The Ethereum Foundation stated it will convert 1,000 ETH into stablecoins

The Ethereum Foundation announced that it will convert 1,000 ETH into stablecoins to support research, grants, and donations. Based on Ethereum’s current prices, the sale comes to roughly $4.51 million.

The EF added that the 1,000 ETH sale will occur via CoWSwap, utilizing a TWAP strategy to minimise market disturbance and support its DeFi-centric mission. The platform announced on X, “The Ethereum Foundation will convert 1000 ETH to stablecoins via CoWSwap’s TWAP feature, as part of our ongoing work to fund R&D, grants and donations, and to highlight the power of DeFi.”

The Ethereum Foundation had planned a sale of 10000 ETH in September

The EF’s announcement did not specify which stablecoins it would receive in the swap. The move also appears separate from the foundation’s earlier plan to convert 10,000 ETH into stablecoins, since Friday’s $4.5M sale was smaller and will be carried out via CoW Swap rather than a centralized exchange.

The foundation has maintained that its treasury policy seeks a middle ground between earning yields above standard benchmarks and serving as a responsible steward of Ethereum, with an emphasis on DeFi. With the new planned sale, the foundation aims to establish consistent funding for research, grants, and contributions. It also seeks to protect its budget against the instability of crypto by converting ETH into assets based on fiat.

The stablecoin move comes at a time when the EF redirected attention to internal changes—pausing grant submissions to the Ecosystem Support Program to handle demand, appointing two co-executive directors, Hsiao-Wei Wang and Tomasz K. Stańczak, in April, and restructuring staff and dev teams in June.

Currently, EF’s operating costs are set at 15% of its treasury each year, with a runway of two and a half years.

EF intends to gradually scale down its expenses to about 5% of the treasury

According to industry figures, Ethereum currently holds 68% of DeFi’s locked-up value and remains the top player, although it faces challenges from its rivals. Ethereum DeFi’s total value locked had also surpassed $100 billion by the end of September, delivering its highest daily measurement since early 2022.

Now, building on that dominance, co-founder Vitalik Buterin has emphasized the importance of DeFi as a focus for Ethereum, stating that “low-risk” applications could generate predictable income in much the same way Google Search generates revenue for Google. “Low-risk DeFi can and should play a similar role for Ethereum,” he said, noting that in the future, this could help to mitigate arguments within Ethereum over whether or not revenue-generating apps can be true to the project’s vision.

Over the next five years, EF also plans to gradually reduce spending before stabilising it at around 5% of the treasury, in line with endowment-style models, which will provide stability and independence. The transition is meant to provide greater financial predictability while preserving Ethereum’s independence. Some observers view EF’s recent ETH sales as further evidence of the ecosystem’s increasing fiscal prudence.

Buterin still believes that Ethereum could surpass Google by combining decentralization with ethical finance, allowing DeFi to balance profit and principles.

He commented, “The revenue generator does not have to be the most revolutionary or exciting application of Ethereum. But it does need to be something that is at least not actively unethical or not embarrassing.”

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