Vitalik Buterin Responds to Resignations With New Vision, Lower ETH Sales and a “Smaller Ship”

Vitalik Buterin has outlined a new vision for the Ethereum Foundation as the organization faces mounting criticism, internal restructuring, and a growing wave of departures among senior researchers and developers.

In a lengthy post published on X, Buterin addressed months of controversy surrounding the foundation’s direction, defending ongoing organizational changes while signaling that the Ethereum Foundation will become leaner, more focused, and less financially dependent on selling ETH.

The comments come during one of the most turbulent periods the Ethereum Foundation has faced in recent years, following multiple high-profile resignations and renewed debate across the Ethereum community over governance, decentralization, and the organization’s evolving role within the ecosystem.

Ethereum Foundation Plans to “Sell Less ETH”

Buterin said the Ethereum Foundation is now prioritizing “longevity over breadth,” a strategy that will involve reducing operational scope and lowering the amount of ETH sold from the foundation’s treasury over time.

According to Buterin, the organization intends to focus only on areas considered critical to Ethereum’s long-term resilience and security, particularly work that “would not happen otherwise” without foundation support.

He described the Ethereum Foundation as only “one node” within the broader Ethereum ecosystem rather than the central authority governing the network.

The Ethereum co-founder also noted that the foundation currently controls only around 0.16% of the total ETH supply, significantly less than the ownership concentration seen in many competing blockchain foundations.

The foundation originally received roughly 6 million ETH from Ethereum’s 2014 crowdsale allocation, representing approximately 10% of the ETH sold during the launch period.

Researcher Exodus Intensifies Pressure on the Foundation

Buterin’s remarks arrive amid a widening series of exits from the Ethereum Foundation throughout 2026.

At least eight senior contributors have either resigned or announced plans to leave the organization this year, including several protocol researchers and leadership figures.

Earlier this month alone, multiple senior researchers departed the foundation, while former co-executive director Tomasz Stańczak stepped down from leadership duties. Protocol Cluster co-lead Alex Stokes also recently began a sabbatical leave.

The restructuring process has fueled broader discussions within the Ethereum community around execution speed, governance culture, ecosystem priorities, and the foundation’s long-term strategic direction.

Former Ethereum Foundation developer Dankrad Feist also recently proposed raising $1 billion for an independent Ethereum advocacy organization that would operate more closely aligned with ETH as an asset.

Buterin Defends Foundation’s Decentralization Philosophy

In the post, Buterin acknowledged that many community members have criticized the foundation for failing to fully align its actions with Ethereum’s public messaging around decentralization, privacy, and censorship resistance.

He admitted such criticism had personally affected him, describing it as the type of feedback that causes him “pain.”

At the same time, Buterin reiterated that Ethereum’s long-term strength depends on avoiding excessive centralization around any single institution, including the Ethereum Foundation itself.

He added that his own influence inside the organization is expected to continue decreasing over time, something he described as intentional.

The Ethereum Foundation’s restructuring strategy closely follows the organization’s previously introduced CROPS framework, which emphasizes censorship resistance, open-source development, privacy, and security.

The framework itself previously generated internal debate following reports about employee loyalty pledges and controversy surrounding cultural references linked to the online Milady community.

Ethereum’s Next Phase Focuses on Security and Infrastructure

Alongside governance issues, Buterin also outlined several technical priorities he believes should shape Ethereum’s next development phase.

One major objective involves building what he described as “provably bug-free Ethereum” through AI-assisted formal verification systems, an approach he said was previously viewed as unrealistic until recent advances in artificial intelligence.

He also emphasized Ethereum’s focus on maintaining highly resilient consensus infrastructure while minimizing reliance on intermediaries within the ecosystem.

Among the initiatives highlighted were FOCIL, EIP-8141, EIP-7701, and the Ethereum Foundation’s Kohaku wallet framework.

Buterin rejected the idea that Ethereum should compete primarily on transaction speed alone, arguing that sacrificing decentralization in pursuit of higher throughput would ultimately weaken Ethereum’s long-term position.

He stated that Ethereum should not rely heavily on social coordination or emergency hard forks to recover from major validator failures, arguing that higher standards are necessary for networks aiming to function as globally neutral financial infrastructure.

Ethereum Foundation Moves Towards a Leaner Structure

Buterin ultimately described the Ethereum Foundation’s future as becoming “a smaller ship,” but one designed for greater long-term durability and clearer priorities.

According to him, the organization is evolving into a more focused institution that may appear more opinionated in some areas but will likely operate with a narrower mandate than in previous years.

He suggested that the foundation’s longer-term structure should stabilize over the coming months as the current transition phase progresses.

The broader developments reflect how Ethereum is increasingly entering a more institutionally complex stage as it continues evolving into foundational infrastructure for decentralized finance, tokenization, and blockchain-based financial systems.

At the same time, the ongoing departures of senior contributors continue raising questions inside the community about Ethereum’s future governance model, execution speed, and ability to compete with faster-moving blockchain ecosystems.