Ethereum Foundation issues 50K ETH to boost DeFi apps – Here’s what it means

• Ethereum Foundation has rolled out plans to support the ETH DeFi ecosystem.
• The plan is part of a broader overhaul of the organization after recent community backlash. 

After several months of community backlash, the Ethereum Foundation (EF) has revealed key restructuring to improve the DeFi ecosystem.

The organization said they released 50K Ethereum[ETH] (worth over $163M at current prices) as part of the DeFi program, starting with Aave [AAVE] and Safe platforms. 

Part of the statement read, 

“The EF will use this new wallet to participate in the DeFi ecosystem. We’ve made a testing transaction on Aave. Also, Safe has proven safe and has a great user experience, and we will transfer more of our funds here over time!”

New beginnings for ETH?

Community members praised the move and the changes being made by the organization. Reacting to the update, Stani Kulechov, founder of Aave, said, 

“This is incredible from EF. This is the beginning of a new era for EF, powering and participating in DeFi on Ethereum. After building 8 years on Ethereum, this feels really good. Thank you for using Aave.” 

For context, EF has been grabbing headlines for the wrong reasons — consistent dumping of ETH.

Amid the backlash, Ethereum’s leadership clarified the sales, reportedly capped at $100M annually, are critical for running various projects in the ecosystem.

But other ecosystem builders claimed the organization hadn’t supported them. In fact, a recent statement by one of the platforms, Abstract Chain, read,

“No one from the Ethereum foundation has ever reached out to me or anyone on the AbstractChain team. I’m not expecting any special treatment or a ton of help, but it’d be nice to talk to someone from the EF every once in a while so we can figure out how to best help each other out.” 

Simply put, the EF recent move could drive engagement and support for the DeFi sector. The program was part of its overhaul, as recently illustrated by the founder Vitalik Buterin. Buterin stated,

“We are indeed currently in the process of large changes to EF leadership structure, which has been ongoing for close to a year. Some of this has already been executed on and made public, and some is still in progress.”

Buterin added that EF’s new changes aimed to enhance the usage of Ethereum privacy and DeFi tech, ecosystem engagements, and the perception of the chain. This could be a net positive for ETH in the long run. That said, the altcoin was valued at $3.2K at press time.