During 2022-2023, startups within the Ethereum ecosystem received $497 million in funding, including $240.3 million (48.3%) from the EF. These figures are detailed in a report by the non-profit organization.
Contributions also came from Sky (formerly MakerDAO), Optimism, Gitcoin, Decentraland, Aragon, Uniswap, Starknet, MetaMask DAO, and Protocol Guild.
The ecosystem’s development is supported by project treasuries amounting to $22.2 billion, primarily in their native tokens.
Assets are concentrated in structures and DAOs:
- Optimism;
- Uniswap;
- Mantle;
- Arbitrum;
- Gnosis;
- Ethereum Name Service.
EF holds approximately $970 million. These amounts include liquid assets and those allocated through vesting.
“If a project attempts to sell a significant portion of its treasury, it could greatly impact the price of the underlying token,” the report states.
EF suggested that this sum reflects the “depth of resources” available to Ethereum in the long term. According to the organization, a small portion is sufficient to sustain and develop the ecosystem.
The document also mentions the implementation of a conflict of interest policy. It includes disclosure requirements for EF members regarding investments over $500,000 not related to Ether.
Ethereum Foundation CEO Aya Miyaguchi emphasized that the policy aims to “strengthen the integrity” of the work and ecosystem.
6/ Also, EF has implemented a Conflict of Interest policy to reinforce the integrity in all of our work. We hope this is an important step to raising the integrity of the entire ecosystem.
— Aya Miyaguchi (ayamiya.eth) (@AyaMiyagotchi) November 8, 2024
In October, the co-founder of the blockchain behind the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, Vitalik Buterin, responded to criticism of periodic ETH sales from EF reserves, which exert pressure on the price.
The programmer noted that the organization pays researchers and developers who ensure the network’s infrastructure, development, and security. According to him, assets are realized in this manner, and the “sending to Kraken” of another 35,000 ETH does not imply an immediate sell-off.
Researcher Justin Drake estimates that EF has funds for approximately 10 years of operation.