Ethereum is contending with a sustained decline in its token price, a series of departures from its core nonprofit organization, and an ongoing debate about the direction of the protocol, even as on-chain data continues to support the network’s long-term fundamentals.
BitMine Absorbs Significant Unrealized Losses
Among the more closely watched institutional positions is that of BitMine, the publicly traded treasury company led by investor Tom Lee. BitMine faces roughly $7.3 billion in paper losses on its Ethereum treasury as traders weigh worsening sentiment, ETF outflows, and a bearish technical setup pointing toward $1,600.
Ether has declined more than 57% from its October 2025 peak near $4,955, with ETH’s market dominance falling to around 10%, down from roughly 15% in August 2025. Despite those losses, Tom Lee ethereum strategy has not reversed course. BitMine held 5.28 million ETH as of last week, approximately 4.37% of Ethereum’s total supply, making it the world’s largest publicly traded Ether treasury company. The company has indicated it still intends to reach a target of 5% of total ETH supply by December.
On the technical side, the Ethereum price faces a specific risk level that analysts are monitoring closely. ETH was hovering near the lower trend line of a rising wedge pattern, a formation that often signals fading buyer momentum. A confirmed breakdown could trigger a move toward the $1,600 area, roughly 25% below current levels. Should that occur, BitMine’s unrealized losses could reach nearly $10.1 billion, based on its reported holdings and average purchase price of $3,513.
Sentiment data from on-chain analytics platform Santiment showed the bullish-to-bearish comment ratio falling from above 2:1 in late April to nearly 1:1 in May, a deterioration the platform associated with reduced confidence in ETH’s short-term direction.
Ethereum Foundation Addresses Criticism Following Departures
The price of Ethereum has coincided with a period of organisational change at the Ethereum Foundation. Researchers Julian Ma and Carl Beek resigned from the Foundation in May, bringing the total number of notable departures to at least eight in 2026. Ma contributed to Ethereum’s censorship-resistant properties and cross-layer bridge work, while Beek contributed to the early design of the Beacon Chain. Earlier departures this year included Protocol Cluster leads Barnabé Monnot and Tim Beiko, researcher Josh Stark, and co-executive director Tomasz Stanczak.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin responded to criticism that the Foundation should take a more active role in supporting the token price and broader market. Buterin said the Foundation would continue to focus on censorship-resistance, open source development, long-range research, cybersecurity, and decentralization, describing it not as a “center of Ethereum” but as one node among many with a defined purpose. He also contextualised the Foundation’s holdings relative to the wider market, noting that the EF holds approximately 0.16% of all ETH, while other protocol foundations typically control between 10% and 50% of their native token supply.
Some of the pressure on the Foundation traces back to the Dencun upgrade of March 2024, which significantly reduced network fees for layer-2 transactions and contributed to a decline in base layer revenue for Ethereum.
On-Chain Data Points to Continued Network Activity
Despite the decline in the ethereum price this year, network-level data presents a more mixed picture. Ethereum continues to host roughly $43 billion in DeFi liquidity, more than $165 billion in stablecoins, and approximately 55% of tokenized assets tracked across public blockchains. Staking participation has remained steady, with staked ETH reaching nearly 39.1 million coins, about 32% of total supply, across more than 896,000 active validators.
Accumulation activity also ticked upward recently. Inflows into accumulation addresses reached 248,400 ETH on May 20, the strongest single-day figure since January 6, according to CryptoQuant data. Some analysts have mapped long-term price targets well above current levels, though those projections extend into the 2027–2029 timeframe and remain contingent on broader market conditions.
