The Ethereum Foundation has surpassed a significant milestone in its previously announced staking plan. With the latest transactions, the foundation has almost reached its target of approximately 70,000 ETH, staking a total of approximately $143 million worth of ETH.
In the latest transactions on Thursday, approximately $93 million worth of ETH was staked in multiple transactions. According to on-chain data, these transfers were sent from the foundation's multisig treasury to the Eth2 Beacon Chain contract. This final addition of 45,034 ETH was divided into equal parts of approximately 2,047 ETH each. This brings the foundation's total staked holdings to approximately 69,500 ETH. Following the plan announced in February, the foundation has been progressing gradually, initially staking 2,016 ETH, and then adding approximately 20,470 ETH earlier in the week. With this latest transaction, the target level has been almost reached in a single go. As is known, the Ethereum Foundation's operations have been criticized for some time. This is because its sales-based financing model sometimes created panic in the market. In previous years, the foundation regularly sold ETH to cover its operational expenses, and this approach was criticized for putting pressure on the market. In the new model, instead of selling assets, the goal is to generate income through staking.
What will the return be?
Based on current staking rates, the foundation is expected to generate approximately $3.9 million to $5.4 million in annual returns from this position. Considering that institutional staking returns range from 2.7% to 3.8%, this income, while not covering the entirety of the foundation's approximately $100 million annual expenses, provides a significant contribution. Furthermore, it is stated that this return could be further increased with additional mechanisms such as MEV-boost.
The most important advantage of this model for the foundation is that the assets do not remain "idle." Staking contributes to network security and generates passive income. This means more sustainable treasury management in the long term. At the same time, it becomes possible to finance operations without creating selling pressure on the market.
However, the staking program is not yet finalized. The foundation still holds more than 100,000 ETH that has not been staked. There has been no clear statement on whether these assets will be staked in the future or held as liquid reserves. This indicates that the foundation wants to maintain its flexibility.
According to on-chain data, the foundation's total portfolio size is approximately $270 million. The majority of this portfolio consists of approximately 102,400 ETH, while smaller amounts of USDC, BNB, and a limited amount of Bitcoin are also included.
The Ethereum price was trading at approximately $2,059 during the period when staking operations took place. With a pullback of approximately 4% in the last week, ETH continues its volatile course with macroeconomic market conditions and weakness in general risk appetite.
