On May 25, 2026, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin published a long article on the X platform, detailing his personal views on the future positioning of the Ethereum Foundation (EF). This statement quickly attracted attention from the global crypto community and was interpreted by several media outlets as a signal of EF's proactive “decentralized self-revolution”.

Vitalik clearly pointed out that EF is transitioning to a “smaller scale, more long-termism” operational model, holding only about 0.16% of the total ETH supply, and will focus resources on core blockchain attributes such as censorship resistance, capture resistance, openness, privacy, and security (collectively known as CROPS), rather than broadly engaging in ecological construction and market promotion functions. He bluntly stated: “This means we will sell less ETH.” This stance directly responds to recent community concerns about the foundation's ETH selling activities and the discussions surrounding the departure of several senior researchers since 2026, viewed by the market as a long-term positive.

Vitalik emphasized that the EF board is expanding, and his personal influence will further decline ——“and that is exactly what I hope for”. He recalled the significant improvements EF made in execution and goal focus in 2025, but pointed out that one of his most troubling criticisms earlier this year was: “Vitalik verbally emphasizes that Ethereum needs decentralization, privacy, and sheltering technologies. Why are the actual actions of EF inconsistent with this?” This kind of “inconsistency between words and actions” prompted him to push EF from being the “center of Ethereum” back to being “one node in the ecosystem.” This shift is not sudden but rather a recalibration of the foundation's historical mission: EF was originally designed to complete the technological roadmap from Frontier, Homestead, Metropolis to Serenity, a mission fully accomplished in 2022, and not an eternal “caretaker” role.

Unlike many public chain foundations that hold 10%-50% of their native tokens, EF currently holds only about 0.16% of ETH, which is lower than that of many individual whales. Vitalik clearly stated that EF will utilize its remaining resources to pursue “longevity over breadth” (long-term resilience over broad expansion), which directly means “selling less ETH.” Recently, the foundation removed approximately 21,270 ETH from Lido's staking, but Vitalik clarified that this move was aimed at adjusting the capital structure rather than immediate selling. Multiple media outlets pointed out that this statement alleviated market concerns about ongoing selling pressure. Currently, ETH prices hover around $2,094 to $2,100, which is nearly cut in half from the historical peak of nearly $5,000 in August 2025, with community expectations of the foundation's role shifting from “ecological promoter” to “protocol guardian.”

Ethereum's “profound impression” rather than a mere speed race

Vitalik's core argument is that EF must focus on the key work that “will not happen naturally otherwise,” which is to ensure Ethereum serves as a system for censorship resistance, capture resistance, openness, privacy, and security. EF will make “difficult choices,” including relocating some highly recognized technical talents and projects externally to attract more external capital. This does not mean denying these works but acknowledging that EF's resources are limited and cannot encompass everything. “A high respect for CROPS values does not mean full-time focus.”

On a technical level, Vitalik emphasized that “Ethereum must be impressive.” In today's era of accelerated AI and technology, “the current EVM hard forks once or twice a year, only optimizing for short-term user needs” is not appealing. Many define “impressive” as a 250-millisecond latency and 1 million TPS, but he believes that if Ethereum only pursues “a little faster, a little more centralized,” it will become mediocre and ultimately lose to its competitors. Ethereum should expand, but its core competitiveness lies in the CROPS dimension:

 

• Provably bug-free Ethereum: With the help of AI-assisted formal verification, this goal, previously deemed “ridiculously impossible,” has come close to reality in the past six months, and EF should proactively lead this effort.
• Usable chain consensus: Ethereum is the only public chain that possesses both traditional BFT asynchronous security (high fault tolerance) and the Bitcoin-like synchronous tolerance for 49% attacks. Vitalik has strongly opposed relying on social consensus or hard forks to rescue 34% of nodes going offline, which is crucial for a decentralized system like Ethereum, rather than being an expedient measure for chains like Hyperledger, BNB, or Solana.
• Minimizing intermediaries: Privacy protocols like smart contract wallets and Railgun still require intermediaries to be on-chain, and this “awkward weakness” must be addressed. FOCIL, EIP-8141 (and earlier, 7701, etc.) aim to achieve minimizing intermediaries under a public memory pool, covering secp256r1 and privacy protocols. Projects like Kohaku are pushing this change from the user layer to avoid wallet reliance on third-party server verification of on-chain data.

