Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin outlined a significant restructuring. Ethereum Foundation (EF)Including a sharp reduction in operating budget and workforce. The changes reflect a deliberate shift towards the long term financial a narrower focus on sustainability and core protocol priorities.
On June 23, 2026, Buterin announced: E.F. It is reducing its annual budget by about 40% this year. This arrangement forms part of a broader shift to an endowment-style model designed for greater longevity.
The organization previously spent about 15% of its remaining treasury assets each year; The new target is to reduce this rate to approximately 5% annually after 2030.
EF is reducing its budget by approximately 40% this year, which will require some difficult decisions. The target of the reductions was stated in the Treasury Management Policy last year: EF is transforming into a donation-based organization with a long-term focus, changing…
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) June 23, 2026
Buterin described the process as one that involves difficult choices but requires adaptation. spending With a more measured and permanent approach rather than short-term expansion.
Budget measures coincide with a parallel operational overhaul. EF has confirmed it will eliminate 54 positions, accounting for around 20% of its staff.
These reductions result from months of restructuring based on the foundation’s updated mission and treasury management policy.
The resulting structure reorganizes the nonprofit into five major domain-focused clusters (Protocol, Access, User, Community, and Enterprise), along with operations and management support teams.
The changes make EF “leaner and more focused” at executing critical long-term work without undue sensitivity to market fluctuations, officials said.
Buterin underlined transparency regarding these concessions. He noted that some work will shift to outside contributors. E.F.Not all gaps can be filled externally.
Specific adjustments include evolving the multi-client strategy from a primarily redundancy-based strategy security towards greater specialization for specific protocol components and greater reliance on AI-powered formal verification.
The Privacy and Scaling Research (PSE) unit concludes with efforts to directly implement zero-knowledge proof technologies at the protocol and access layers.
Devcon events are expected to shrink in size and cost over time, and the foundation is planning fewer large-scale projects beyond the foundation Ethereum development.
Institutional activities will be narrowed down to creating targeted, repeatable deployment patterns consistent with self-sovereignty principles.
These steps affect nearly every layer of Ethereum – consensus, proofs, privacyaccount models and case management.
Buterin framed the general direction as prioritizing depth over breadth, aiming for a “soft lean-and-done” phase once major upgrades are completed, with a higher threshold for new features to maintain the protocol’s flexibility and resistance to capture.
The announcements follow recent leadership changes at EF, including the resignation of Co-Executive Director Hsiao-Wei Wang.
Departing staff will receive severance packages and transition support; many are expected to continue to contribute more broadly. Ethereum ecosystem.
Buterin He expressed confidence in Ethereum’s position despite recent challenges, highlighting adaptation both within and outside the foundation. reset positioned As a maturation step that strengthens the focus on Ethereum’s core strengths while promoting financial discipline in the long term.
