Ethereum Foundation Unstakes $50M in ETH From Lido

The withdrawal moved the ETH from Ethereum’s Beacon Chain into Lido’s withdrawal queue, where the assets can later be claimed once processing is complete. The move follows earlier treasury adjustments by the foundation, including the unstaking of 17,000 ETH in April and the sale of 10,000 ETH to Bitmine through an OTC deal.

Ethereum Foundation Unstakes 21K ETH

The Ethereum Foundation unstaked 21,270 Ether worth close to $50 million from the liquid staking protocol Lido. According to blockchain analytics platform Arkham, the withdrawal process was initiated on Monday through a wallet linked to the foundation, moving the staked ETH out of Lido’s system and into Ethereum’s withdrawal queue.

(Source: Arkham)

The move means the ETH is being removed from Ethereum’s Beacon Chain, where it was previously locked to help secure the network while earning passive staking rewards. However, the unstaking does not automatically indicate that the Ethereum Foundation plans to sell the assets. 

In Lido’s system, unstaking places the ETH or wrapped staked ETH into a withdrawal queue. This allows the holder to claim the underlying ETH once the request is processed and finalized.

This latest move follows a series of treasury adjustments made by the Ethereum Foundation over the past few months. In late April, the foundation unstaked another 17,000 ETH before later selling 10,000 ETH to Bitmine through an over-the-counter transaction on May 1.

The organization previously updated its treasury policy in June of 2025, and plans to increase staking participation as a way to help fund Ethereum protocol development. At the same time, the foundation also stated that it intends to reduce direct ETH sales after facing criticism from parts of the Ethereum community about past treasury liquidations.

Since February, the foundation has steadily increased its staking exposure. It first staked 2,016 ETH before adding another 22,517 ETH in March and more than 45,000 ETH in early April. These allocations brought the foundation’s total staked ETH holdings to roughly 69,500 ETH before the latest unstaking activity.

Arkham suggested that the withdrawal may be connected to operational funding needs related to ongoing Ethereum development. The analytics firm also speculated that concerns around third-party protocol security could have influenced the decision, particularly after the recent $293 million exploit involving Kelp DAO raised concerns across the decentralized finance sector.