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Ethereum (ETH) is trading at $2,314 on April 24, down 0.7% on the day, as per data from CoinGlass. The most consequential development was not in the price chart itself but in a transaction that priced above it.
The Ethereum Foundation (EF) announced on April 24 that it had finalized terms for a 10,000-ETH sale at an average price of $2,387 via an OTC transaction with Bitmine Immersion Technologies as the counterparty. The sale totals $23.87 million and is the foundation’s second direct transaction with Bitmine in 2026, following a 5,000 ETH deal in March at approximately $2,043.
0/ Today, the Ethereum Foundation finalized the terms of a 10,000 ETH sale at an average price of $2,387 via OTC.
For this sale, our OTC counterparts was @BitMNR.
— Ethereum Foundation (@ethereumfndn) April 24, 2026
The EF confirmed the proceeds will fund ‘core operations and activities, including protocol R&D, ecosystem development, community grant funding, and more.’
The foundation still holds approximately 92,538 ETH ($214 million), according to Arkham Intel data, and has separately staked 70,000 ETH, generating $3.9-$5.4 million annually at current staking yields. Additionally, the latest on-chain data suggests that EF has begun unstaking nearly $49 million in ETH. There are market rumors that they’ll sell these tokens as well.
THE ETHEREUM FOUNDATION IS UNSTAKING ETH
The Ethereum Foundation is unstaking $48.9M ETH. They just deposited WSTETH to the Lido unstETH contract and will receive unstaked ETH once the unlocking process is completed.
Are they going to sell this ETH as well? pic.twitter.com/qsfrA9Cj7c
— Arkham (@arkham) April 26, 2026
The acquisition brings Bitmine’s total holdings to approximately 4,986,485 ETH, edging toward its 5% target of total supply. The firm separately acquired another 100,000 ETH for approximately $234 million on Wednesday via open market purchases, per on-chain data.
Bitmine is now the largest public holder of ETH and the second-largest public digital asset treasury globally, trailing only Strategy’s Bitcoin position. In contrast to the EF, Bitmine has been continuously staking its acquired ETH tokens.
Tom Lee(@fundstrat)'s #Bitmine staked another 112,040 $ETH($259.6M).
In total, #Bitmine has staked 3,701,589 $ETH($8.58B), 74.38% of its total holdings.https://t.co/P684j5YQaG pic.twitter.com/sgn9wGZb1z
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) April 25, 2026
The OTC structure matters. Bitmine paid $2,387, a premium to the current market price of $2,314. Two consecutive OTC purchases at prices above the prevailing market price from the most credible institutional ETH buyer in existence signal that Bitmine views current levels as discounted, regardless of short-term price action.
The timing has drawn sharp criticism. The KelpDAO recovery effort is ongoing following the April 18 exploit. Aave has proposed 25,000 ETH toward the recovery fund. Mantle has offered a 30,000 ETH credit facility. EtherFi, Lido, BDG Labs, Ink, Stani Kulechov, and others have committed 14,570 ETH combined.
The Ethereum Foundation made no public comments or contributions on the same day that the broader ecosystem coordinated the largest DeFi recovery effort of 2026. The EF’s Ivangbi noted that selling ETH for fiat is necessary for payments and accounting, a defensible operational logic that does not address the timing.
US Spot ETH ETF flows reached a 10-day consecutive inflow streak through April 22, the longest unbroken run since the funds launched in July 2024, according to SoSoValue data. BlackRock’s ETHA led that session at $53.6M with Fidelity’s FETH contributing $40.6 million.
April 24 extended the pattern: BlackRock’s new staked ETH product, ETHB, absorbed $32.3 million, while ETHA posted a $7.7 million outflow, for a net daily inflow of $23.4 million across all products. Total ETH ETF AUM now stands at $13.79 billion with cumulative historical net inflows at $12.1 billion and an ETF-to-market-cap ratio of 4.91%.
The consistent inflow data frames a structural buyer base that has not flinched through the KelpDAO fallout, the Hormuz volatility, or the EF sale. The ETF bid is real and durable.
Charts and data from TradingView show ETH trading just above the 2,300 resistance.
The EF’s OTC strike price of $2,387 has introduced a psychologically important ceiling. Institutional sellers have defined their floor above $2,380. For bulls, the key level is $2,400, where the April 22 intraday high of $2,403.78 stalled. That is the breakout trigger. A daily close above $2,400 would be the first sustained breach of that level since early 2026 and would open the path toward $2,600, which capped rallies in both November and December 2025.
The RSI at approximately 52-54 sits in neutral territory, leaving headroom without overbought risk. The 50-day MA at $2,320 and the 200-day MA at $2,310 are the immediate support levels. Both were briefly tested during April 24’s pullback and held. A daily close below $2,300 would break both and reopen at $2,200 as the next structure.
Standard Chartered’s Geoffrey Kendrick, in a recent interview, declared, ‘2026 will be the year of Ethereum,’ while setting an end-2026 target of $4,000 based on an ETH/BTC ratio of 0.04 at $100,000 BTC. At $2,314, ETH trades at a 42% discount to that level.
Standard Chartered’s Geoffrey Kendrick explains his $40,000 ETH price target by 2030
“I think a lot of [tradfi activity] happens on Ethereum Layer 1. I think about how BlackRock rolled out BUIDL, for example — all on layer 1 Ethereum… which I think is a more logical playbook… pic.twitter.com/Ld9Mdo9Tm9
— Etherealize (@Etherealize_io) April 12, 2026
The institutional accumulation is happening. The ETF bid is consistent. The structural headwind is the market’s inability to hold above $2,380 for more than a single session, with the EF OTC sale now providing a clear price point at which the most sophisticated ETH sellers are willing to transact. The FOMC on April 28-29 is the next macro catalyst that could break the equilibrium in either direction.
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