Ethereum Foundation cut 54 colleagues, or roughly 20%, as the non-profit organization reorganized around a sharper mandate focused on Ethereum's self-sovereignty goals.
The foundation said in a June 23 blog announcement that the restructuring followed months of work tied to its mandate and treasury management policy.
Ethereum Foundation
The foundation said the cuts were part of reshaping its structure, activities and spending so it can focus on work "only EF can, and therefore must, do" without being overly exposed to short-term market swings.
Commenting on the restructuring, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said in an X post that the foundation will decrease its budget "by roughly 40%" this year, trying to transition "into being a long-term-oriented endowment-based organization."
Staff cuts follow mandate reset
The new setup splits the foundation's work into five main clusters covering the protocol layer, access layer, user layer, community layer and institutional layer. It also adds separate groups for operations, management and teams directly supporting management.
- The protocol layer will focus on Ethereum's core technical roadmap, including scaling, safer forks and post-quantum security as well as Layer-1 privacy.
- The access layer will focus on whether people can use Ethereum without depending on trusted middlemen.
- The user layer will bring user research, education and impact evaluation.
- The community layer will handle how the foundation presents itself inside and outside crypto, including its effort to separate Ethereum from "zero-sum financial crypto."
- And the institutional layer will work with financial firms, companies, governments, universities and non-profit organizations.
EF said more details on the new structure will come in the next weeks and months.
More context: Ethereum Foundation to become smaller as Buterin responds to senior exits