The Ethereum Foundation’s getting roasted for dumping ETH nonstop, and things got worse after an employee’s awkward attempt to defend the move sparked a huge backlash.
Ethereum’s off to a rough start in 2025 (ETH). The Ethereum Foundation keeps selling off ETH, and their defense of it isn’t sitting well with the community. While Bitcoin (BTC) and other altcoins are hitting new all-time highs, Ethereum’s been stuck in the mud. ETH started 2024 at $2,350, shot up to $4,000 by December, and then tanked again. It’s still miles away from its 2021 high of $4,878, and plenty of investors aren’t thrilled.
The issue? Ethereum’s not grabbing retail hype like its rivals. Networks like Solana (SOL), despite their ongoing technical struggles, are grabbing headlines and pulling in billions with trendy products like the hyped crypto mobile smartphone, the marketplace pump.fun, or the meme coin recently launched by President-elect Donald Trump dubbed Official Trump (TRUMP).
Ethereum is still working on trying to address its fundamental issues like transaction throughput and scalability with major network upgrades and layer-2 solutions like Coinbase’s Base. However, its progress doesn’t seem to be capturing the attention of everyday retail investors.
Wrong place, wrong time
And then there’s the Ethereum Foundation. A non-profit organization focused on supporting various research and development initiatives within the Ethereum ecosystem. Despite its good intentions, the organization’s frequent ETH sell-offs — made to cover expenses and operational costs — have raised a lot of eyebrows, especially from its loyal supporters.
One such sale happened on Jan. 20, when the foundation swapped 100 ETH for 336,500 DAI. According to SpotOnChain data, the foundation offloaded over $670,000 worth of ETH in less than three weeks of January.
The latest sale came at a bad time, with the community already fired up over some controversial comments from Josh Stark, a prominent figure in the Ethereum ecosystem. He defended the foundation’s constant ETH sell-offs by explaining that they’re actively using ETH, referring to constant ETH swaps for stablecoins.
The explanation was further criticized when the foundation made the sale shortly after, intensifying the frustration. But the community wasn’t having it. User @WazzCrypto hit back on X, saying, “Highly advise against saying you use Ethereum to dump $ETH, was that really the first use case that came to your mind? I can’t even right now.”
Another user, @VelvetMilkman, wasn’t shy either: “[…] This is hardly ‘using the chain’ to understand how most people use the chain. Your only use cases are selling ETH ffs. This has gone from bad to downright embarrassing […].”
Despite the blowback, the foundation went ahead with another 100 ETH sell-off, making matters worse. User under alias @trading_axe didn’t hold back: “Their brains actually do not work at all. The f***k you need 300K for so urgently? What could you POSSIBLY, as the ETHEREUM FOUNDATION, when the entire world is watching, need 300K OF A PUBLIC SELL ORDER for? Mindless cockroaches. Retar Dio.”
Foundation explores staking
This kind of frustration highlights a bigger issue with Ethereum’s 2025 trajectory. While competitors grow their ecosystems by capitalizing on retail’s FOMO, Ethereum’s focus on scalability through layer-2 networks currently doesn’t seem enough to draw in waves of retail investors.
While it’s unclear whether Ethereum should follow the path of becoming the go-to network for meme coins again — a role it once held before the hype moved to Solana — one thing is certain: the latest controversy seems to have caught the attention of Ethereum’s co-founder, Vitalik Buterin.
In a response on X, Buterin revealed that the foundation had been looking into staking its assets instead of selling them. He explained that they’ve avoided staking so far because of regulatory uncertainty. There’s also worry about choosing sides if a network hard fork ever happens, Buterin added.
Despite the focus on scaling solutions, everyday investors don’t seem impressed. The foundation’s constant ETH sell-offs aren’t helping either. Meanwhile, competitors are racing ahead, grabbing attention. Community trust in Ethereum feels uncertain. If the network wants to stay relevant to the public, it has a tough road ahead.