These goals are entirely compatible with high TPS, particularly through state expansion research, targeted L2 (high-frequency trading, privacy dedicated), and optimizations by Raul and others in erasing encoding P2P, which may even achieve shorter slot times. Vitalik pointed out that ETH, as the most valuable “product” of Ethereum, has anchored a market value of $250 billion, and its CROPS attributes directly benefit the asset value of ETH. Nearly 90% of his net worth is in ETH, with the remainder primarily used for public welfare in open-source biotechnology, emphasizing that certain necessary works to support ETH assets need to be undertaken by “other heroes” (some with holdings exceeding that of EF), and EF is considering how to provide initial support without dominating.

The wave of departures, selling pressure doubts, and decentralization debates

Since 2026, EF has seen as many as eight senior members depart, sparking discussions about “researcher outflow.” The community has long questioned whether EF's frequent sales of ETH affect price stability and whether it has become overly involved in ecological business development (BD) and deviated from the protocol's core. Vitalik made a Google analogy: the early idealistic “Don’t Be Evil” slogan has gradually faded under mainstream corporate culture; if a company can become more “dogmatic” and resistant to the tides of the times, it will bring greater value to the overall balance of freedom and power in society. This is his version of “pluralism”—EF should become that “Unreasonable Man,” upholding ideals rather than going with the flow.
Some voices pointed out that Ethereum has been inadequate in its tokenomics considerations since the Dencun upgrade, leading to a sharp drop in L2 fees, which benefits users but weakens base layer income. Some investors hope EF will more actively market and support ETH prices. But Vitalik clearly rejected this: EF is not a corporate sponsor and will not engage in price management or directly compete with high-throughput chains. “EF is not the center of Ethereum but rather a node in the ecosystem.” This statement is seen as a direct response to criticisms of centralization and resonates with the new mission of EF released in March—focusing on protocol durability, decentralization, research, and security.

Diverse voices under favorable signals

Many media outlets emphasized that “reducing ETH sales” will alleviate selling pressure and strengthen the foundation's long-term resilience. On the X platform, community reactions are polarized but generally positive: some developers praised it as “the most cypherpunk statement”, believing that EF voluntarily reduces power and focuses on principles rather than speed, is a rare form of self-restraint; while others pointed out that talent loss might affect roadmap execution, calling for “other heroes” to quickly fill ecological promotion gaps. Vitalik himself later responded, highlighting external contributors in areas like ZKEVM, indicating an ecological collaboration orientation.

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Currently, Gate.io is launching promotional activities for new users: new registered users can receive trading fee refunds and limited-time benefit packages after completing a simple verification process, helping investors lay out Ethereum at low cost. The long-termism and CROPS philosophy emphasized by Vitalik have also led many investors to choose to hold or trade ETH in a mature and secure platform like Gate.io.

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The Ethereum ecosystem's “decentralized self-revolution”

Vitalik's statement is not an end but the starting point of EF's transformation period. The new form is expected to stabilize within a few months. The foundation will be more “lean” and focused, but this does not mean a slowdown for Ethereum as a whole—L2s and external organizations will take on more growth functions. ETH holders may see this as an endorsement of long-term asset value: the CROPS attributes directly enhance security and scarcity, rather than short-term speculation.
In the context of the crypto industry chasing speed, capital, and power, this choice by EF is rare. It reminds practitioners that the ultimate competitiveness of blockchain lies in minimizing trust and resistance to capture, rather than a single metric competition. This “proactive slimming” may increase short-term volatility but lays the foundation for Ethereum's unique position in the era of accelerated AI. As Vitalik stated, EF will become a “smaller, more opinionated, but more enduring vessel” to ensure Ethereum brings something truly meaningful to the world.

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