TLDR
- Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin released a comprehensive 1,500-word statement justifying the Foundation’s organizational changes and strategic vision.
- The Foundation maintains just 0.16% of the total ETH supply, significantly lower than the 10–50% range common among competing blockchain foundations.
- A minimum of eight key Ethereum Foundation personnel have departed or signaled their intention to exit by 2026, with five leaving in May specifically.
- Future ETH liquidations by the Foundation will be reduced, prioritizing “longevity over breadth” and fundamental protocol development.
- ETH price hovered between $2,094–$2,100, representing a decline of over 50% from its peak of approximately $5,000 achieved in August 2025.
On Sunday, Vitalik Buterin took to X to publish an extensive statement tackling ongoing scrutiny and personnel turnover within the Ethereum Foundation. He clarified that his remarks reflected his individual perspective rather than an official declaration from the board.
The organization has experienced the departure of no fewer than eight senior team members in 2026, with May accounting for five of these exits. Tomasz Stanczak, who served as co-Executive Director, resigned from his position, while interim co-Executive Director Bastian Aue now manages the organizational shift.
Buterin emphasized that the Foundation should not be viewed as Ethereum’s “center” but instead as “one node, with a defined purpose, alongside other nodes.” He reinforced that its mission has consistently focused on protocol support rather than token valuation or promotional activities.
Minimal ETH Treasury Holdings
A central element of Buterin’s message concerned the Foundation’s Ethereum treasury position. According to him, the EF controls approximately 0.16% of the total ETH token supply. This stands in stark contrast to other blockchain foundations, which typically maintain between 10% and 50% of their respective native tokens.
During May, the Foundation withdrew 21,270 ETH from the Lido liquid staking protocol. Buterin indicated the organization intends to minimize future ETH liquidations and will allocate existing resources toward research initiatives.
He characterized this strategy as prioritizing “longevity over breadth.” The Foundation will dedicate efforts exclusively to initiatives that would otherwise remain unfunded, particularly those advancing what he termed “CROPS” principles: censorship resistance, open source development, privacy protection, and security enhancement.
Personnel Exits and External Criticism
Dankrad Feist, a former Ethereum Foundation developer who transitioned from his full-time position last year, suggested establishing a separate $1 billion fundraising initiative for an Ethereum advocacy organization with stronger economic alignment to the ETH token.
Buterin recognized feedback from community participants who believed the Foundation’s conduct contradicted its declared commitments to decentralization and privacy. He admitted such criticism inflicts “pain” upon him.
Journalist Laura Shin contended that Ethereum’s challenges partially originate from insufficient consideration of tokenomics during protocol modifications, especially following the March 2024 Dencun upgrade. That enhancement decreased transaction costs for layer-2 solutions while simultaneously reducing revenue generated on Ethereum’s base layer.
Technical Roadmap Priorities
Buterin identified three technical objectives for Ethereum’s upcoming development phase. The initial goal involves implementing AI-powered formal verification to generate demonstrably error-free code. The second focuses on preserving what he describes as “available chain consensus,” which he claims Ethereum currently maintains. The third aims to minimize dependence on intermediary services through innovations like FOCIL and the Foundation’s Kohaku wallet infrastructure.
He also challenged the notion that Ethereum should prioritize transaction velocity above all else. “Being as fast and as scalable as possible, and only a small epsilon more decentralized than the others, is a route to mediocrity,” he stated.
Buterin indicated his personal influence within the Foundation will progressively diminish, describing this trajectory as intentional and desirable. The Foundation’s governing board is presently undergoing expansion.
ETH was exchanging hands near $2,100 on Sunday afternoon, registering approximately 2% growth over the preceding 24 hours, yet remaining more than 50% beneath its all-time high of nearly $5,000 established in August 2025.
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