Answer Box: Ethereum is transitioning from a foundation-centric model to a multi-node ecosystem, as highlighted by Vitalik Buterin and EF Chair Aya Miyaguchi at ETH HK Hub on April 21, 2026. The Ethereum Foundation (EF) has restructured to focus on core values, while independent organizations like Ethlabs and Ethereum Institutional have emerged to handle R&D and institutional adoption. This shift aims to enhance long-term resilience and reduce dependency on a single entity.
EF restructuring and the rise of new organizations
Over the past two months, the Ethereum ecosystem has seen significant changes. On June 23, the Ethereum Foundation announced a new organizational structure covering protocol, access, user, community, and institutional layers, along with operational support. This restructuring aligns with EF's long-term strategy to focus on core values: censorship resistance, openness, privacy, and security (CROPS).
Shortly before, on May 24, Vitalik Buterin published a post emphasizing "longevity over breadth," reducing ETH sales and EF spending, and positioning EF as "one node, with a defined purpose" rather than the center of Ethereum. He advocated for a pluralistic ecosystem with multiple specialized nodes working in coordination.
Around the same time, Ethlabs was launched as an independent non-profit R&D organization, founded by five former EF researchers. Supported by Bitmine, Sharplink, Joe Lubin, and SNZ, Ethlabs focuses on preparing Ethereum for institutional adoption, agentic finance, DeFi, stablecoins, and real-world assets. It works alongside EF on protocol development, contributing to the multi-node vision.
On July 1, Ethereum Institutional went live as a separate non-profit, serving as the ecosystem's dedicated institutional front door. It takes over EF's go-to-market functions for institutions, focusing on education, insights, marketing, standards, and events. The same day, EF's global policy team released a guide for governments and institutions, positioning Ethereum as neutral digital public infrastructure.
Aya Miyaguchi on the 'walk-away test' and subtraction philosophy
At ETH HK Hub, Aya Miyaguchi discussed EF's "subtraction philosophy," centered on the "walk-away test." She stated that EF's long-term goal is for the system to function even without the foundation. "Ethereum must pass the walk-away test—even without the Ethereum Foundation, the entire system should still run normally," she said.
Miyaguchi recalled that during the ICO boom, many advised EF to expand like a traditional tech company, adding CTO and CMO roles. Instead, EF chose not to centralize. "If the foundation builds everything for the ecosystem, participants become dependent. In the long run, that weakens competition, and without competition, there are no optimal solutions," she explained.
She emphasized that success means "the foundation does less, but Ethereum becomes stronger." The emergence of Ethlabs, Ethereum Institutional, Etherealize, and local hubs like ETH HK Hub reflects this philosophy: as the base protocol matures, the ecosystem needs multiple independent organizations with shared beliefs, each taking on different responsibilities.
Vitalik on the boundaries of protocol coordination
Vitalik Buterin drew a clear distinction between core protocol development and L2 development. "Core protocol development and L2 development are completely different in difficulty. L2 is more like a free market. If an outsider builds something better, they have a chance to win," he said at ETH HK Hub.
Core protocol development, however, requires long-term coordination with existing developers, client teams, researchers, and the community to achieve consensus on upgrades. The key question, Vitalik noted, is whether these efforts still serve Ethereum's long-term protocol goals—maintaining credible neutrality, security, privacy, censorship resistance, and its nature as public infrastructure.
Why Hong Kong matters
During the roundtable, Aya Miyaguchi highlighted that the emerging community hub in Hong Kong is itself a manifestation of EF's subtraction philosophy. If Ethereum's future is driven by multiple independent nodes rather than a single center, local hubs become essential infrastructure—not just event spaces but connectors for developers, institutions, researchers, capital, policymakers, and builders.
Hong Kong sits at the intersection of East and West, serving as a global financial hub and a bridge between Chinese-speaking builders and the global Ethereum community. It is also close to Shenzhen's hardware, AI, and manufacturing ecosystems. The presence of Ethereum Institutional in Hong Kong and Singapore, support from SNZ for Ethlabs, and the establishment of ETH HK Hub as Asia's first physical Ethereum community center all point to Asia becoming a key node for institutional adoption and builder coordination.
What has really changed in two months?
Many have asked: What happened to EF? Who left? Who started new organizations? Will Ethlabs replace EF? Does Ethereum Institutional mean Ethereum is actively courting institutional markets?
Looking back at the April 21 conversations, the answers become clearer. EF is focusing more on what it should protect: protocol neutrality, long-term security, openness, privacy, censorship resistance, and self-sovereignty. Meanwhile, the ecosystem has produced specialized organizations handling R&D, institutional adoption, capital market narratives, local community coordination, developer education, and policy communication.
EF doing less does not mean Ethereum doing less. On the contrary, it calls for more people, more organizations, more regions, and more builders to step up. The biggest theme of the past two months is Ethereum continuing to prove what it has always believed: a resilient ecosystem relies on constantly generating new nodes, new forms of collaboration, and new builders.
ETH HK Hub, operated by SNZ and ETHTAO with support from the Ethereum Foundation, aims to participate in this future by serving as a long-term coordination node in Hong Kong and Asia.