The Ethereum Foundation is facing growing pressure from the community to stake its Ether (ETH) holdings rather than sell them to fund operations. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently addressed the concerns, revealing that the foundation is exploring ways to minimize potential risks tied to staking.

Josh Stark of the Ethereum Foundation shared that the organization currently uses Ethereum’s mainnet and layer-2 solutions for operational expenses, including stablecoin swaps and payments for events like Devcon and Devconnect. However, prominent Ethereum advocates argue there is a better way.

Anthony Sassano, host of The Daily Gwei, proposed staking a portion of the foundation's ETH and using the staking rewards to cover expenses. He also suggested leveraging decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms like Aave to borrow stablecoins against ETH, acknowledging it carries "some risk" but could be more sustainable than selling ETH outright.

Similarly, ETH supporter DCinvestor recommended depositing 1,000 ETH into Aave to generate funds. Critics like Eric Conner, co-author of Ethereum’s deflationary upgrade EIP-1559, took a sharper stance, accusing the foundation of making ETH sales its primary use case and calling the practice “insane.”

Responding to the community’s concerns, Buterin outlined two key issues preventing the foundation from staking: regulatory risks and the potential need to take sides in contentious future hard forks. While regulatory concerns have lessened, Buterin admitted the latter remains significant but noted that strategies to address it are being actively explored.

The debate underscores the balance Ethereum must strike between operational funding and upholding community trust. As Ethereum’s staking ecosystem grows, the foundation’s decisions could set a precedent for nonprofit treasury management in the crypto space.