The Ethereum price barely moved after Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin announced that the Ethereum Foundation plans to reduce its $ETH sales.
This is according to a recent assessment from leading market intelligence resource Santiment. The platform pointed out that the Ethereum price continued moving in line with the broader crypto market correction that recently dragged prices lower.
Key Points
- Santiment reported about 76% bullish sentiment after the Ethereum Foundation’s decision to reduce $ETH sales.
- Despite the improving sentiment, the Ethereum price barely moved following the disclosure.
- $ETH briefly rebounded about 5% from $2,020 but halted at $2,115, down around 9% over 14 days.
- The Ethereum Foundation holds only 0.16% of the total $ETH supply.
- The foundation sold 10,000 $ETH to BitMine earlier this month, raising $22.9 million.
Sentiment Turned Bullish, But $ETH Barely Moved
According to Santiment, crowd sentiment around Vitalik-related trending keywords ran approximately 76% bullish following the announcement. However, this optimism did not lead to bullish price action.
Specifically, $ETH recovered by about 5% off its weekend low of $2,020 before meeting resistance and stalling around $2,115. At this price point, the asset is still down roughly 9% over the past two weeks.
Santiment also pointed out that the Ethereum Foundation holds just 0.16% of $ETH’s total supply, which is well below most comparable foundation peers.
Notably, the recent discouraging price action is part of a broader market quiet phase that has emerged following the latest correction, which pushed Bitcoin from above $82,000 down to $77,000.
The EF’s latest Ethereum sale came earlier this month, when it sold 10,000 $ETH over-the-counter to BitMine at an average price of $2,292 per $ETH, bringing in roughly $22.9 million in stablecoins for operations.
Ethereum Foundation to Adopt a Leaner Model
For context, Buterin published a post on May 24, 2026, noting that the Ethereum Foundation would switch toward a leaner, more focused organization running on a “smaller ship” model.
He stressed that this includes selling less $ETH from the treasury in order to prioritize the foundation’s long-term sustainability over a wider range of activities.
This aligns with the EF’s March 2026 mandate, which endorsed a narrower focus on censorship resistance, open-source development, privacy, and security at both the protocol and user-access layers.
The Ethereum Foundation is also expanding its board to reduce the influence of any single individual, including Buterin himself, a change he openly supports.
Interim co-executive director Bastian Aue and others, including Aya Miyaguchi, are leading much of this transition. Notably, at least eight senior researchers have left the foundation in 2026, putting the leaner model to the test during a period of restructuring.
Ethereum Down Despite Buying Momentum
Meanwhile, verified CryptoQuant author Carmelo Aleman published an analysis explaining why $ETH has struggled to hold its ground despite buying momentum and the recent sentiment improvement.
Ethereum Falls Despite Aggressive Buying
“Aggressive buying exists in both spot and futures, but it is being absorbed by limit sell orders / available supply placed in the market.” – By @oro_crypto pic.twitter.com/gGc4QjjiZ6
— CryptoQuant.com (@cryptoquant_com) May 25, 2026
Aleman noted that Ethereum entered a downtrend on May 11 and maintained a weak short-term structure throughout, with the price sliding from $2,375 to $2,031 by May 23. This marked a decline of nearly 14.5%.
According to him, the major issue is not a shortage of buyers, but that the market keeps falling even with aggressive buying activity present.
On the spot side, volume dropped from 470,770 $ETH to 256,963 $ETH over just 12 days, representing a 45.4% decline. This sort of volume pullback explains why even active buyers have been unable to push the price higher in any sustainable way.
After assessing derivatives data, Aleman concluded that Ethereum is falling because selling supply exceeds the demand needed to sustain the price. The market sees buying in both spot and futures markets, but limit sell orders and available supply in the market keep absorbing it.
