Key Takeaways
- Approximately 54 employees, representing roughly 20% of the Ethereum Foundation’s workforce, have been let go across multiple departments.
- Co-founder Vitalik Buterin disclosed plans to slash the EF’s yearly budget by 40% starting in 2026.
- The foundation is transitioning toward a more streamlined approach, aiming to spend just 5% of its treasury annually by 2030, compared to 15% previously.
- ETH currently hovers around $1,660, with crucial support established at $1,611 and additional downside risk at $1,524.
- Since the start of the year, nine high-ranking EF members have departed, while a competing entity named Ethlabs has emerged.
The Ethereum Foundation has finalized a significant organizational overhaul, eliminating approximately 54 positionsāroughly one-fifth of its total staffāwhile confirming plans to decrease its 2026 budget by 40%. Ethereum’s co-creator Vitalik Buterin revealed these developments in a Tuesday blog post.
According to the EF, this reorganization represents the culmination of several months of strategic planning. The foundation’s structure has been reimagined into five distinct clusters addressing protocol development, accessibility, user experience, community engagement, and institutional relations, supplemented by two additional clusters dedicated to operations and administration.
Buterin explained that these financial cutbacks are elements of a broader strategic pivot. The foundation intends to decrease its yearly expenditure from approximately 15% of its treasury assets (pre-2026 levels) to roughly 5% annually beyond 2030.
“I respect my EF colleagues far too much to pretend that there was not much that is lost,” Buterin stated, openly recognizing the personal impact of the workforce reductions.
The organizational changes also involve discontinuing the Privacy and Scaling Explorations division, scaling back Devcon conference activities, and adopting a more focused institutional approach.
High-Level Exits and Mounting Challenges
These reductions come on the heels of co-Executive Director Hsiao-Wei Wang’s resignation. Her exit marks the ninth senior leadership departure from the EF since January began. Notable former leaders Tim Beiko and Josh Stark are also included among recent departures.
Market analyst Daan Crypto Trades (@DaanCrypto) shared observations about ETH’s price movement on X, highlighting that ETH continues facing resistance at the $1,750 thresholdāmatching February’s bottom. He noted that bullish traders would need to establish a higher low near that zone and successfully breach it on subsequent attempts. “If they can’t, this will just start bleeding lower and test that ~$1.5K region again,” he commented, emphasizing his preference to see ETH sustain levels above $1,750 for bullish confirmation.
Earlier this week, Ethlabs made its debut as a fresh research and development initiative serving the Ethereum ecosystem. The organization was established by five ex-senior EF researchers and enjoys financial backing from BitMine, SharpLink, and Ethereum co-creator Joe Lubin.
ETH Price Faces Downward Pressure
ETH is presently changing hands near $1,660. The price remains beneath the 20-, 50-, and 100-day exponential moving averages positioned at $1,753, $1,901, and $2,064 respectively.
The cryptocurrency has experienced $157 million in liquidations over the previous 24-hour period, with long positions accounting for $140 million of that total, based on Coinglass data.
ETH is nearing the $1,611 support threshold following rejection at both the descending trendline and the 20-day EMA. A breakdown beneath $1,611 would bring $1,524 into play as the next significant level, with $1,404 and $1,155 representing subsequent downside targets.
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