The Ethereum Foundation allocates 50K ETH to support DeFi applications
The Ethereum Foundation says it will allocate 50,000 Ether, worth about $165 million, to support Ethereum's decentralized financial ecosystem.
Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin wrote to X on January 20 that the non-profit foundation will make organizational changes to more actively support app developers and provide more transparency to the community.
The money will be kept in a 3-5 multi-sig wallet on Safe, which has already executed a test transaction on the lending protocol Aave, said Hsiao-Wei Wang of the Ethereum Foundation on January 20, 2010.
However, Wang noted that it may take a few days to prepare the wallet.
Reaping the rewards from the Ethereum network's DeFi ecosystem saw the foundation's coffers fall 56% from 617,000 ether (ETH) in January 2020 to 269,000 ether — worth nearly $894 million, according to Arkham Intelligence data.
The pledged 50,000 Ether represents 18.5% of the Ethereum Foundation's total holdings.
Source: Hsiao-Wei Wang
Infinix founder Cain Warwick has been one of the foundation's loudest critics, accusing it of being uninterested in DeFi – they didn't like the push for Ether sales created by the foundation to cover other salaries and host events.
Prior to Wang's announcement, Eric Conner, Ethereum's core developer, said the foundation's stock awards could cover most, if not all, of its internal budget, alleviating the sales pressure that has frustrated the public.
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Some in the Ethereum community have attributed the foundation's lack of involvement and leadership to Ethereum's underperformance in the past few months with Bitcoin (BTC) and Solana (SOL) — noting that advocates of those networks have been heavily involved with regulators.
Buterin, however, stressed that the nonprofit does not want to enforce an “ideological” pillar or compromise regulators as part of its efforts to remain loyally independent.
Buterin received support from CryptoQuant founder and CEO Ki Young Joo, who praised him and his foundation for prioritizing “creating value over making money” at a time when celebrities and current presidents are making money from memecoin startups.
Source: Ki Young Ju
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