The Ethereum Foundation unstaked $49.6 million worth of ETH from the Ethereum blockchain. According to on-chain data, the ETH was unstaked through the Lido Staking Protocol, a leading Ethereum staking network.
Ethereum Foundation unstakes almost $50 million ETH
Blockchain intelligence firm Arkham found that the Ethereum Foundation had pulled out almost $50 million worth of ETH from the Ethereum network. The development sparked rumors about a potential ETH sell-off, which can further deteriorate the already fragile market sentiment.
According to the following screenshot from Arkham Intelligence, the Ethereum Foundation unstaked the ETH through multiple transactions worth $2.3 million each, with one smaller transaction of $631,000.
Although the Ethereum Foundation has not said what it plans to do with the freshly unstaked ETH, such developments tend to raise concerns amongst traders, however it should be emphasized that unstaking does not necessarily mean that a large-scale sell-off is looming. Sometimes, it can be used just for operational costs, ecosystem grants, internal treasury strategies, and deployment into other on-chain strategies.
For the uninitiated, the Ethereum Foundation is the organization behind the Ethereum protocol. Among other key functions, it funds protocol research, developer initiatives, and network upgrades.
ETH traders on alert over the development
Crypto traders on X showed a rather cautious attitude toward the Ethereum Foundation’s move to unstake such a significant amount of ETH from the protocol.
For instance, Merlijn The Trader compared the development to a contrasting move back in February 2026, when the entity had staked $46 million worth of ETH on the protocol. He suggested that the market is likely to react negatively to the news.
Despite the bearish development, the overall trend of the amount of ETH being staked on the protocol continues to remain upwards. The following chart shows the proportion of ETH that’s staked on the network, currently eyeing the 40 million mark.
Meanwhile, several other developments show that both institutional and retail confidence in Ethereum remains robust. For example, Tom Lee’s Bitmine recently scooped another 10,000 ETH from the Ethereum Foundation.
Similarly, trading activity on Ethereum remains strong, as Uniswap recently recorded $3 trillion in all-time volume on the Ethereum mainnet. On the contrary, exchange data shows that large ETH whales may be preparing to offload some ETH amid rising market uncertainty.
