Vitalik Buterin said the Ethereum Foundation currently holds just 0.16% of the total ETH supply. He contrasted that figure with many rival Layer-1 foundations, which he said often retain 5% or more of their native token supply, framing Ethereum’s position as much less concentrated.
Buterin says board growth will reduce his authority
According to Buterin, he has no special privileges over other members on the Ethereum Foundation board. He said the board is still expanding, and his own authority inside the organization has been intentionally reduced over time. He added that this will continue, reflecting the foundation’s original design rather than a recent shift.
In his description, the foundation was never supposed to serve as the permanent or irreplaceable center of the Ethereum network. He compared EF to a “small vessel” that should avoid acting as the single leader of the ecosystem. The organization is now placing more weight on transparency and shared governance. In his words, “The board is growing, and my power within the organization will continue to diminish. This is exactly what I want.”
Treasury policy shifts toward slower ETH sales
Buterin also outlined changes to the foundation’s treasury management. EF is restructuring how it uses its resources, with the aim of backing durable initiatives instead of distributing funds across a wide set of short-term efforts. That approach also affects how the foundation handles its remaining ETH.
He said EF plans to deploy its remaining ETH gradually for long-term benefit rather than selling large amounts in the near term. Buterin stated that the foundation is choosing to spend its remaining resources on enduring goals, which means it will be selling less ETH under the revised policy.
Warning against speed at the expense of core values
Buterin criticized the push in parts of the crypto sector to maximize speed and scalability while giving up core principles. He pointed to targets such as 250-millisecond block times or 1 million transactions per second, arguing that such goals can come with tradeoffs in security and real decentralization. Speed alone, in his view, is not enough.
He said Ethereum’s distinction comes from reliable code, clear on-chain consensus, and minimizing dependence on intermediaries. Buterin warned that a project that is merely fast and scalable, while compromising even slightly on decentralization, risks becoming mediocre. His comments tied governance, treasury management, and protocol design to the same principle: control should be more distributed, resources should be used with a longer horizon, and core values should not be traded away for growth metrics.