The Ethereum Foundation, the organization overseeing the development of the second-largest blockchain by market capitalization, is allocating 50,000 ether (ETH) worth approximately $165.3 million at the time of writing to participate in the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.
The move will see the Foundation implement a 3 of 5 multisig wallet through Safe, which the organization says has “proven to be secure and provides an excellent user experience”. A first test transaction was sent to the Aave lending protocol, one of the largest in the Ethereum ecosystem behind the liquid staking protocol Lido.
Participating in the DeFi ecosystem could help the Ethereum Foundation’s treasury grow after a 39% decrease in less than three years, to $970.2 million as of October 31. The nonprofit holds the majority of its treasury in ether, which recently fell to its lowest level in four years. against bitcoin.
According to Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, the organization has so far avoided staking its ETH to generate revenue by staking rewards for regulatory and neutrality reasons. At CESR’s current composite ether staking rate, it would be able to generate a 3.31% yield on its ether holdings.
Over the weekend, Vitalik Buterin confirmed that the nonprofit is undergoing major changes to its leadership structure, a process that has been “going on for almost a year.”
In the stated goals, Buterin noted that the move aims to improve the technical expertise of senior officials of the Ethereum Foundation, improve communications and connections between its leaders and stakeholders in the Ethereum ecosystem, and more actively support the app creators, among others.
He also emphasized that the Foundation is not seeking to “execute some sort of ideological pivot” or aggressively lobby regulators, nor is it seeking to become a highly centralized organization.
