Ethereum Unveils Massive Staking Plans: 70,000 $ETH to Hit The Network

The Ethereum Foundation is putting 70,000 ETH to work. In a blog post published February 24, the organization confirmed it has begun staking a portion of its treasury, starting with an initial deposit of 2,016 ETH. The full 70,000 ETH allocation, worth roughly $128 million at current prices, will roll out over the coming weeks. All staking rewards flow straight back into the Foundation's treasury to fund protocol research, ecosystem grants, and core development.

The move follows the Foundation's Treasury Policy announced last year and marks the first time the EF is actively earning yield on its ETH holdings rather than letting them sit idle.

Why Is the Ethereum Foundation Staking Now?

For years, the Foundation funded operations primarily through periodic ETH sales. Those sell-offs regularly drew criticism from the community and occasionally added selling pressure during rough market conditions. By staking instead, the EF creates a recurring revenue stream without dumping tokens on the open market.

At the current staking yield of approximately 2.8–3%, depending on network conditions (based on CoinDesk's Composite Ether Staking Rate), the 70,000 ETH position could generate an estimated $3.6 million per year in native, ETH-denominated rewards. That is not enough to cover the Foundation's full budget, but it meaningfully reduces the need for treasury sales.

According to Arkham Intelligence data, the EF currently holds around 172,650 ETH plus an additional 10,000 WETH. The Foundation's broader treasury policy targets annual spending of roughly 15% of its reserves while maintaining a 2.5-year operational runway. The approach is counter-cyclical: spend more during downturns, conserve during bull markets.

What Does the Technical Setup Look Like?

The Foundation chose open-source validator tools built by infrastructure firm Attestant. The setup is designed around resilience and decentralization rather than convenience.

• Dirk acts as a distributed signer, spreading operations across multiple geographic regions to eliminate single points of failure.
• Vouch coordinates multiple Beacon Client and Execution Client pairings with configurable strategies to protect against client diversity risks.
• The infrastructure uses minority clients combined with hosted services and self-managed hardware spread across several countries.
• Blocks are built locally rather than relying on proposer-builder separation (PBS) sidecars.

The validators use Type 2 (0x02) withdrawal credentials, which offer some practical advantages. With a maximum effective balance of 2,048 ETH per validator, the number of required signing keys drops to roughly 35 for the entire allocation. These credentials also allow validator balances to be moved between accounts and enable exits even if validators go offline.

By choosing solo staking with minority clients and distributed infrastructure, the Foundation is putting itself through the same friction and operational challenges every other validator faces. That gives the team firsthand experience with the platform's economic realities.

How Does This Fit the Bigger Picture?

The timing is notable. ETH has been under pressure, trading around $1,830 after a steep decline from above $3,300 in mid-January. Meanwhile, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has sold roughly 10,723 ETH since early February, worth approximately $7 million, as part of his pledge to fund open-source projects. Between Foundation sales and Buterin's liquidations, market sentiment has faced headwinds.

The staking announcement flips that narrative, at least partially. Instead of selling, the Foundation is now locking up ETH and contributing to network security. For a community that has long pushed the EF to stake its holdings, this is a direct response.

Beyond staking, the Foundation's updated treasury policy also allows selective participation in vetted DeFi protocols and exploration of tokenized real-world assets like U.S. Treasuries. The goal is a diversified approach to treasury management that balances sustainability with Ethereum-aligned values like decentralization and open-source access.

What Should You Take Away?

The Foundation staking 70,000 ETH is not going to single-handedly change Ethereum's market dynamics. It represents roughly 0.06% of the total circulating supply. But the signal matters. The largest non-profit steward of the Ethereum ecosystem is now actively participating in consensus, generating yield on-chain, and showing the community it is willing to commit capital rather than just spend it.

The first validators are already live. The rest will follow in the coming weeks. If the setup works as designed, it establishes a template for how large treasuries can engage with proof-of-stake networks responsibly, with transparency, technical rigor, and a focus on decentralization.

Sources:

• Ethereum Foundation Blog Official announcement of the Treasury Staking Initiative with full technical details on validator setup and withdrawal credentials.
• CoinDesk Reporting on the staking launch, including CESR yield data and Arkham Intelligence treasury figures.
• Blockonomi Breakdown of Attestant tooling (Dirk and Vouch), Type 2 credentials, and the Foundation's new DeFi team.
• Stocktwits / Prabhjote Gill Context on Vitalik Buterin's recent ETH sales alongside the Foundation staking news.