The Ethereum Foundation plans to publish financial reports after 2.5 years of silence. The Block reports that the Foundation is reacting to the community's reaction to a series of large "sales" of Ethereum coins in August.
August 2024, Ethereum Foundation made two transactions totaling 36,000 ETH ($84 million). The funds were sent to the Kraken crypto exchange. As with all previous transfers, the nature of the transaction remains hidden.
The Ethereum Foundation is a nonprofit that supports the Ethereum ecosystem by funding the development of protocols and communities based on the second most capitalized cryptocurrency. In 2015, EF received 12 million ETH coins in an ICO. The foundation gave half of the money to 85 early adopters and another 3 million coins to 50 employees who worked on Ethereum from September 2014 through March 2015.
The company sold some of the remaining 3 million ETH to fund projects and provide grants.
As of September 6, 2024, the fund's address holds almost 272 thousand ETH and about $640 thousand in other cryptocurrencies, including over $500 thousand in WETH. In April 2022, EF said it had $300 million in non-crypto assets. It has not reported its balance since.
EF has a budget of about $100 million a year, mostly for grants and salaries. Some recipients only accept cash. This is not a sale of ETH. Aya Miyaguchi said there will be planned and gradual sales from now on.
Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, said his salary in the fund is 182 thousand Singapore dollars (about $140,000) per year.
The current budget strategy is to spend about 15% of the fund's remaining assets annually. This implies that EF will exist forever, taking a smaller share of the Ethereum ecosystem.