The organisation that built Ethereum keeps selling it. The company that wants to be the “Strategy of Ethereum” keeps buying it. And the community is getting frustrated with both.
On May 1, the Ethereum Foundation sold 10,000 ETH to Bitmine Immersion Technologies at an average price of $2,292 per coin. That is $22.9 million in a single transaction. It was the third sale to the same buyer in less than six weeks. The combined total across all three deals: roughly $47 million.
The Foundation says the money funds research, development, grants, and community programmes. Bitmine says it is building the largest Ethereum treasury in the world. Both are telling the truth. And both are making parts of the Ethereum community very uncomfortable.
How Much Has the Foundation Sold?
Three OTC deals to Bitmine in quick succession. March: 5,000 ETH at $2,043. April 24: 10,000 ETH at $2,387. May 1: 10,000 ETH at $2,292. Total: 25,000 ETH worth roughly $47 million.
On top of that, the Foundation unstaked 17,035 ETH worth about $40 million last week. It had been working toward a goal of staking 70,000 ETH. The unstaking suggests the Foundation is pulling back from that target to free up more tokens for sale.
The Foundation’s total treasury sits at roughly 92,538 ETH, about $214 million at current prices. Under its published policy, it spends about 15% of its treasury per year and keeps a 2.5-year operating runway. At that rate, regular sales are expected. But $47 million in two weeks feels faster than most community members expected.
Why Is the Community Upset?
One user summed it up perfectly: “Why do you need $46 million in 2 weeks?! How much are you guys burning and what for? Why is no one from the devs taking ETH directly as payment?!”
That frustration has three layers.
First, it looks bad. The organisation that created Ethereum keeps selling ETH while the price is down 53% from its all-time high. If the Foundation does not want to hold its own token, why should anyone else?
Second, it feels contradictory. The Foundation was staking ETH and telling the community that long-term commitment matters. Then it unstaked 17,035 ETH and sold 25,000 ETH to the same buyer in six weeks. The actions do not match the messaging.
Third, the sales are all going to one buyer. Bitmine is not just any company. It is the largest corporate holder of Ethereum on the planet. Selling exclusively to Bitmine, deal after deal, creates an impression of a special relationship that the community did not sign up for.
The Foundation has pushed back on this criticism before. Last year, it said it planned to limit sales. That promise lasted about nine months.
Who Is Bitmine and Why Are They Buying Everything?
Bitmine Immersion Technologies trades on the NYSE under ticker BMNR. Its chairman is Tom Lee, the Fundstrat co-founder who is one of the most well-known bulls on Wall Street. The company is doing for Ethereum what Strategy does for Bitcoin: buying as much as possible, holding it, and staking it.
Bitmine now holds roughly 5.08 million ETH, worth over $11.7 billion at current prices. That is about 3.8% of all Ethereum in existence. No other company comes close. The next largest corporate holder has less than a quarter of Bitmine’s stack.
Here is what makes Bitmine different from Strategy. Strategy buys Bitcoin and sits on it. There is no yield. Bitmine buys Ethereum and stakes 83% of it. That means 4.19 million ETH, worth roughly $9.5 billion, is locked into Ethereum’s proof-of-stake system earning rewards. At a 2.8% to 3.5% yield, that generates over $200 million per year in staking revenue.
The staking income effectively subsidises the cost of buying more ETH. Strategy needs Bitcoin’s price to go up to survive. Bitmine generates cash flow regardless of what ETH’s price does.
Is the Foundation Selling Too Cheap?
This is a fair question. ETH is trading at $2,300, down 53% from its August 2025 all-time high of $4,953. Selling now means the Foundation is getting roughly half of what those tokens were worth nine months ago.
But the Foundation does not have a choice about when it needs money. Developers need salaries. Grant programmes need funding. Research teams need resources. Those costs do not wait for the market to recover.
The OTC structure also makes sense for both sides. If the Foundation dumped 25,000 ETH on an exchange, it would crash the price and hurt every other holder. By selling directly to Bitmine in a private deal, the tokens move from one wallet to another without hitting the open market. No price impact. No panic selling.
Bitmine reported adding 101,901 ETH in a single week recently, pushing past the 5 million mark. The Foundation’s 25,000 ETH is a fraction of Bitmine’s total buying. The company is sourcing ETH from multiple places, not just the Foundation.
What Does This Mean for ETH Holders?
Two ways to look at it.
The bearish view: the Foundation is dumping its own token during a bear market and breaking promises about limiting sales. If the people who built Ethereum do not believe in holding it, that is a terrible signal.
The bullish view: every ETH the Foundation sells goes straight to Bitmine, which immediately stakes 83% of it. The tokens are not hitting the market. They are going from one long-term holder to another long-term holder who locks them up and takes them out of circulation. That actually reduces selling pressure, not increases it.
Both views have merit. The optics are bad. The actual market impact is neutral or slightly positive. And Bitmine, with 5 million ETH staked and earning $200 million a year in rewards, is not going anywhere.
ETH is at $2,300. The Foundation needs money to keep building. Bitmine wants to keep accumulating. As long as the price stays below $3,000, this cycle of selling and buying will probably continue. The community does not have to like it. But understanding the mechanics makes it easier to see what is actually happening versus what it looks like on the surface.
