The Ethereum Foundation (EF) has completed a months-long reorganization process and announced its transition to a new organizational structure.
According to a statement from the foundation, the new structure will consist of five main work clusters, including the Protocol, Access, User, Community, and Institutional tiers. In addition to these organizations, the new organizational chart also includes operations units and executive support teams.
As part of the reorganization, 54 Ethereum Foundation team members will be leaving the organization. This figure represents approximately 20 percent of the Foundation’s total workforce. EF said affected employees will receive severance pay and support during the transition period. The foundation said the new structure aims to make the organization more focused and lean.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin also commented on the matter, saying that the Ethereum Foundation has cut its budget by about 40 percent this year. Buterin noted that the decision was not easy, adding that the foundation aims to transform into an institution that operates on a long-term donation-based model.
Buterin said the EF will spend an average of about 15% of its remaining funds annually until 2026, and aims to reduce this rate to about 5% annually from 2030 onwards. The changes are said to be in line with the financial management policy announced last year.
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Buterin said the laid-off employees have made significant contributions to the Ethereum ecosystem over the years, and this process cannot simply be described as “productivity gains.” He added that the departing employees were highly qualified engineers who had worked on the Ethereum protocol for many years and brought great value to the ecosystem both technically and humanly.
The statement also highlighted Ethereum’s comprehensive transformation plan, dubbed the “Straw Map,” in terms of its long-term technology roadmap. Buterin said the plan aims to revamp many fundamental elements of the Ethereum protocol, including consensus, proof-of-work systems, privacy, account models, and state structure. Buterin described this process as the third major evolution of Ethereum after the merge.
As part of the restructuring, significant changes will be made in some areas. The multi-client model evolves from a purely redundant structure to a more specialized model. EF is considering the possibility of using more AI-powered formal verification techniques in some of its security strategies.
Buterin said the Ethereum Foundation supports a “lean and complete” approach to Ethereum in the long term, arguing that once Strawmap is complete, the focus should shift to security fixes and small, high-value changes to the protocol. Buterin said this approach could allow Ethereum to maintain its decentralized and compromise-tolerant nature without requiring huge budgets. He also suggested that the foundation allocate fewer resources to large-scale projects outside of ETH. Buterin acknowledged that some such projects could be taken up with personal funds, but said the foundation’s corporate activities would also become more limited and focused.
*This is not investment advice.
