The Ethereum Foundation has laid off 54 employees, or about 20% of its workforce, describing the move as the final step in a restructuring process that began in June 2025. That earlier reset came with new institutional goals and a tighter treasury policy.
Operations reorganized around five main areas
Under the new structure, the Foundation has split its work into five principal domains: protocol, access, user, community, and enterprise. Separate teams will handle management and general operations, a change meant to create clearer boundaries and more concentrated execution across the organization.
The protocol group is tasked with improving Ethereum’s resistance to censorship and outside manipulation. It will also oversee safe network upgrades and continue long-range research in areas such as post-quantum security and Layer 1 privacy. The access layer is aimed at making blockchain data easier to read and transactions easier to submit without intermediaries. On the enterprise side, the Foundation wants to make Ethereum’s cryptographic tools easier for corporations, government institutions, and nonprofits to use in practice.
Leadership and research exits add to scrutiny
The restructuring follows a string of senior departures. Most recently, co-executive director Hsiao Wei Wang stepped down on June 22 after spending eight years on the research team. Before that, fellow co-director Tomasz Stanczak left in February. Board member Bastian Aue is now solely responsible for day-to-day operations.
Since January, the list of departing researchers and engineers has also included Josh Stark, Trent Van Epps, Tim Beiko, Barnabe Monnot, Carl Beek, and Julian Ma. Former researcher Dankrad Feist said the departures stemmed from management problems rather than strategic disputes. Coinbase engineering manager Yuga Cohler described the situation as dysfunction inside the organization.
Core development funding concerns are intensifying
The job cuts land as questions grow over how Ethereum’s core development will be financed. Trent Van Epps, who coordinated core development until April 2024, said developer funding could reach a critical point within the next three to nine months. His estimate puts the annual cost of supporting Ethereum’s more than ten client teams at about $30 million.
The Foundation’s four-year Client Incentives Program, which backed core software development, ended in April 2026. The organization has also said it wants to reduce annual spending from around 15% of treasury assets to a 5% baseline by 2030. Outside the Foundation, Protocol Guild has distributed nearly $38 million to Ethereum contributors since 2022, but its donation-based model leaves funding flows uncertain.
Independent groups are taking on a larger role
One day before the layoff announcement, five former researchers introduced Ethlabs, a new independent nonprofit research lab. The effort is backed by Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin, Bitmine Immersion Technologies, SharpLink, Anchorage, and more than 50 community partners.
Vitalik Buterin has also promoted the CROPS framework, which centers on censorship resistance, protection against takeovers, transparency, privacy, and safety as Ethereum evolves. In his view, the growth of community-funded independent organizations matters as the Foundation trims spending. CoinMarketCap data shows ETH trading at $1,662, well below its $4,950 peak from August 2025.