William Mougayar Defends Ethereum Foundation After Criticism Over ETH Sales And Unstaking

Blockchain researcher William Mougayar defended the Ethereum Foundation after months of criticism over ETH sales, unstaking activity, and limited public communication.

“Source: William Mougayar The post comes as the foundation has faced a wave of criticism from the crypto community in recent months”

Cointelegraph

In an essay titled “Leave the Foundation Alone,” Mougayar wrote: “It is not a corporation. It was never intended to be one.”

Cointelegraph

Mougayar argued that critics misread the Ethereum Foundation by treating it like a marketing team, and he said the group serves the protocol rather than ETH’s market price.

He also urged distinguishing between three different entities—ETH as a cryptocurrency, Ethereum as the infrastructure, and EF as the organization—saying conflating these concepts leads to “erroneous forecasts.”

The defense comes as the Foundation faces questions over its treasury activity, including recent Foundation sales to BitMine totaling 25,000 ETH across three OTC deals.

crypto.news reported that the Foundation sold 10,000 ETH to BitMine on May 1 at an average price of $2,292 per ETH, following another 10,000 ETH sale one week earlier and a 5,000 ETH sale in March priced at $2,042.96 per ETH.

crypto.news

On April 26, crypto.news reported that the Foundation unstaked 17,035.326 ETH, worth about $40 million, shortly after moving close to a 70,000 ETH staking target.

On May 12, another report said the Foundation withdrew 21,270 ETH from Lido staking, placing the funds into Ethereum’s withdrawal queue while the unstaking process runs.

Mougayar said the Foundation is on a path of “Self-Diminishment,” aiming to become less significant to the ecosystem over time rather than increasing its control over it.

“William Mougayar Defends Ethereum Foundation Against Community Criticism William Mougayar defends Ethereum Foundation, emphasizing its intended role”

ForkLog

He compared community expectations of the Ethereum Foundation to expecting the IETF to buy advertising slots for the TCP/IP protocol during the Super Bowl, and he said it is “hardening the protocol so the world does not need it so much.”

Cointelegraph reported that Mougayar framed the Foundation’s work as shipping upgrades and funding research that nobody else funds, while ForkLog said he rejected the idea that the Foundation should act like a marketing team for ETH.

In the same debate, crypto.news described Mougayar’s view that ETH sales keep drawing questions, but that the Foundation’s core argument is funding protocol research and work others may not support.