Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin Unveils New Leadership Structure for the Ethereum Foundation

Emphasizing technical expertise and a closer connection with builders in the Ethereum ecosystem.

In a bid to quell mounting criticism, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has announced sweeping changes to the leadership structure of the Ethereum Foundation, emphasizing technical expertise and a closer connection with builders in the Ethereum ecosystem.

Buterin's announcement, posted on X (formerly Twitter) on January 18, outlines several key goals aimed at improving Ethereum’s development and communication, underscoring the Foundation's commitment to decentralization, censorship resistance, and privacy.

The announcement comes amid a challenging year for the Ethereum Foundation, with several controversies and internal conflicts sparking unease within the Ethereum community.

One major point of contention arose in May 2024, when two Ethereum Foundation researchers, Justin Drake and Dankrad Feist, accepted paid advisory roles at the EigenLayer Foundation, which oversees the development of Ethereum's restaking protocol. This conflict of interest drew criticism, leading the Ethereum Foundation to institute a new conflict-of-interest policy to ensure greater transparency and avoid similar situations in the future.

Of the two researchers, Drake eventually stepped down from his advisory position at EigenLayer in November 2024 and went on to publicly apologize to the Ethereum community for his actions, which were seen as an attempt to restore trust within the Ethereum ecosystem.

However, the controversy continued to fuel concerns about the Foundation's leadership.

Another key development in 2024 was the Dencun upgrade, which drastically reduced transaction fees for Ethereum's layer-2 networks by up to 99% when it was released in March.

While this reduction led to a massive surge in the number of layer-2 rollups, it also sparked concerns among market participants that the increased activity on layer-2 solutions was siphoning revenue away from Ethereum's base layer.

Data from Token Terminal showed that Ethereum's base layer network revenues plummeted by 99% during the summer of 2024, although it saw a strong recovery by the end of the year.

Despite the short-term revenue loss, the Ethereum ecosystem as a whole saw significant growth as layer-2 networks exploded in number and usage, signaling a shift toward more scalable solutions.