Major Changes at the Ethereum Foundation: A Year of Transformation

Major Changes at the Ethereum Foundation: A Year of Transformation

The Ethereum Foundation has undergone considerable changes since the beginning of 2026, responding to rising pressure from developers, investors, and prominent community members. Criticism focused on the Foundation’s execution speed, governance, and technical priorities, describing a roadmap overly centered on layer-2 scaling while ignoring improvements to Ethereum’s core.

Leadership Transition in Early 2026

In February, the first significant shakeup occurred when co-executive director Tomasz Stańczak announced his resignation after aiding the Foundation through its prior restructuring. Shortly after, the Foundation released a new mandate detailing a narrower vision for its role within the Ethereum ecosystem, built around the CROPS framework – censorship resistance, resilience, openness, privacy, and security. This repositioned the Foundation as a long-term steward rather than the main builder or coordinator of the ecosystem.

Continued Departures and Organizational Reset

Following this leadership transition, there was a stream of departures. Within months, nine senior leaders, researchers, and executives exited, marking one of the largest turnover rates in the Foundation’s 12-year existence. Despite ongoing speculation about the Foundation’s future, its leadership maintained that these changes were part of a crucial organizational reset.

June Restructuring and Workforce Reduction

The pace of change accelerated significantly in June, with co-executive director Hsiao-Wei Wang resigning. Shortly thereafter, the Foundation announced its most extensive restructuring to date, cutting approximately one-fifth of its workforce by eliminating 54 positions and reducing its annual operating budget by about 40%. This move was aimed at creating a leaner, more sustainable organization.

Emergence of New Organizations

In conjunction with the restructuring, new organizations launched to assume responsibilities traditionally handled by the Foundation. ETHLabs emerged with backing from leading ETH treasury companies to accelerate protocol research and product development. Additionally, the initiative Ethereum Institutional was introduced, focusing on supporting enterprises and asset managers in adopting Ethereum.

Moreover, the new for-profit company EthSystems aims to build infrastructure for maintaining transaction confidentiality in financial institutions using Ethereum.

Conclusion: A Historic Year of Change

As a result of the events of 2026, the Ethereum Foundation has experienced the most significant reorganization in its history. Starting with community criticism regarding governance and technical focus, the year has concluded with a more compact Foundation, new leadership, a redefined mandate, and an ecosystem increasingly dependent on independent organizations for research and protocol development.