The Ethereum Foundation (EF) has officially concluded a months-long, comprehensive reorganization, marking a pivotal moment in its operational strategy. This structural overhaul, driven by the implementation of its foundational "Mandate" and the recently established "Treasury Management Policy," aims to refine the organization’s focus and operational efficiency. The process has resulted in a leaner, more targeted structure designed to execute critical tasks ahead, though it has also led to the departure of approximately 20% of its workforce, amounting to 54 individuals. Many of these former colleagues are expected to continue their contributions to the Ethereum ecosystem from outside the Foundation.
This significant transformation comes after a period of introspection and strategic planning within the EF, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the development and research of Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. The cryptocurrency landscape has evolved dramatically since Ethereum’s inception in 2015, with increasing complexity in its protocol, a burgeoning ecosystem of decentralized applications (dApps), and evolving regulatory scrutiny. The EF’s reorganization reflects a strategic adaptation to these dynamic conditions, seeking to ensure its long-term effectiveness and alignment with Ethereum’s core principles of decentralization, censorship resistance, and user sovereignty.
A New Structure for Enhanced Execution
The newly established organizational framework at the Ethereum Foundation is built around seven distinct clusters, each tailored to specific domains of work. This strategic division is intended to foster greater specialization and accountability, ensuring that each area can operate with an optimized internal structure and approach. The five core domains of work are:
-
Protocol Layer: This cluster inherits the EF’s long-standing commitment to advancing the Ethereum protocol itself. Its primary objective is to ensure Ethereum upholds its foundational promise of scaling self-sovereignty. This involves hardening and scaling the protocol to maintain its core properties: censorship and capture resistance, open-source ethos, privacy, and security. The Protocol Layer focuses on long-horizon research such as post-quantum security, zkEVMs, and Layer 1 privacy enhancements, translating them into protocol changes that preserve and improve self-sovereignty at scale. This work is deliberately insulated from short-term market interests or pressure to become merely another intermediated financial rail.
-
Access Layer: This cluster addresses the critical challenge of making Ethereum’s self-sovereignty properties practically available, legible, and survivable for individuals. It focuses on key actions such as reading the chain, transacting, proving, delegating, and exiting. The goal is to enable users and their agents to perform these actions without reliance on unverifiable intermediaries. This includes facilitating private and censorship-resistant transactions, ensuring transaction outcomes are guaranteed or fail cost-effectively, and maintaining user control over their intents through bounded authority and easy revocation. A core principle here is the "zero option," ensuring that for every intermediated path, a credible intermediary-free alternative exists and remains accessible.
-
User Layer: Grounded in the needs of individuals and organizations with a vital interest in self-sovereign Ethereum use, this cluster focuses on understanding the capabilities that matter most, identifying critical failure modes, and evaluating acceptable trade-offs. Its work encompasses user segmentation, persona development, educational materials, use-case research, and impact evaluation. The aim is not for the EF to become a product studio, but to ensure that decisions made at the Protocol and Access Layers are informed by the realities and constraints faced by current and potential users, thereby safeguarding the principles of self-sovereignty.
-
Community Layer: This cluster is responsible for the EF’s public-facing presence and its engagement within and beyond the Ethereum ecosystem. Its mandate is to clearly articulate what the EF stands for, distinguishing its mission from speculative financial crypto, compromised corporate initiatives, and bureaucratic grant management. The EF emphasizes its commitment to maximizing community value by maintaining independence from such entanglements. Furthermore, this cluster cultivates relationships with external communities that share common values, including free and open-source software, privacy and cryptography research, civil liberties advocacy, and public-interest technology.
-
Institutional Layer: This cluster focuses on the EF’s engagement with established institutions that influence how end-users interact with Ethereum through intermediated channels. This includes financial institutions, non-financial enterprises across various sectors, government agencies, and academic or non-profit groups. The primary goal is to showcase the effective integration of Ethereum and cryptographic technologies that enhance self-sovereignty for both institutions and users. This involves demonstrating benefits like fair execution, data portability, exitability, privacy protection, authenticity verification, and misbehavior detection. The cluster also works upstream with academics and advocacy organizations to ensure Ethereum’s potential is accurately understood and to monitor and respond to policy and regulatory developments.
In addition to these five functional clusters, the EF has established two supporting structures:
- Operations Cluster: This group is dedicated to managing the internal workings and infrastructure that enable the EF’s various initiatives.
