Ethereum Foundation Restructures and Cuts Jobs as EthLabs Advances Decentralization

Ethereum went live on July 30, 2015, expanding blockchain technology beyond payments into a programmable platform for smart contracts. It has since become core infrastructure for decentralized finance, stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets. Development is coordinated across an open-source community, with the Switzerland-based Ethereum Foundation serving as a key steward, making changes to the nonprofit’s leadership, funding and strategic priorities consequential for the network’s direction.

As Ethereum marked its 11th anniversary, the Foundation was emerging from a major overhaul. It eliminated 54 positions, or about 20% of staff, on June 23, 2026, after roughly nine senior departures in six months, while the network completed its Fusaka upgrade on Dec. 3, 2025. Institutional use kept expanding: BlackRock’s onchain tokenized funds reached $2.93 billion, including $1.1 billion on Ethereum, and JPMorgan launched its second Ethereum-based tokenized money-market fund, JLTXX, in May 2026.

The Ethereum Foundation is a nonprofit organization that supports Ethereum protocol research and development, public infrastructure and ecosystem coordination. Its allocation of staff and funding can affect upgrades to the underlying protocol and the direction of decentralization. Building on the organizational mission and treasury-management policy adopted in 2025, the restructuring is intended to concentrate resources on protecting core values including censorship resistance, open source, privacy and security.

On June 23, 2026, the Ethereum Foundation said it had completed a months-long restructuring, cutting 54 jobs, or about 20% of its workforce, and creating five clusters focused on protocol, access, users, community and institutions. Departing employees will receive the greater of one month’s salary for each year of service or the locally mandated amount, as well as career-transition support and a small transitional allowance. Vitalik Buterin said the same day that the 2026 budget would be cut by about 40%.

The Ethereum Foundation, or EF, supports Ethereum protocol research and development and the broader ecosystem. Before 2026, its annual spending amounted to about 15% of its remaining treasury, with a goal of lowering that figure to roughly 5% after 2030. The restructuring is designed to secure funding for the core roadmap and shift EF toward a long-term operating model similar to a university endowment. The foundation has not disclosed the budget's absolute value.

Vitalik Buterin announced on June 23, 2026, that EF would cut this year's budget by about 40%, while the foundation confirmed a 20% reduction in headcount the same day. Nine senior executives have departed since January 2026. EF will gradually wind down its Privacy & Scaling Explorations unit, scale back Devcon and reorganize the unit into a specialist client team using AI-assisted formal verification.