In a landmark move, the Ethereum Foundation has officially started staking a portion of its treasury holdings, with plans to lock up around 70,000 ETH in total. This shift — from selling ETH to fund operations, to earning yield through staking — marks a fundamental change in how the foundation manages its resources.
What Happened
The Ethereum Foundation announced on February 24, 2026 that it had begun staking Ethereum under its updated treasury policy, making an initial deposit of 2,016 ETH. The plan is to stake a total of approximately 70,000 ETH, with all staking rewards flowing back into the foundation's treasury to support protocol research, ecosystem development, and community grants.
To carry out the initiative, the foundation is using open-source tools — Dirk and Vouch — developed by Bitwise's Attestant. Dirk acts as a distributed signer enabling validator operations across multiple jurisdictions, while Vouch coordinates validator management as part of the foundation's staking infrastructure.
At current prices, the full 70,000 ETH commitment represents roughly $128 million locked into validators rather than being sold on the open market. The foundation sold approximately 36,000 ETH throughout 2025 via decentralized exchanges, which triggered repeated criticism from the Ethereum community over transparency and sell pressure.
Why It Matters (Educational Insight)
Staking is one of Ethereum's core features since its transition to Proof-of-Stake in 2022. When you stake ETH, you lock it up as collateral to help validate transactions on the network. In return, validators earn rewards — essentially a yield on their staked holdings.
What's significant about the Ethereum Foundation's decision is the philosophical shift it represents. Previously, the foundation funded its operations primarily by periodically selling ETH from its treasury — a practice that sparked community debate and occasional market panic. Now, by earning staking rewards instead, the foundation:
Reduces sell pressure on ETH (fewer tokens sold on the open market).Aligns its financial interests with the health of the Ethereum network — if ETH does well, the foundation earns more rewards.confidence in Ethereum's long-term roadmap.Strengthens network security by adding more validators.
Currently around 36 million ETH are already staked, and the foundation's contribution adds roughly 0.2% to that total — a small but symbolically meaningful addition from the organization that oversees the protocol.
Key Takeaways
The Ethereum Foundation has begun staking ~70,000 ETH from its treasury, starting with an initial 2,016 ETH deposit made on February 24, 2026.All staking rewards will be directed back to fund protocol research, development, and community grants — replacing a reliance on controversial ETH sales.The move uses decentralized, open-source staking infrastructure (Dirk & Vouch), reflecting the foundation's commitment to decentralization.This is expected to reduce recurring ETH sell pressure, as the foundation earns yield rather than liquidating holdings.The timing is notable — the announcement came as ETH trades near $1,820, down roughly 38% over the past month, making the foundation's long-term commitment particularly meaningful to the community.
#ethstaking #EthereumFoundation #ProofOfStake #blockchaineducation #Write2Earn