The Ethereum Foundation (EF) said it has completed the sale of 5,000 ether (ETH) in an over-the-counter transaction with one of the leading crypto treasury companies, Bitmine Immersion Technologies.
The sale was completed at an average price of $2,042.96 per ETH, the Foundation said, estimating the value of the transaction at approximately $10.2 million.
The nonprofit, established in 2014 to support the Ethereum blockchain and its ecosystem, said the funds will support its core operations, including protocol research and development, ecosystem growth and community grants.
The transactions, it said, are in accordance with the policy that governs the management of its reserves. The framework aims to strike a balance between holding ETH and maintaining enough fiat or fiat-like assets to cover operating costs. EF currently aims to keep annual operating expenses near 15% of cash value with a 2.5-year operating buffer, a strategy that determines how often it sells ETH.
The sale comes less than a month after the Ethereum Foundation began staking up to 70,000 ETH to support its operations and deepen its role in the Ethereum ecosystem.
Bitmine, led by Tom Lee of Fundstrat, was the counterparty to the deal and is the largest publicly traded ether treasury company, currently holding approximately 4.53 million ETH, worth over $9.4 billion.
The company’s portfolio is almost entirely made up of ether. The company also holds approximately 195 BTC and over $1 billion in cash, as well as equity stakes. Those holdings also include a share of Beast Industries, the company behind YouTube creator MrBeast, after a $200 million investment, as well as a 7% stake in global treasury company Eightco.
Read more: ‘Mini crypto winter’ almost over, says Tom Lee as Bitmine picks up pace of ether acquisition
