The Ethereum Foundation (EF) announced on March 23 the completion of a months-long organizational restructuring, resulting in the departure of 54 employees — approximately 20% of its workforce — and a shift to a five-cluster structure. The changes align with a new mandate and financial management policy.
New Cluster Structure
The new structure comprises five domain clusters: Protocol, Access, User, Community, and Institutional, plus an Operations cluster and a management-direct team. Each cluster has its own internal structure and performance indicators tailored to its area of responsibility. The EF stated in a blog post that the reorganization ensures it has "the structure, activities, and personnel necessary to carry out the critical tasks at hand."
Many departing staff are expected to continue contributing to the Ethereum ecosystem from outside the foundation over the coming weeks.
Cluster Roles and Responsibilities
The Protocol cluster focuses on strengthening and scaling the Ethereum protocol while maintaining censorship resistance, open-source principles, privacy, and security (CROPS). It also handles research into post-quantum security, zkEVM, and L1 privacy.
The Access cluster aims to enable users to read, transact, prove, delegate, and exit the chain without relying on unverifiable intermediaries. Its guiding principle is "zero option" — ensuring a non-intermediated alternative path exists for every path that involves an intermediary.
The Institutional cluster supports financial institutions, corporations, governments, universities, and nonprofits in integrating Ethereum, and collaborates with researchers and advocacy groups worldwide to track and respond to policy and regulatory developments.
18-Month Transformation
The announcement marks the formal end of an 18-month transformation. In January 2025, Vitalik Buterin announced a major leadership overhaul following calls for renewal from Joseph Lubin and others, appointing Xiao-Wei Wang and Tomasz Stańczak as co-executive directors. Stańczak stepped down in February 2026, and Wang left this month. Several key figures have also departed, including Josh Stark, protocol team members Tim Beiko and Barnabé Monnot, and researchers Carl Beek and Julian Ma.
Some former researchers have already begun external activities. A new nonprofit, EthLab, backed by Lubin, Bitmain, and SharpLink, was established this week. The EF plans to release further details on how each cluster will operate and coordinate with the ecosystem over the coming weeks and months.