Vitalik Buterin Unveils Leadership Overhaul at Ethereum Foundation to Boost Technical Focus
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has announced significant leadership changes at the Ethereum Foundation, aiming to prioritize technical expertise and strengthen collaboration with developers in the ecosystem. The announcement, made on January 18 via an X post, outlined a vision to support decentralized application developers while upholding Ethereum’s core principles of decentralization, censorship resistance, and privacy. Buterin emphasized that the Ethereum Foundation will avoid political lobbying or ideological shifts, maintaining its decentralized ethos.
Ethereum Foundation Faces Criticism Over Spending Practices
The leadership shift follows a challenging year in 2024, during which the Foundation faced criticism over its spending practices, roadmap execution, and personnel policies. A key turning point came in May 2024 when the Ethereum Foundation introduced a conflict-of-interest policy after several researchers, including Justin Drake and Dankrad Feist, accepted paid advisory roles at EigenLayer Foundation. The controversy surrounding these roles led to Drake stepping down in November 2024 and issuing an apology to the Ethereum community. He pledged to avoid future advisory roles, angel investments, and similar positions.
The Dencun upgrade in March 2024 further shaped the Ethereum ecosystem by slashing layer-2 transaction fees by 99%, spurring a surge in layer-2 networks. According to L2Beat, Ethereum now hosts 55 layer-2 rollups. However, this proliferation raised concerns among stakeholders, who argued that layer-2 networks were cannibalizing revenue on Ethereum’s base layer. Network revenues plummeted by 99% during the summer but eventually rebounded by year-end, according to Token Terminal.
Buterin Donates $170K in ETH to Support Tornado Cash Developers
Last month, Buterin stepped forward with a substantial donation to support the legal defense of Tornado Cash developers Roman Storm and Alexey Pertsev. As reported, according to the Juicebox project “Free Pertsev and Storm,” Buterin contributed 50 Ether (ETH), valued at approximately $170,000 at the time, to the fund aimed at aiding the developers as they face serious legal challenges. The donation constitutes about 25% of the $650,000 currently available to the Tornado Cash developers through JusticeDAO, a community-driven initiative dedicated to funding their legal battles. Buterin had previously donated 100 ETH, then valued at $240,000, in October, signaling his consistent support for the developers amid growing concerns about government overreach in the crypto space.
The legal troubles for the Tornado Cash team began in 2022 when Dutch authorities arrested Pertsev, later charging him with money laundering for his involvement with the cryptocurrency mixing service. In May 2024, Pertsev was found guilty and sentenced to over five years in prison. He is currently appealing the verdict. Meanwhile, U.S. prosecutors charged Storm and fellow developer Roman Semenov with money laundering, sanctions violations, and fraud. Storm, released on bail, is scheduled to stand trial on April 14, while Semenov remains at large.
Buterin has also recently called on Elon Musk to moderate the tone of his discussions on X following a controversial exchange regarding foreign tech workers in the United States. In a Dec. 31 post, Buterin acknowledged Musk’s commitment to free speech but urged him to “turn down the temperature” on the platform’s discourse.