The Ethereum Foundation (EF) has announced a comprehensive reorganization, concluding a months-long process aimed at refining its operational structure and strategic focus. This initiative, driven by the implementation of the organization’s Mandate and a new Treasury Management Policy, sees the EF adopting a more streamlined structure to better execute its core mission. While the reorganization equips the foundation with the necessary personnel and activities for future endeavors, it also marks the departure of approximately 20% of its workforce, comprising 54 individuals who are expected to continue contributing to the Ethereum ecosystem in various capacities.
This significant organizational shift underscores the EF’s commitment to its foundational principles, particularly those related to scaling self-sovereignty within the Ethereum network. The move is a strategic response to the evolving demands of the decentralized technology landscape and the imperative to fortify Ethereum’s core properties against centralization and censorship. The EF aims to ensure that Ethereum remains a robust platform for innovation, user empowerment, and the preservation of individual autonomy in the digital realm.
A New Architectural Blueprint for Ethereum’s Future
The restructured Ethereum Foundation is now organized into seven distinct clusters, each designed to address specific domains of work critical to the network’s advancement. These include five primary functional clusters: the Protocol Layer, Access Layer, User Layer, Community Layer, and Institutional Layer. These are complemented by an Operations cluster and a cluster dedicated to management and direct support functions. This multi-faceted approach acknowledges that different areas of Ethereum’s development require specialized strategies, accountability metrics, and internal structures.
The Protocol Layer cluster inherits the EF’s long-standing responsibility for ensuring Ethereum fulfills its promise of scaling self-sovereignty. Its primary objective is to fortify and advance the Ethereum protocol itself, safeguarding its inherent properties of censorship and capture resistance, openness, privacy, and security. This cluster is not driven by marketability or short-term gains, but rather by the imperative to make Ethereum more resilient to corruption and capture. Key areas of focus include the safe deployment of protocol upgrades, simplification of complexity, minimization of trusted dependencies, defense against adversarial MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) and privileged order flow, and the acceleration of long-horizon research such as post-quantum cryptography, zkEVMs, and Layer 1 privacy solutions. The overarching goal is to translate these advancements into protocol changes that preserve and enhance self-sovereignty at scale.
The Access Layer cluster is pivotal in ensuring that Ethereum’s promise of self-sovereignty is practically available, legible, and survivable for individuals. This involves supporting critical user actions such as reading chain data, transacting, proving identity, delegating, and exiting the network. The work extends to agents acting on behalf of users, who must be able to access current state, historical data, and related information without reliance on unverified intermediaries. Emphasis is placed on enabling private, censorship-resistant transactions with guaranteed outcomes or cost-free failures. The cluster champions the "zero option" principle: for every intermediated pathway, a credible intermediary-free alternative must exist and remain accessible. This involves identifying opportunities to enhance current infrastructure with stronger "CROPS" (Censorship and Capture Resistance, Open Source, Privacy, and Security) properties and acknowledging where credible alternatives are essential due to economic incentives favoring aggregation and control.
The User Layer cluster anchors the EF’s work in the needs of users and organizations that have a vested interest in the self-sovereign use of Ethereum. This involves understanding the most critical capabilities, the most serious failure modes, and the acceptable trade-offs for decision-making. Its activities encompass user segmentation, persona development, educational material creation, use-case research, and impact evaluation. The EF does not aim to become a product studio, but rather to ensure that decisions made at the Protocol and Access Layer levels are informed by the realities of current and potential users, practical constraints, and tangible measures of self-sovereignty.
The Community Layer cluster is responsible for the EF’s public face and its engagement within and beyond the Ethereum ecosystem. Its mission is to clearly articulate what the EF stands for and how it differs from profit-driven crypto, corporate-influenced crypto, and bureaucratic non-profits. The EF is committed to maximizing its community value by maintaining independence from entanglements that could compromise its mission. This cluster also cultivates relationships with external communities, including those in free and open-source software, secure and local-first technology, privacy and cryptography research, civil liberties advocacy, the decentralized web movement, and public-interest technology. The aim is to foster fruitful, high-quality collaborations between Ethereum and these allied spaces.
