Vitalik Buterin Signals 40% Budget Cut in Ethereum Foundation Overhaul

The cutback comes on the same day the Foundation confirmed a 20% workforce reduction and follows the resignation of co-executive director Hsiao-Wei Wang. Her exit brings the total number of senior Ethereum Foundation leaders who have departed since January to nine, highlighting the extent of the organization’s ongoing instability.

The Ethereum Foundation (EF) plans to reduce its budget by roughly 40% this year as it shifts toward a leaner, endowment-style operating model, according to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin in a blog post published Tuesday.

Buterin said the spending cuts are designed to move the Foundation away from its current pace of spending about 15% of its treasury annually before 2026, toward a long-term target of roughly 5% per year after 2030.

“I respect my EF colleagues far too much to pretend that there was not much that is lost,” Buterin wrote, acknowledging the difficult trade-offs involved, including the departure of experienced engineers who have contributed to Ethereum for years.

The Foundation aims to protect funding for Ethereum’s ambitious roadmap—described by Buterin as the protocol’s “third iteration” following the Merge—while trimming costs in other areas. Planned changes include winding down the Privacy and Scaling Explorations (PSE) unit, hosting smaller and less expensive Devcon events, narrowing its institutional focus, and shifting toward more specialized client teams supported by AI-driven formal verification.

Buterin also reiterated his vision of a “lean-and-done” future for Ethereum once its current roadmap is complete, with development efforts centered on security improvements and a limited number of high-impact upgrades rather than continuous feature expansion.

The announcement comes as Ethereum faces increasing pressure to strengthen its competitive standing against rival blockchains, while also dealing with internal leadership turnover and a broader effort to redefine the Foundation’s role within the ecosystem.

Read more: Ethereum Foundation cuts 20% of staff