Vitalik Buterin announces big changes to Ethereum Foundation leadership

Ethereum’s creator Vitalik Buterin announced on X today that the Ethereum Foundation (EF) is gonna have some major leadership changes.

According to Buterin, the Ethereum Foundation has actually been under restructuring for almost a year, with some updates already public and others still being finalized.

Vitalik said the overhaul is also a push to make EF more technically capable, faster, and more connected to the Ethereum ecosystem, including app developers, wallet providers, and Layer 2 solutions.

What EF wants, and what it won’t touch

Vitalik’s blueprint for EF outlines five goals, all to strengthen the foundation’s role in Ethereum’s growth. He said that EF must enhance communication and collaboration with ecosystem players and bring in new talent to speed things up.

Vitalik also pointed to the need for more decentralization within EF itself, including using Ethereum-based tools for treasury management and payments. He stated explicitly that EF has no intention of becoming a centralized powerhouse, pushing political agendas, or compromising Ethereum’s global neutrality.

In his words: “We are not here to execute some ideological pivot or start aggressively lobbying regulators, especially in powerful countries like the U.S.”

One user questioned how EF could embrace tools built within the ecosystem while remaining neutral. “In the past, I’ve tried to help EF-aligned people use Gitcoin tools, but they avoided the conversation because they didn’t want to bless one tool over others,” the commenter said.

In his response, Vitalik admitted: “I think that EF should be more willing to use tools built in the ecosystem (including in DeFi) even if it means we’re not entirely neutral in that sense. Though we should of course do this very judiciously.”

Criticism from within the community

The Ethereum Foundation has been under fire for years. Critics are particularly upset with EF’s financial decisions. Earlier this month, the foundation sold 2,616 ETH, worth about $7.64 million, during a bearish market.

Many saw the sale as poorly timed. It hurt market sentiment and reflected quite badly on EF’s financial management. The foundation’s communication strategy has been labeled ineffective, with critics pointing out that Ethereum’s official X account has barely posted any original content since mid-2021.

And some Ethereum users believe EF and its core developers have way too much influence over the network, despite their claims of decentralization. Decisions are allegedly often made behind closed doors, making the EF look like it operates more like a centralized authority than a neutral organization at this point.

Charles Hoskinson, the infamous co-founder of Ethereum who later left and launched Cardano, reacted to Vitalik’s post, saying, “What I got from this post is that EF will continue to be a nexus of feminized WEF “soyboys.” So I guess we are going full bronze age?”

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