Original Author: Nancy, PANews
Facing increasing external doubts about its blurry technological direction, low collaboration efficiency, and centralized governance, the Ethereum Foundation (EF) is undergoing a deep organizational restructuring.
R&D Team Renamed and Restructured, Strategic Adjustment Sparks Controversy
On June 2, the Ethereum Foundation announced the reorganization of its research and development team, making significant architectural adjustments to the internal "Protocol Research & Development Team (PR&D)" and officially renaming it to "Protocol". This restructuring is considered not just a simple organizational adjustment, but a systematic transformation of strategic goals, talent allocation, and governance concepts.
The newly formed "Protocol" team will focus on three strategic objectives: mainnet (L1) expansion, data availability expansion (blobs), and improving user experience (UX), establishing a closer collaboration mechanism and clearer resource allocation method.
The Ethereum Foundation clearly stated that the new Protocol team will develop these three strategic objectives and appoint leaders for each strategic direction: Tim Beiko and Ansgar Dietrichs will be responsible for L1 expansion, Alex Stokes and Francesco D'Amato for blob expansion, and Barnabé Monnot and Josh Rudolf for enhancing user experience. They will be supported by renowned researcher and cryptographer Dankrad Feist. Feist, the namesake of Ethereum's new sharding scheme "danksharding", previously sparked controversy by receiving a large number of tokens as an advisor to the Ethereum restaking protocol EigenLayer, after which he resigned from his advisory role.
Ethereum Foundation's organizational structure before restructuring. Source: Internet
The foundation also stated that some R&D members will no longer continue in their roles. Although the official did not disclose a specific layoff list, the PR&D restructuring suggests that approximately ten research and development personnel will leave, with department responsibilities becoming more refined and clear. EF encourages other ecosystem projects to absorb these experienced talents and announces recruitment of new members, with key positions including user experience lead and performance engineering lead.
The Ethereum Foundation stated that this restructuring will accelerate the transformation of research results into products and advance Ethereum's scalability and user-friendliness with higher standards.
"We hope this new organizational structure will make our internal team more focused and drive key initiatives forward. At the same time, we had to make some very difficult decisions. Saying goodbye to talented and dedicated colleagues is heartbreaking. This decision does not mean that their value or contributions are overlooked," said Hsiao-Wei Weng, joint executive director of the Ethereum Foundation.
However, the Ethereum Foundation's restructuring has triggered intense reactions from core developers and the industry. "At this moment, the word 'decentralization' has quietly and permanently been removed from Ethereum's roadmap," wrote Ethereum core developer Peter Szilagyi. Great companies have long understood that their most valuable asset is people - team members. Google even explicitly states in its onboarding manual that developers take priority over users, who are everywhere. Organizations that cannot understand this will ultimately be marginalized. Yes, that's the subtext.
Multicoin Capital co-founder Kyle Samani also questioned the Ethereum Foundation's strategic adjustment, pointing out that "focus" usually means reduction rather than increase, especially emphasizing that goals should not conflict. When considering from the perspective of the third goal (L1 and L2 network expansion, improving user experience), the first goal (layoffs) conflicts with the second goal (clarifying responsibilities).
a16z crypto policy head and general counsel Miles Jennings recently wrote that the crypto industry needs to move beyond the non-profit foundation model, as it no longer meets current needs. He believes that while foundations played a role in early stages by avoiding regulation and promoting decentralization, they have now evolved into centralized gatekeepers due to misaligned incentives, legal and economic constraints, and operational inefficiencies. With the US Congress proposing a maturity-based regulatory framework focused on control, the crypto industry is presented with an opportunity to break free from foundations. Typical development company structures are superior to foundations, capable of efficiently deploying capital, attracting top talent through equity incentives, and achieving rapid response and continuous growth through market feedback. Jennings emphasized that companies align incentives with token holders through market discipline and clear financial metrics (such as revenue and profit margins), while foundations struggle to optimize resource allocation due to lack of accountability and profit drive, with employee incentives limited by token price volatility. Public benefit corporations, network revenue sharing, milestone-based token lock-up periods, and contract protections can address potential misalignments between companies and token holders. Additionally, emerging solutions like DUNA and BORGs provide simplified implementation paths while eliminating the cumbersome and opaque foundation structure. The next era of crypto will be built on scalable systems with real incentives, real accountability, and real decentralization.
