Ethereum foundation ramps up ETH staking after $10M BitMine OTC transaction

The Ethereum Foundation is picking up the pace on its staking push, and Monday’s on-chain activity made that clear.

On-chain data from Arkham Intelligence showed the foundation’s treasury wallet making 11 separate deposits into the Ethereum Beacon Deposit Contract, which is essentially the gateway through which ETH is locked up to help run and secure the Ethereum network. 

Each deposit came in at roughly 2,047 ETH, bringing the total for the day to 22,517 ETH, worth approximately $46.2 million. It’s the foundation’s largest single staking move to date.

The staking program itself kicked off back in February, when the foundation made its first deposit of 2,016 ETH and announced plans to eventually put 70,000 ETH to work as validators on the network. Rewards generated from staking would be recycled back into the treasury to help fund protocol research, ecosystem development and community grants.

The idea, broadly speaking, is to shift away from selling ETH to cover expenses, a practice that has drawn its share of criticism from the community over the years, and toward a model where the treasury generates its own income.

A smaller 31 ETH deposit was also made earlier this month, putting the foundation’s total staked holdings at around 24,564 ETH. Monday’s deployment moved that number substantially higher, suggesting the foundation is now actively accelerating rather than trickling into the plan.

The BitMine Deal That Came Just Before

The staking surge followed closely on the heels of a separate treasury transaction. The Ethereum Foundation sold 5,000 ETH to BitMine Immersion Technologies in an over-the-counter, or OTC deal, at an average price of $2,042.96 per ETH, placing the deal’s total value at roughly $10.2 million. 

The foundation said the proceeds would go toward core operations, covering protocol research and development, ecosystem growth initiatives and community grants.

OTC deals like this are notable precisely because they avoid public exchanges. Rather than selling on a platform like Coinbase or Binance, where a large order can move the market and trigger community alarm, the foundation negotiates directly with a buyer at an agreed price. Less disruption, more control.

It was the foundation’s second OTC sale to a corporate buyer. The first was a 10,000 ETH sale to SharpLink Gaming in July 2025. BitMine, for its part, is not a small player. The company trades on the NYSE American under the ticker BMNR and is chaired by Tom Lee, co-founder of research firm Fundstrat. BitMine holds more than 4.5 million ETH, making it one of the largest corporate Ether holders in the world, running a strategy similar to what MicroStrategy built around Bitcoin.

ETH Price Adds Context to the Timing

It’s worth noting that all of this is happening while Ether’s price is under pressure. ETH slipped below $2,000 over the weekend. However, Ethereum currently trades at $2,053, at the time of writing. Demand for ETH has also reportedly hit its lowest point in 16 months, according to data from Capriole Investments.

Against that backdrop, the foundation’s decision to accelerate staking rather than pull back could be read as a show of confidence in the network’s long-term trajectory, or simply as disciplined treasury management regardless of short-term price swings.

If the full 70,000 ETH target is eventually reached, annualized staking rewards are estimated to come in at around $259 million, enough to sustain operations well into the future without needing to rely on periodic asset sales.That kind of financial runway, if realized, would mark a meaningful shift in how the foundation funds itself and its work on one of the world’s most widely used blockchain networks.