Ethereum Foundation not responsible for $56M Sky deposit, claims developer

Ethereum community members refuted claims that the Ethereum Foundation was behind a $56 million deposit into the lending protocol Sky.

An Ethereum developer denied speculation that the Ethereum Foundation (EF) was responsible for a recent deposit of over 30,000 Ether into the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Sky, formerly known as MakerDAO.

On March 10, a wallet address transferred 30,098 ETH—worth approximately $56 million—into Sky. Crypto intelligence platform Arkham labeled the address as "Ethereum Foundation?," fueling speculation that the EF might have allocated funds to the lending protocol instead of directly selling ETH to finance its operations, as previously suggested by the community.

However, Ethereum community members quickly debunked the claims, confirming that the wallet in question does not belong to the Ethereum Foundation. Eric Conner, co-author of Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP-1559), dismissed a Wu Blockchain report as “completely fake,” suggesting that the EF was not involved.

Similarly, Anthony Sassano, host of The Daily Gwei, also stated that the wallet does not belong to the Ethereum Foundation.

Source: Anthony Sassano 

Wu Blockchain later clarified that while the wallet was initially suspected to belong to the Ethereum Foundation, transaction history indicated it was more likely linked to an early Ethereum investor.

The address previously received a 4 million Dai (DAI) transfer from the Ethereum Foundation ETH Sale in May 2022, and its initial ETH funding was traced to a wallet named jonny.eth.

The $56 million deposit into the Sky vault was made to prevent liquidation as ETH prices fell sharply. On March 10, ETH dropped from a high of $2,138 to $1,813, marking a 15% decline.

By making this deposit, the wallet successfully reduced its liquidation risk, lowering its liquidation price to $1,127.14—about 40.19% below ETH’s current price of $1,896 at the time of writing.

While the recent deposit into Sky was not linked to the Ethereum Foundation (EF), the foundation has previously faced criticism for selling ETH for stablecoins to cover salaries and operations.

In January, community members proposed that instead of selling ETH, the EF should borrow stablecoins against its holdings. At the time, Anthony Sassano suggested that the EF use Aave to secure loans against ETH rather than liquidating assets. Sky offers a similar function, allowing users to deposit ETH and borrow DAI.

On Feb. 13, the EF responded to community feedback by deploying 45,000 ETH—worth approximately $120 million at the time—into DeFi protocols Aave, Spark, and Compound.

The move was widely praised within the crypto community, with Aave founder and CEO Stani Kulechov declaring, “DeFi will win.” The EF also hinted at future activity in the space, stating that there is “more to come.”