Vitalik Wants a Smaller, More Ideological Ethereum Foundation — ETH Holders Want a Bigger Ship

Vitalik Buterin has posted his vision for the Ethereum Foundation's future: a leaner, more opinionated institution that focuses only on what it alone can credibly deliver — censorship resistance, open-source infrastructure, privacy, and security — while handing business development, asset narrative, and institutional coordination to outside organizations. At least nine senior EF members have left in 2026, and Buterin frames the departures as decentralization in practice rather than brain drain.

The fiscal math is stark. The EF's April staking move reached roughly 69,500 ETH toward a 70,000 ETH target, generating an estimated $3.9–5.4 million annually — against historical operating costs near $100 million per year. Selling less ETH, under those numbers, means a smaller EF by fiscal necessity as much as by philosophical design.