Ethereum Foundation Cuts 20% of Staff in Sweeping Reorganization

The Ethereum Foundation has cut 54 employees, roughly 20% of its staff, in the most concrete austerity measure the organization has taken since pledging to reduce its treasury spending rate.

The Foundation announced the changes Tuesday, saying the cuts conclude a months-long reorganization tied to its updated Mandate and Treasury Management Policy. Vitalik Buterin separately posted on X that the EF is cutting its annual budget by approximately 40% this year, targeting a reduction in annual operating expenses from around 15% of treasury to a long-term baseline of 5% after 2030.

[[embed:tweet url="https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/2069428396661051587"]] Arkham Intelligence tracked the EF's ETH holdings at approximately $209 million, a nearly six-year low by dollar value, as The Defiant has reported in this arc.

New Structure

The Foundation has reorganized into five domains: protocol layer, access layer, user layer, community layer, and institutional layer, plus operations and management clusters. The protocol cluster is focused on advancing the base layer without compromising censorship resistance or self-sovereignty guarantees; the institutional cluster handles enterprise engagement, financial infrastructure, and policy coordination. The EF said the process leaves it with "the structure, activities, and people necessary for execution on the critical tasks ahead." Departing staff receive severance at one month's pay per year of service, or the locally mandated minimum if higher, plus transition grants.

The 15%-to-5% glide path was codified in the Treasury Management Policy published in June 2025, which set a plan to reduce annual operating expenses roughly linearly over five years toward a baseline typical of endowment-based organizations.

Leadership Turnover

The layoffs follow a string of senior departures. Co-executive director Hsiao-Wei Wang stepped down earlier this month, following the prior exit of co-executive director Tomasz Stańczak. Board member Bastian Aue has taken on expanded responsibilities overseeing the transition. Nine senior figures have departed the Foundation since January, as The Defiant covered in May.

The funding picture has drawn scrutiny. An insider warned of a $20-30 million gap affecting core development teams; Fundstrat's Tom Lee argued there was "zero chance" of a funding crisis. The EF's execution plan published Monday outlined priorities including MEV elimination, default privacy, and ETH-denominated pay for contributors. As of publication, the EF has made no additional public statement beyond the Tuesday blog post.