The Ethereum Foundation (EF) announced on June 23 that it has laid off 54 employees, roughly 20% of its workforce, and adopted a new organizational structure. The move follows a months-long restructuring aligned with the foundation's mandate and financial management policies.
New Cluster-Based Structure
The new structure centers on five operational clusters: Protocol, Access, User, Community, and Institutional. Additional clusters for Operations and Management are also being established. Each cluster will focus on safeguarding Ethereum's core values—censorship resistance, capture resistance, privacy, and security—by concentrating resources on distinct responsibilities.
The announcement came one day after five former senior EF researchers launched Ethlabs, an independent nonprofit research and development organization.
Budget Cuts and Long-Term Planning
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin revealed on X the same day that the EF's budget will be cut by approximately 40%. He explained that the reduction is part of a transition from the current spending rate of about 15% of remaining funds per year (expected to last until 2026) to a long-term target of roughly 5% annual spending after 2030. Buterin also mentioned downsizing the Privacy and Scaling Explorations (PSE) team and scaling back the annual Devcon conference.
The restructuring follows recent executive departures, including the resignation of co-executive director Hsiao-Wei Wang, which had highlighted internal turmoil at the foundation.