The Ethereum Foundation has initiated the staking of 70,000 ETH from its treasury, starting with a deposit of 2,016 ETH on Tuesday. The staking rewards will be reinvested into the foundation's treasury to support protocol research, ecosystem development, and grants programs. This move aligns with the foundation's treasury policy announced in June 2025, which emphasizes actively deploying treasury assets to generate returns while supporting Ethereum's decentralized finance ecosystem.
To execute the staking initiative, the foundation is using open-source infrastructure developed by Bitwise's Attestant, including the Dirk and Vouch tools. Dirk acts as a distributed key signer, splitting validator operations across multiple jurisdictions to prevent single points of failure. Vouch coordinates validator client operations as part of the staking setup. The foundation's configuration includes minority clients and a mix of hosted infrastructure and self-managed hardware across various jurisdictions, addressing concerns about concentration in Ethereum's validator set.
Chris Berry, head of Ethereum on-chain engineering at Bitwise Onchain Solutions, highlighted that Vouch and Dirk were designed to fulfill the duties of an honest validator with an emphasis on client diversity, non-custodial control, and compliance. Berry noted that the properties align with Ethereum's core values and that the foundation's adoption reflects confidence in the implementation. Around 30% of the total Ethereum supply is currently staked, with liquid staking protocols and large custodians like Lido and Coinbase controlling a substantial share of validators and voting power.
Separately, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has sold 10,723 ETH since early February to finance open-source software, hardware, and biotech projects. Both the foundation's staking deployment and Buterin's capital allocation aim to direct Ethereum ecosystem resources toward long-term development goals.