The Ethereum Foundation said it would reduce sales of ETH it holds, but Ethereum's price did not translate that into a clear rebound.

On May 25, blockchain outlet The Crypto Basic reported that Ethereum posted only limited gains in line with a broader correction across the crypto market, even after an announcement by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin (비탈릭 부테린).

Market intelligence platform Santiment said investor sentiment around keywords linked to Buterin tilted bullish at about 76 percent immediately after the announcement. But the expectations did not lead to a price rise. Ethereum rebounded about 5 percent from a weekend low of $2,020 and then met resistance near $2,115. It is still down about 9 percent over the past two weeks.

The announcement also ties in with a shift in the Ethereum Foundation's financial management direction. Buterin said on his social media that the foundation would transition to operate more efficiently. He said the process would reduce ETH sold from the foundation's treasury and prioritise long-term sustainability over broad-based activities.

It was also noted that the foundation's actual share of holdings is not large relative to total supply. Santiment said the foundation's ETH holdings account for just 0.16 percent of total supply, a low level even compared with similar foundations. That means the market responded more to an overall risk-off flow than to the sales cut itself.

Recent market weakness also coincided with a Bitcoin correction. Bitcoin slid from above $82,000 to the $75,000 range, and the broader market then entered a quiet phase. Ethereum also failed to break away from that trend.

Earlier this month, the foundation sold 10,000 ETH to BitMine via an over-the-counter (OTC) transaction. The average sale price was $2,292 per ETH, and it secured about $22.9 million worth of stablecoins for operating funds. It has since set its direction toward reducing the frequency and size of sales.

An organisational overhaul is also under way. The Ethereum Foundation is restructuring in line with an operating policy for March 2026 that focuses more on censorship resistance, open-source development, privacy and security. It is also pushing to expand its board to reduce the influence of specific individuals, including Buterin. Interim co-executive director Bastian Aue (바스티안 아우에) and Aya Miyaguchi (아야 미야구치) are leading the transition. At least 8 senior researchers have left the foundation since the start of 2026, putting the so-called "smaller ship" model to the test during the reorganisation.

The immediate backdrop to weak prices was cited as supply-demand structure. CryptoQuant analyst Carmelo Aleman (카르멜로 알레만) said Ethereum entered a downtrend from May 11 and fell about 14.5 percent from $2,375 to $2,031 by May 23. He said the core issue is not a lack of buyers, but that the market keeps falling even when there is aggressive buying.

Falling spot trading volume also weighed. Spot volume fell 45.4 percent in 12 days, from 470,770 ETH to 256,963 ETH. Aleman said the contraction in volume means that even active buying fails to keep pushing prices higher.

Derivatives data pointed to a similar conclusion. The market is seeing buying in both spot and futures, but limit sell orders and supply available in the market are absorbing it. Aleman said Ethereum is falling because sell supply is larger than demand sufficient to support prices. As a result, the Ethereum Foundation's plan to reduce sales would likely need to be accompanied by a broader recovery in trading and an easing of sell supply to change prices in the short term.

Some of my perspective on where the @ethereumfndn is going. First of all, this is only my own view. The board is not just me, and I have no extra special powers on the board that the other board members do not. @aerugoettinea is the one executing much of this transition. My…