At first glance, I feel like the Ethereum Foundation is quite wronged and pitiful. The 0.16% of Devs working so hard for such a huge market cap is truly admirable. Why are you so harsh on EF?

Then I checked the entire history of the Ethereum Foundation (EF)’s ETH holdings,
The Ethereum genesis block was pre-mined with 72 million ETH, of which 60 million were allocated to participants in the 2014 crowdfunding, and 12 million to the development fund (i.e., the Ethereum Foundation). So initially, it accounted for 16.7%.
But at that time, it was a POW game, and EF didn’t mine itself, so it naturally diluted over time. This was ancient times; compared to now, project teams controlling the market with 10-50% isn’t the same framework, it’s incomparable.
However, the EF Foundation actually accumulated through internal distribution and operations, with peak holdings far exceeding 0.16%. Why is it so small now? Isn’t it just constantly selling? So stop complaining.
At least I haven’t seen any other public chain foundation sell their tokens and trigger such strong resentment.
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According to on-chain data from March 2022, the EthDev wallet shows the foundation’s total holdings of about 353,318 ETH, worth approximately $827 million. This is roughly the highest verifiable historical holding point, about 0.3% of the total supply at that time.
Several important sales in history:
In 2017, led by Vitalik, the foundation sold 70,000 ETH, mostly at the high point at that time, doubling the foundation’s operational reserves.
In May 2021, when ETH hit a new high of about $4,000, the foundation sold 35,000 ETH; in November of the same year, after ETH reached a near-record high of almost $4,900, the foundation sold again.
Since 2021 alone, the foundation has sold about 239,000 ETH, cashing out roughly $654 million.
Accelerated selling in 2025-2026:
As of October 2025, the foundation had already made 17 ETH sales that year, with about 222,720 ETH remaining.
After entering 2026, the foundation continued to sell ETH through OTC to BitMine, with about $47 million worth sold just in the past week.
According to the latest data, the foundation’s ETH holdings are about 92,548 ETH, worth approximately $214.8 million at current prices. Additionally, the foundation has staked about 70,000 ETH (about $143 million), which is not included in the liquid holdings.
0.16% is the current figure, but in the second half of 2024, this ratio was about 0.25%.
If this rate continues, the foundation’s ETH reserves might be exhausted by 2027—that’s also the core background of Vitalik’s article mentioning “limited resources” and the need to refocus strategies.
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So, Devs sell happily, the token holding ratio decreases—who’s to blame?