Advancing Internal Organizational Restructuring: A Belated Self-Correction
The Ethereum Foundation's organizational restructuring is not a sudden occurrence, but a concentrated outbreak of long-accumulated structural contradictions and external criticism.
In the past, external criticism has focused on the foundation's excessive immersion in long-term research, neglecting short-term needs of users and developers, while continuously questioning its centralized governance structure. For instance, former Ethereum Foundation engineer Hari candidly pointed out this year that Ethereum and its virtual machine (EVM) lack a clear and cohesive technical vision, with slow R&D progress. Without decisive transformation, it might become rigid in the future. He suggested reducing dependence on pure research and shifting towards a product-oriented delivery pace.
Similar voices came from early Ethereum member Anthony DOnofrio, who criticized EF as a "centralized decentralized organization" with executive directors, finance departments, and paid developer circles. While effective in coordination, this structure contradicts the ideal of decentralization. He called for future Ethereum leaders who not only understand technical research but also comprehend its social and political implications.
Aave founder Stani Kulechov previously tweeted suggestions for EF to reform its budget and operational architecture, dismiss irresponsible members, and allocate resources based on capabilities. He emphasized that the Ethereum Foundation should be a lean and efficient organization.
As the most symbolic soul of Ethereum, co-founder Vitalik Buterin's role in the Ethereum Foundation has long been controversial. In February this year, community member Ameen Soleimani even initiated a vote exploring whether Vitalik plays the role of "King" (governance decision-maker) or "Prophet" (value leader) in the Ethereum ecosystem, with 80.1% of voters believing he is closer to the latter. Vitalik responded that the claim of holding 3 out of 5 EF board seats has not been true since 2017, and since then he has only had 1 seat out of 3.
Facing criticism and structural challenges, the Ethereum Foundation also initiated multiple internal reform measures early this year. As early as January, Vitalik publicly announced changes to the foundation's leadership model, aimed at enhancing technical expertise and strengthening communication with developers. According to Dragonfly managing partner Haseeb Qureshi, the EF leadership had gradually broken down the "not invented here" closed-door mentality, showing greater tolerance and openness to external ideas.
In February, former Ethereum Foundation Executive Director Aya Miyaguchi was promoted to Chair. Aya has long advocated for a "subtraction philosophy", arguing that the foundation should avoid becoming a highly centralized power institution, promoting decentralization and community-led development, and comparing Ethereum to an "infinite garden", encouraging open, permissionless innovation ecosystem, and emphasizing long-term sustainability over short-term interests. However, her idealistic style has also sparked some controversy, with some questioning her approach as too abstract and lacking in execution. After transitioning to Chair, her primary responsibility shifted to strategic collaboration and relationship maintenance, reducing direct involvement in specific matters, which was once interpreted by the community as a "promotion in name, demotion in reality".
Additionally, the Ethereum Foundation has initiated exploration of AI and governance integration, hiring Devansh Mehta as Head of AI×Public Goods Governance, and continuing to strengthen its technical leadership by appointing Hsiao-Wei Wang and Tomasz Stańczak as joint Executive Directors, who are key contributors to the Ethereum Beacon Chain and founder of Nethermind execution client, respectively.
While leadership adjustments were frequent, core members of the Ethereum Foundation continued to depart. For instance, in January, Ethereum core developer Eric Conner announced his exit from the Ethereum Foundation on social platforms, pointing out issues of opacity, disconnection from the community, and resistance to change, believing the foundation could operate normally with an 80% budget reduction. Ethereum Foundation researcher Danny Ryan also announced his departure in 2024 after seven years of contribution, and was viewed as the most supported potential leader in an informal community survey just before Aya's appointment, reflecting the community's strong expectation for pragmatic technical talent. The previously mentioned Peter Szilagyi, maintainer of Ethereum's core client Geth, also announced a temporary leave in November last year, ending his nearly decade-long Ethereum career. He candidly stated, "Ethereum is losing its direction."
It can be said that this foundation organizational transformation is both a belated self-correction and an experiment in future sustainable governance models. However, how to balance idealism with execution efficiency, technical research and development with ecosystem coordination, and decentralization vision with practical governance will be a long-term proposition for the EF and the entire Ethereum ecosystem in the next phase.
