The Ethereum Basis transferred $654 million in ETH to a pockets sometimes used for gross sales. A liquidation of that measurement might transfer token markets when it occurs.
The group has been speculating concerning the Basis’s plans, however the scenario is unclear. Circumstantial proof leads some analysts to consider {that a} portion of those funds will go to underpaid veteran builders.
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Ethereum Basis Prepares Sale
Arkham Intelligence is a formidable presence in on-chain evaluation, discovering main reserves of neglected belongings and figuring out market-moving transactions.
Immediately, the platform made one other such discovery, because the Ethereum Basis transferred over $650 million in ETH tokens.
THE ETHEREUM FOUNDATION JUST TRANSFERRED $650M $ETH
The Ethereum Basis simply transferred $654M of ETH to a pockets used for promoting previously.
This pockets has solely made vital transfers to:
Kraken Deposit
SharpLink Gaming
A Multisig that sells ETH pic.twitter.com/hqdQINzx0P
— Arkham (@arkham) October 21, 2025
Within the final month, the Ethereum Basis has bought small quantities of ETH and financially supported impartial DeFi tasks, however each transfers had been below $10 million.
Immediately, nevertheless, is a a lot bigger switch. This has naturally spurred lots of hypothesis; assuming that the Basis needs to promote these tokens, why is it doing so?
For instance, the Ethereum Basis made a serious sale final month to fund analysis and growth, however that switch was 16 instances smaller than at present’s. ETH’s value and blockchain infrastructure have each confronted actual crises not too long ago, and a token dump might solely exacerbate issues. To date, at the very least, this switch hasn’t moved token values a lot.
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A Nest Egg for Builders?
A protracted-brewing disaster on the Ethereum Basis may assist clarify this impending sale. After months of clashes with the Geth crew, veteran developer Péter Szilágyi not too long ago resigned, claiming that the EF severely underpaid its core builders.
For instance, Szilágyi claimed that he earned $625,000 earlier than taxes throughout his first six years on the Ethereum Basis. Throughout this time, he noticed ETH’s market cap go from zero to $450 billion.
A number of group commentators bitterly criticized this sample, particularly in gentle of the upcoming sale.
Nonetheless, though this developer resigned two days in the past, a present Co-Government Director on the Ethereum Basis responded to his complaints this afternoon. He struck an apologetic tone, claiming that “all of you [veteran builders] are underpaid for the value that you brought.”
Possibly typically we overlook why we made some decisions, why we pushed so arduous, what choices we had, why we rejected alternatives.
Peter began contributing to Geth in 2015. I began writing Nethermind codebase in 2017. Nethermind was bootstrapped, by no means received any VC cash, was… https://t.co/0fX2IFiJcu
— Tomasz Ok. Stańczak (@tkstanczak) October 21, 2025
Who is aware of, then? Hopefully, the Basis can use a few of this Ethereum to correctly compensate its devoted builders. The challenge employs an enormous variety of specialists, in spite of everything, lots of whom might’ve made tens of millions working elsewhere in Web3.
Even when solely a fraction of the $650 million went to this, it’d be life-changing, and an actual publicity coup apart from.
To be clear, although, all of that is hypothesis. Well timed messages of remorse apart, we don’t have any concrete inclination to consider that the Ethereum Basis is getting ready nest egg payouts to its builders.
Assuming that this sale does happen, we’ll have to control ETH markets and assess the long-term affect.
