At the latest Ethereum Foundation (EF) Q&A, core researcher Justin Drake shared insights into the foundation’s financial stability, revealing that it has around $650 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) in its main wallet.

With an annual budget of around $100 million, the foundation’s current reserves can sustain its operations for the next decade, even with fluctuations in ETH prices.

Drake explained that the Ethereum Foundation’s budget primarily covers grants and salaries, with some recipients requiring payment in fiat currency. The foundation’s financial report is expected to be released soon, but its funds are in a strong position based on current ETH prices. The recent replenishment of reserves, which were temporarily suspended due to regulatory restrictions, further strengthened the foundation’s financial security.

When asked if the Ethereum Foundation is concerned about the price of ETH increasing, another EF researcher, Dankrad Feist, stated that the foundation does not take an official stance on ETH price movements as a whole. However, individual researchers have different opinions. Feist believes that focusing on building value-creating ecosystems on Ethereum should take precedence over price speculation. He argued that value capture will occur naturally over time as Ethereum’s ecosystem matures.

Another researcher, Anders Elowsson, stated that the appreciation of the ETH price is important because the security of Ethereum is provided by staked ETH. The rising ETH price increases the economic security of the platform, which is very important for its decentralized economy. Elowsson emphasizes that ETH strengthens the platform as a whole as a secure and reliable currency within Ethereum.

*This is not investment advice.