Ethereum Foundation to Shrink, Focus on Core Values Amid Researcher Exodus

In brief

Vitalik Buterin announced the Ethereum Foundation will shrink into a "smaller ship," leaning into its works under a framework known as CROPS.

Facing an exodus of top researchers, the foundation will reduce its Ethereum sales, while continuing to manage holdings worth $408 million.

Buterin disclosed that 90% of his personal net worth remains tied up in Ethereum, while welcoming reduced influence at the Ethereum Foundation.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin signaled on Sunday that the Ethereum Foundation is transitioning into a leaner, hyper-focused entity—dramatically narrowing its operational scope amid a period of internal turbulence.

Addressing a wave of high-profile departures and industry anxieties over the nonprofit’s direction, Buterin said in a sprawling X post that the Ethereum Foundation will become “a smaller ship” while doubling down on the protocol’s cypherpunk values.

“The [Ethereum Foundation] is choosing to use its remaining resources to pursue longevity over breadth,” Buterin explained, clarifying that the organization should be viewed as “one node, with a defined purpose, alongside other nodes,” rather than essential to Ethereum’s overall mission.

Buterin’s reflection comes amid a wave of departures from the organization that was established more than a decade ago to support protocol development, foster open-source research, and advocate for the Ethereum network under a nonprofit structure.

Last week, two veterans resigned, expressing a desire to pass the torch. Meanwhile, Dankrad Feist, who previously served as one of the Ethereum Foundation's top researchers, advocated for the creation of an economically aligned organization to “save Ethereum,” which would be subject to “a board of people who want ETH to go up.”

Since the Ethereum Foundation released a new mandate in March, several members of the organization’s leadership have resigned. The document underscored the group’s lack of interest in boosting the price of Ethereum’s native asset, while making several references to the controversial Milady Maker NFT project.

Under Bastian Aue, the Ethereum Foundation’s interim co-executive director, Buterin indicated that the organization is refocusing itself around CROPS, a framework rooted in censorship resistance, openness, privacy, and security. Focusing purely on Ethereum’s ability to facilitate fast and cheap transactions is “a route to mediocrity,” he added.

As the organization's focus narrows, the Ethereum Foundation will sell less ETH, Buterin said. Despite entering a period of “mild austerity,” the nonprofit's funding efforts have continued to draw scrutiny, while Buterin himself has generated attention for selling the asset.

Buterin noted that the Ethereum Foundation currently controls around 0.16% of Ethereum’s total supply, a sum valued at $408 million. He added that the Ethereum Foundation debuted with clear-cut technical goals, which were completed in 2022, and the organization “was not designed to be an eternal steward” of the network.

Nonetheless, Buterin underscored his exposure. He said around 90% of his net worth is tied up in the second-largest digital asset by market capitalization, which briefly surpassed all-time highs last year. Buterin added that his “own power” within the Ethereum Foundation will “continue to decrease, which is honestly what I want.”

Buterin said Ethereum’s community should be focused on creating a provably bug-free environment using advancements in AI, preserving Ethereum’s unique consensus properties, and reducing a reliance on transaction middlemen.