Ethereum Foundation Loses 2 More Researchers as BitMine Adds 71,672 ETH Under $2,200

Ethereum News

The Ethereum Foundation has confirmed two more high-profile resignations, with researchers Julian Ma and Carl Beek wrapping up multi-year tenures at the organization. Ma, who spent four years contributing to Ethereum's censorship-resistance research and cross-layer bridge design, said he is moving into a product and growth role. Beek, a seven-year veteran best known for shaping the early Beacon Chain architecture that introduced proof-of-stake to the network, plans to step away on May 29 to spend time with his family. Their exits bring the total number of senior departures from the Foundation to at least eight this year, with the bulk concentrated in recent weeks.

May alone has accounted for five senior departures, intensifying scrutiny of the Foundation's internal restructuring. Earlier this month Protocol Cluster leaders Barnabé Monnot and Tim Beiko announced exits, while co-lead Alex Stokes entered sabbatical. April saw researcher Josh Stark and contributor Trent Van Epps step away within 24 hours of each other, and February brought the resignation of co-executive director Tomasz Stanczak. The wave follows a sweeping leadership reshuffle announced last year by co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who pledged to bring fresh talent into the Foundation as part of a redesign aimed at higher throughput and a faster long-term blockchain roadmap.

BitMine Immersion Technologies used the recent slide under $2,200 to add another 71,672 ETH to its corporate stockpile, chairman Tom Lee confirmed Monday. The treasury company framed the move as opportunistic accumulation, with Lee describing the pullback as an attractive opportunity for further buying. ETH has traded between $2,081 and $2,341 over the past seven days, sliding roughly 8.7% across the window before stabilizing near $2,128. The acquisition adds to a streak of large weekly buys the company resumed after a softer 26,659 ETH purchase between May 4 and May 11 broke a multi-week run of triple-digit-thousand additions to the treasury stack.

BitMine now holds more than 5.2 million ETH, cementing its position as the largest publicly disclosed corporate treasury for the asset. The firm has stated a long-term target of holding 5% of the token's circulating supply, currently 120.7 million, a benchmark Lee expects to reach in 2026. The accumulation model mirrors the Bitcoin-first treasury playbook popularized by Michael Saylor's Strategy, though BitMine concentrates exclusively on Ether and incorporates staking yield into its long-term thesis. Total crypto and cash holdings now sit at $12.6 billion, giving the firm meaningful balance-sheet capacity to keep scaling the position through further drawdowns.

Whale activity has reinforced the dip-buying narrative. On-chain trackers spotted an early Ethereum investor who liquidated their stack roughly a year ago returning to the market over the weekend, opening a fresh 1,951 ETH position at an average price of $2,182. The wallet was last active during accumulation cycles more than a decade ago, and analysts flagged the entry as a potential signal of renewed long-term buying interest. Combined with BitMine's institutional flows, the activity at the wallet level suggests that the sub-$2,200 zone is attracting both legacy holders and corporate treasuries despite a still-shaky broader bull market backdrop.

Macro headwinds continue to weigh on sentiment. Lee linked persistent ETH weakness to elevated oil prices that surged after Middle East tensions escalated earlier this year, predicting that a reversal in crude could spark a corresponding ETH recovery. The token now trades roughly 57% below its August 2025 all-time high of $4,946. Major banks remain split on the outlook: Citigroup projects ETH at $3,175 over the next twelve months in a base case, with a bullish path to $4,488 hinging on stablecoin expansion and broader tokenization adoption. Analysts continue to argue institutional demand can absorb supply once macro pressure eases.

ETH last printed $2,140.79, up 1.32% on the day with a market cap of $258 billion on $14.4 billion in 24-hour volume. The chart sits in a downtrend with RSI at 36.33, approaching oversold without confirming capitulation, and MACD remains bearish. Immediate support clusters at $2,132, with deeper bids at $2,077 and $1,942. Resistance opens at $2,149.99, then $2,213 and $2,321. A reclaim of $2,213 on rising volume would invalidate the bearish setup and open a path back toward $2,321. A daily close below $2,077, however, would expose the $1,942 demand zone and confirm continuation of the broader downtrend.