On April 8th, the Ethereum Foundation (EF) disclosed its plan to convert 5,000 ETH into stablecoins via CoWSwap’s TWAP feature for funding research, grants, and donations. This move reignited discussions about the objectives behind EF’s treasury overhaul over the past year, which included shifting assets into DeFi, leveraging ETH as collateral, and initiating a staking program with approximately 70,000 ETH.
EF’s June 2025 treasury policy outlined a model that linked monetization to a fiat-denominated operating buffer while maintaining ETH sales, staking, and stablecoin borrowing within its treasury operations. This highlights the continuing need for ETH sales to generate operating cash, despite enhanced flexibility from staking rewards and DeFi borrowings.
EF Treasury disclosed on February 13, 2025, that it had allocated 45,000 ETH across various platforms like Spark, Aave Prime, Aave Core, and Compound. By May 29, EF borrowed $2 million in GHO against its Aave position, symbolizing the use of DeFi to secure working capital without liquidating spot ETH.
Market interpretations suggested that EF had ceased selling ETH following these moves. However, on March 14, EF completed an OTC sale of 5,000 ETH to BitMine at an average price of $2,042.96. By April 3, the staked ETH reached approximately 69,500, aligning closely with its target.
With ETH priced around $2,220.76, a conversion of 5,000 ETH equates to about $11.1 million, while early April’s staking rates were between 2.73% and 3.00%. For the full 70,000 ETH stake, this yields roughly 1,912 to 2,102 ETH annually, valued at approximately $4.25 million to $4.67 million.
Despite these figures, a single 5,000 ETH sale amounts to about 2.4 to 2.6 times the annual yield from the entire stake. The April 8 conversion underscored that sales and staking had been conducted concurrently for weeks.
EF’s June 2025 framework set operational expenditure at 15% of its treasury with a two-and-a-half-year operating buffer, implying a reserve equivalent to 37.5% of the treasury. Based on an October 31, 2024, snapshot showing $970.2 million in total treasury and $181.5 million in non-crypto assets, the policy target reserve was roughly $363.8 million.
Following this report, EF added stablecoin exposure by deploying 2,400 ETH and around $6 million into Morpho in October 2025, with further ETH-to-stablecoin conversions announced in October 2025 and April 2026. The current size of EF’s fiat-like reserves remains unknown.
EF’s first quarter of 2025 saw $32.6 million allocated to grants, equivalent to approximately 14,700 ETH at today’s prices. The April 8 conversion covered only about a third of these expenses, excluding additional costs like protocol research and broader industry support.
Yield from staking and borrowing do not alter the fiat-denominated budget requirement for periodic monetization. Potential outcomes for EF depend on treasury arithmetic: a higher ETH price or reduced opex could lessen the need to sell coins; however, if prices weaken or spending pressures increase, more ETH might be sold to sustain operations.
A bull scenario posits fewer sales needed with rising ETH prices and lower long-term opex. Conversely, a bear case suggests increased monetization if prices fall or expenses rise. The reserve target remains fiat-denominated, challenging the narrative of reduced selling in weaker market conditions. EF’s strategy thus involves blending DeFi deployment, stablecoin borrowing, staking, and periodic sales.