of the unstaking, up from around $2,050 when the foundation completed its April staking push.

ETH is currently trading at $2,336.85 as at the time of writing.