The Institutional Layer cluster focuses on the EF’s engagement with institutions that shape how end-users interact with Ethereum through intermediated pathways. This encompasses financial institutions, non-financial enterprises, government applications, and academic or non-profit groups. The primary goal is to showcase effective integrations of Ethereum and cryptographic technologies that enhance CROPS properties and provide guarantees for both institutions and users. This includes ensuring fair execution, data portability, practical exit capabilities, privacy protection, data authenticity, and improved misbehavior detection. The cluster believes that many entities will recognize the benefits of strengthening user self-sovereignty while retaining necessary guarantees for value creation or mission fulfillment. Beyond direct engagement, this cluster will contribute by establishing best practices, standards, reference architectures, and educational materials for institutional adoption. Furthermore, it collaborates with academics and advocacy organizations to ensure Ethereum is accurately understood and to monitor and respond to policy and regulatory developments impacting its core principles.
An Operations cluster will manage the foundational aspects of the EF’s functioning, ensuring efficiency and support for all other initiatives. The final cluster comprises Management and Direct Support Teams, providing essential oversight and coordination across the organization.
A Period of Transition and Support for Departing Colleagues
This organizational overhaul necessitates a reduction in the EF’s workforce. The departure of 54 colleagues, representing approximately 20% of the foundation’s staff, was described as a difficult but necessary decision. The EF emphasized that this recalibration is crucial for focusing resources on the critical, unique work that the foundation must undertake in the coming years, insulating it from excessive disruption caused by short-term market fluctuations.
To ensure a smooth transition for those leaving, the EF has implemented a comprehensive support package. This includes severance pay, calculated as the higher of one month’s salary per year of service at the EF or the amount mandated by local jurisdiction. This mirrors the severance offered to staff in previous transitions. Additionally, departing colleagues will receive transition support, including assistance in finding new roles within the ecosystem and a small transition grant to cover expenses such as career coaching. The EF expressed deep gratitude for the talent, dedication, and time contributed by these individuals and anticipates their continued contributions to Ethereum from their new endeavors.
Chronology of Reorganization
While the announcement marks the conclusion of the current phase, the reorganization process has been underway for several months. The initial impetus for this strategic shift can be traced back to the articulation of the EF’s Mandate, a foundational document outlining the organization’s core purpose and long-term vision for Ethereum. This was followed by the establishment of the Treasury Management Policy, which dictates how the EF’s financial resources are allocated and managed to support its mission effectively.
The implementation of these guiding documents has been a phased approach, involving extensive internal review, strategic planning, and consultation. The months leading up to today’s announcement have been dedicated to designing the new organizational structure, identifying key personnel for each cluster, and carefully managing the transition for affected employees. The EF’s communication indicates that further details regarding the specific activities and operational nuances of each new cluster will be shared in the coming weeks and months.
Broader Implications for the Ethereum Ecosystem
This reorganization signifies a maturing of the Ethereum Foundation, moving towards a more specialized and focused operational model. By clearly delineating responsibilities across distinct functional layers, the EF aims to enhance its efficiency and impact. The emphasis on self-sovereignty, censorship resistance, and privacy as core tenets of Ethereum’s development is reinforced by the structure of the new clusters, particularly the Protocol and Access Layers.
The departure of a significant portion of the workforce, while regrettable, is framed as a necessary step to align the EF’s resources with its strategic priorities. This leaner structure may enable faster decision-making and more agile execution of its core research and development objectives. The EF’s commitment to supporting its departing colleagues and encouraging their continued participation in the ecosystem highlights a recognition of the distributed nature of talent and contribution within the broader Ethereum community.
The future success of this reorganized EF will depend on its ability to effectively coordinate the work of its specialized clusters, maintain strong communication channels with the wider Ethereum community, and continue to innovate in areas critical to the network’s long-term health and user empowerment. The explicit focus on external engagement through the Community and Institutional Layers suggests an understanding that Ethereum’s growth and adoption are intrinsically linked to its integration with broader societal and technological trends.
As the Ethereum Foundation embarks on this new chapter, the crypto community will be observing closely how this refined structure translates into tangible advancements for the network. The clear articulation of its mission and the strategic organizational changes signal a determined effort to solidify Ethereum’s position as a leading platform for decentralized applications and a bulwark for digital self-sovereignty. The coming months are anticipated to bring further clarity on the EF’s operational strategies and its vision for the future of Ethereum.
