Wallets tied to Ethereum Foundation send ETH to Kraken
Two wallets with historical links to the Ethereum Foundation moved 4,393 ETH to Kraken on October 12. The transfer was worth about $11.13 million when blockchain analyst EmberCN flagged it on X. The addresses are not clearly labeled as current foundation wallets. EmberCN traced them to an address that received 59,751 ETH from an Ethereum Foundation wallet roughly ten years ago.
That recipient has since sent 49,751 ETH to Kraken, according to the analysis. The average market price when those transfers happened was around $658. That figure reflects the time of the moves, not confirmed sale proceeds. Neither the Ethereum Foundation nor Kraken has said the latest deposit was sold. A deposit can mean many things: a sale, a transfer between accounts, or preparation for trading. The public record only shows the movement.
What the foundation’s treasury policy allows
The transfer renewed attention on the foundation’s treasury activity. In June 2025, it published a policy for managing reserves, operating costs, and long-term funding. The policy permits periodic ETH sales to keep enough liquid assets for research, grants, and other work.
The foundation has used several methods. In April 2026, it said it would sell 5,000 ETH through CoWSwap using a time-weighted average price strategy. In May, it sold 10,000 ETH to BitMine in an over-the-counter deal at an average price of $2,292. That followed two earlier deals with the same buyer, bringing those reported OTC sales to 25,000 ETH. Those transactions were documented separately and are not proof that the October 12 wallets belong to the foundation’s current treasury.
Price holds near $2,555 after the deposit
ETH traded near $2,554.59 on October 12, according to CoinGecko data in the report. It was up about 2.05% in 24 hours but down 6.85% over seven days. Trading volume was close to $8.88 billion, and market capitalization was around $312 billion.
The technical picture was mixed. TradingView put the nine-day simple moving average at $2,585.41, above the observed price of $2,563.42. ETH had not fully recovered its short-term average after pulling back from the $2,700 to $2,800 range. The 14-day relative strength index was 47.59, below its moving average of 53.39. That is under the neutral 50 level, but above the oversold threshold of 30. The data does not show that the Kraken deposits caused selling pressure.
Staking remains part of treasury management
The foundation has also used staking. In February 2026, it announced a program involving about 70,000 ETH, with rewards going back to the treasury. It began with 2,016 ETH and used open-source tools Dirk and Vouch for validator operations. By April 3, on-chain tracking showed the foundation had reached its 70,000 ETH target after depositing another 45,000 ETH in one session.
Later, tracking showed an unstaking request for roughly 17,035 ETH through Lido. Its policy covers asset sales, staking, and DeFi participation. For now, the October 12 transfer remains a movement to Kraken, not a confirmed sale.
