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 set up a 3-of-5 multisig wallet through Safe, which the organization wrote is “proven to be secure and has a good user experience.” An initial test transaction was sent to the lending protocol Aave, one of the largest in the Ethereum ecosystem behind the liquid staking protocol Lido.
Participating in the DeFi ecosystem can help the Ethereum Foundation’s treasury grow thereafter shrink by 39% in less than three years to $970.2 million in Oct. 31. The nonprofit holds most of its treasury in ether, which recently dropped to a four-year low against bitcoin.
According to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, the organization has so far avoided staking its ETH to generate revenue through staking rewards over regulatory and neutrality concerns. In the current CESR Composite Ether Staking Rateit will produce a 3.31% yield on its ether holdings.
At the weekend, Vitalik Buterin confirmed that the nonprofit is undergoing major changes in its leadership structure, a process that “has been going on for about a year.”
Among the stated goals, Buterin said the move is intended to improve technical expertise within the Ethereum Foundation’s top brass, improve communications and relationships between its leadership and Ethereum ecosystem actors, and more actively support app developers, among other things.
He also pointed out that the Foundation is not looking to “perform some kind of ideological pivot” or aggressively lobby regulators, nor is it looking to become a highly centralized organization.
