The reduction comes on the same day the EF confirmed a 20% reduction in headcount and follows the resignation of co-Executive Director Hsiao-Wei Wang. Her departure brings the total number of senior Ethereum Foundation figures to leave since January to nine, underscoring the scale of the organization's ongoing turmoil.

  • The Ethereum Foundation will cut its budget by roughly 40% this year as it transitions to a leaner, endowment-style model, with Vitalik Buterin saying the organization aims to reduce annual spending from about 15% of treasury assets to around 5% by 2030.
  • The announcement comes amid a broader shakeup at the Ethereum Foundation, including a 20% headcount reduction announced Tuesday and the resignation of co-Executive Director Hsiao-Wei Wang, bringing the total number of senior departures since January to nine.

The Ethereum Foundation (EF) will slash its budget by roughly 40% this year as part of a shift toward a leaner, endowment-style operating model, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said in a blog post published Tuesday.

The reduction comes on the same day the EF confirmed a 20% reduction in headcount and follows the resignation of co-Executive Director Hsiao-Wei Wang. Her departure brings the total number of senior Ethereum Foundation figures to leave since January to nine, underscoring the scale of the organization's ongoing turmoil.

Buterin said the spending cuts are aimed at transitioning the foundation from spending around 15% of its remaining treasury annually before 2026 to a long-term target of roughly 5% per year after 2030.

"I respect my EF colleagues far too much to pretend that there was not much that is lost," Buterin wrote, acknowledging that the cuts involve "difficult decisions" and the departure of experienced engineers who have worked on Ethereum for years.

The foundation is seeking to preserve funding for Ethereum's ambitious roadmap, which Buterin described as the protocol's "third iteration" after the Merge, while reducing costs elsewhere. Among the changes outlined were a wind-down of the Privacy and Scaling Explorations (PSE) unit, smaller and less costly Devcon conferences, a narrower institutional strategy, and a shift toward more specialized client teams supported by AI-assisted formal verification.

Buterin also reiterated his preference for a "lean-and-done" future for Ethereum once its current roadmap is completed, with protocol development focused primarily on security fixes and limited high-impact upgrades rather than continual feature expansion.

The comments come as Ethereum faces mounting pressure to improve its competitive position against rival blockchains while navigating internal leadership turnover and a broader effort to redefine the foundation's role in the ecosystem.

Read more: Ethereum Foundation cuts 20% of staff amid leadership exodus

In May, combined exchange volumes fell 3.45% to $4.41T; the lowest since September 2024. RWA perpetual futures volumes rose 10.4% against the trend, hitting a new all-time high.