Ethereum Foundation Unstaked 21,271 ETH on May 11, Withdrawing 30% of Its 70,000 ETH Stake

The Ethereum Foundation unstaked 21,271 ETH on May 11, a move described by Cryptopolitan as withdrawing 30% of the 70,000 ETH staking position the foundation built.

“New treasury activity from the Ethereum [ETH] Foundation has fueled a new conversation”

AMBCrypto

AMBCrypto said the foundation “recently unstaked21,270 ETH,” noting it was nearly 30% of the 70,000 ETH it had recently committed to staking.

AMBCrypto

DigitalToday reported that Arkham Intelligence detected the unstaking and that NS3.AI put the foundation’s balance at 103,731 ETH after the withdrawal.

CoinGape framed the event as raising selloff concerns, saying the unstaking was “about $50 million worth of ETH on Monday, May 11,” while also stating ETH price “remained resilient around the $2,300 level.”

DigitalToday tied the reaction to a policy shift, saying that in June 2025 the foundation changed its treasury policy to shift focus from repeated token sales to generating returns through staking and decentralised finance.

DigitalToday also said the foundation had sold 10,000 ETH to BitMine Immersion Technologies via an over-the-counter (OTC) transaction earlier this month, and that combined with the latest unstaking it had moved more than 31,000 ETH from its staking or holding position.

Blockonomi

AMBCrypto added that the market reaction earlier this week was linked more closely to the Ethereum Foundation’s separate sale of 10,000 ETH rather than the unstaking itself.

On X, DigitalToday quoted crypto analyst kirbycrypto saying: "The Ethereum Foundation Does It Again! Just one month after staking 70,000 ETH, the EF has un-staked 21,270 ETH or 30% of original stake."

Multiple outlets framed the key question as where the unstaked ETH goes next, with Cryptopolitan saying traders and analysts would watch on-chain data for movements of the unstaked ETH to exchange wallets or routing through OTC desks.

AMBCrypto similarly warned that if the funds stay inside treasury-related wallets concerns could ease, but that movement towards exchanges would likely increase fears of selling in the near term.

CoinGape said Arkham Intelligence showed the 21,271 ETH was cashed out via Lido and that the transfers were deposited into Lido’s unstETH contract, shifting the foundation’s ETH balance to roughly 52,965 ETH.

Traders Union said the foundation had not issued a separate public statement at the time of publication and that the move had little immediate impact because traders viewed it as routine treasury management rather than a signal of imminent market selling.