The Ethereum Foundation (EF), which supports development of the Ethereum blockchain, is pulling roughly 21,270 ETH, worth approximately $49.6 million, out of Lido Finance. The move, first detected by Arkham Intelligence on May 11, represents one of the clearest signals yet that Ethereum’s stewards are rethinking their relationship with third-party staking protocols.
The Ethereum Foundation just unstaked $49.6M of ETH. pic.twitter.com/8GqM1RW8SW
— Arkham (@arkham) May 11, 2026
What’s actually happening
The withdrawal involved depositing wrapped stETH into Lido’s unstaking contract, converting its Lido staking receipts back into plain ETH, a process that takes time due to Lido’s withdrawal queue mechanics.
