Members of the Ethereum community have urged the Ethereum Foundation (EF) to consider staking its ETH
Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder, acknowledged these concerns, stating that the foundation is actively exploring ways to address them.
Josh Stark, a member of EF, explained how the organization manages its funds in a January 20 post on X. EF uses the Ethereum mainnet to exchange ETH for stablecoins, which are then used to pay contributors and vendors.
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Payments are made both on the mainnet and on Layer-2 networks. Additionally, EF uses the blockchain for events like Devcon and Devconnect, which accept payments directly on-chain.
Eric Conner, co-author of Ethereum’s EIP-1559, voiced criticism of EF’s current practices, calling its approach to sell ETH “insane”.
Conner suggested that staking ETH and leveraging decentralized finance tools could cover most of the foundation’s costs while maintaining its token holdings.
In response, Buterin outlined the foundation’s concerns about staking. He noted two primary issues: regulatory risks and the possibility of being forced to take sides in contentious hard forks.
While regulatory risks have eased, the challenge of maintaining neutrality in case of future forks remains crucial. However, Buterin emphasized that EF is considering ways to minimize these risks while still exploring staking as an option.
On January 15, Buterin shared his views on Soneium, a Layer-2 network built on Ethereum by Sony. What did he say? Read the full story.