The Ethereum Foundation has concluded a months-long internal overhaul by letting go of 54 employees, approximately 20% of its total workforce. The non-profit described the move as necessary to become "leaner and more focused" as it steps into a new phase of operations.
The 38-Page Mandate That Triggered the Overhaul
The seeds of this restructuring were planted in March, when the Foundation published what it calls the "Mandate," a 38-page document it describes as "part constitution, part manifesto." That framework, paired with the rollout of a new treasury management policy, formed the basis for the reorganization now brought to completion. Announcing the conclusion on social media, the Foundation said it has come through the process with "the structure, activities, and people necessary for execution on the critical tasks ahead."
Five Clusters, Seven Divisions in Total
From here, the Foundation's work will be distributed across five distinct clusters: the protocol layer, the access layer, the user layer, the community layer, and the institutional layer. Two additional clusters covering operations and management bring the overall number of internal divisions to seven.
The Foundation explained in a blog post that each cluster will operate under its own approach, its own accountability standards, and its own internal structure suited to the nature of the work involved. In practice, the protocol layer will lead efforts to scale and harden the Ethereum mainnet, while the access layer will handle on-chain transactions, data reading, and delegation.
A Year of High-Profile Departures
The announcement lands just one week after co-director Hsiao-Wei Wang stepped down from her position, the latest in a string of notable exits from the Foundation's leadership. Before her, former co-director Tomasz Stanczak had left the organization in February. A year earlier, leading researcher Dankrad Feist departed to work on Tempo, Stripe's stablecoin blockchain project. Taken together, these departures paint a picture of substantial leadership churn over the past twelve months.
Vitalik Buterin: Honest About the Loss, Confident About the Future
Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin had telegraphed the move toward a smaller team the previous month, but when the decision was made final, he did not minimize its human cost. He said he would not pretend "that nothing of great value was lost," and openly recognized the contributions departing staff had made to both the Foundation and the broader Ethereum ecosystem.
On the road ahead, Buterin kept a steady tone. Posting on social media, he wrote: "The past years have been a challenging era for Ethereum. However, the ecosystem is adapting, both inside the EF and outside, and I am confident that Ethereum is very well-positioned to succeed and thrive."
Ethlabs Launches the Same Day, Built by Former EF Researchers
On the same Monday the layoffs were confirmed, a new non-profit research and development organization called Ethlabs officially launched. The group was founded by former Ethereum Foundation researchers and is backed by leading Ethereum treasury firms, including BitMine Immersion Technologies and Sharplink. Ethlabs has set its opening priority on building a stronger bridge between institutional participants and the Ethereum network.