- Management and Direct Support Cluster: This encompasses the leadership and teams directly assisting management in strategic decision-making and oversight.
This divisional approach represents a significant departure from the EF’s previous organizational structure, which was often described as more fluid and less formally delineated. The move towards clearly defined clusters with specific mandates signals a commitment to enhanced accountability and a more rigorous approach to achieving its strategic objectives.
A Chronology of Strategic Evolution
The current reorganization is the culmination of a process that has been unfolding over several months. While specific dates of internal discussions and planning sessions are not publicly detailed, the announcement clearly indicates a phased implementation.
- Pre-Announcement Phase: Months of internal review, strategic planning, and structural design, likely involving extensive consultation with various teams and stakeholders within the EF. This phase would have necessitated the development of the "Mandate" and the "Treasury Management Policy" as foundational documents guiding the reorganization.
- Implementation Phase: The period during which the new structure was actively put into place, involving the reassignment of responsibilities, the formation of new teams within the clusters, and the difficult process of workforce reduction.
- Announcement and Transition (Present): The public declaration of the new structure and the details of the workforce transition, signaling the formal commencement of the reorganized EF’s operations.
The "Mandate" itself, linked in the original announcement, likely outlines the EF’s core purpose and long-term vision for Ethereum, providing the strategic compass for this reorganization. Similarly, the "Treasury Management Policy" suggests a renewed focus on financial prudence and strategic allocation of resources, a critical aspect for any foundation supporting a rapidly evolving technological ecosystem. The policy, published on June 4, 2025, indicates a deliberate and recent emphasis on fiscal responsibility and strategic investment.
Supporting Departing Colleagues
The departure of 54 colleagues, representing approximately 20% of the EF’s workforce, is acknowledged as a difficult but necessary step. The Foundation has outlined a comprehensive support package for those leaving:
- Severance Pay: Calculated as the higher of one month’s pay per year of service at the EF or the amount mandated by local jurisdiction. This mirrors the severance offered in prior, smaller workforce adjustments, indicating a consistent approach to employee transition.
- Transition Support: This includes active assistance in finding new opportunities within the broader Ethereum ecosystem. Additionally, a small transition grant is provided to cover individual expenses related to career transition, such as coaching and similar professional development services.
The EF expressed gratitude for the contributions of each departing member, acknowledging their talent, dedication, and time invested in Ethereum. The organization anticipates that many of these individuals will continue to contribute to the ecosystem in their new roles. This approach reflects a desire to maintain positive relationships and foster continued collaboration, recognizing the value of the departing talent.
Analysis and Implications
This reorganization signals a maturation of the Ethereum Foundation’s operational strategy. The move towards a more defined, cluster-based structure suggests a commitment to greater specialization and efficiency, crucial for navigating the complex technical and ecosystem challenges ahead. The explicit focus on core principles like censorship resistance and self-sovereignty, particularly within the Protocol and Access Layers, underscores the EF’s dedication to Ethereum’s foundational ethos.
The reduction in workforce, while impactful, can be interpreted as a strategic decision to align resources with the most critical priorities, as defined by the new Mandate and Treasury Management Policy. This leaner approach could lead to faster decision-making and more agile execution of key initiatives, particularly in areas of long-term research and protocol development.
The emphasis on supporting departing employees with severance and transition assistance demonstrates a commitment to responsible organizational change. The encouragement for these individuals to find new roles within the ecosystem highlights the interconnected nature of the Ethereum community and the EF’s role in fostering its growth.
The detailed breakdown of the five core work domains—Protocol, Access, User, Community, and Institutional—suggests a holistic approach to Ethereum’s development. By addressing the protocol’s integrity, user accessibility, community engagement, and institutional integration, the EF aims to create a more robust and widely adopted decentralized ecosystem. The inclusion of the "zero option" principle in the Access Layer, for instance, is a direct response to the pervasive issue of centralization and intermediary control in many aspects of the digital world.
Looking Ahead
The Ethereum Foundation anticipates sharing more details in the coming weeks and months regarding the specific advancements and strategic shifts within its new structure. This ongoing communication aims to keep the ecosystem informed about how the EF’s work is evolving and how the broader community can best engage with its renewed focus. The leaner, more specialized EF is poised to tackle the complex challenges and opportunities that lie ahead, reinforcing its commitment to the long-term vision of a decentralized and sovereign digital future powered by Ethereum.
