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Ethereum Foundation Sells 10,000 ETH to Bitmine in OTC Deal

According to the Ethereum Foundation, it sold 10,000 ETH to Bitmine in an OTC transaction at an average price of $2,387, with proceeds earmarked for operations, research and development, ecosystem support, and grants.

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Fact Check
The claim that the Ethereum Foundation sold 10,000 ETH in an OTC deal at an average price of $2,387 is directly supported by the original Ethereum Foundation X post, "Ethereum Foundation X post on 10,000 ETH OTC sale," which names BitMNR as the OTC counterparty. This core transaction detail is independently repeated by both PANews ("以太坊基金会通过OTC出售1万枚ETH，对手方为BitMNR") and Odaily ("以太坊基金会今日向 bitmine 出售 1 万枚 ETH"), each citing the same original post. The use-of-proceeds portion—funding core operations, protocol research and development, ecosystem development, and community grants—is supported by PANews, which attributes that detail to the Foundation's statement. Because the original X post available in this run clearly confirms the sale but the fetched post text snippet does not itself include the proceeds language, confidence is medium rather than high.
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Summary

The Ethereum Foundation said it sold 10,000 ETH to Bitmine in an over-the-counter transaction at an average price of $2,387 per ETH, implying a value of nearly $24 million. The foundation said the proceeds will support core operations and activities, including protocol research and development, ecosystem development, and community grants. Earlier reporting identified the counterparty as Bitmine, while another disclosure named BitMNR; the source does not clarify whether these refer to the same entity. One source also associates Bitmine with Tom Lee. The transaction was described as a private large-block trade, a structure commonly used to limit market impact compared with selling through public exchanges.

Terms & Concepts
  • OTC: Over-the-counter trading is a private transaction conducted directly between parties, often used for large crypto trades to limit price disruption on open markets.
  • ETH: ETH is the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain, used for network transactions, fees, and other onchain activity.
  • Ethereum Foundation: The Ethereum Foundation is a nonprofit organization that supports research, development, and ecosystem coordination related to the Ethereum blockchain.