Vitalik Buterin Defends Ethereum Foundation's Stance, Reaffirms Commitment to Neutral Position
According to the founder, the Ethereum Foundation controls under 1% of total ETH supply, a stark contrast to other protocol foundations which typically maintain 10-50% of their respective token supplies.
Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, has addressed mounting criticism directed at the Ethereum Foundation regarding its position within the broader Ethereum ecosystem, rejecting calls from critics who believe the organization should play a more proactive role in price support initiatives and promotional activities.
According to Buterin, the Foundation intends to maintain its focus on advancing censorship-resistance, developing open source software code, conducting long-range research, enhancing cybersecurity, and promoting decentralization of the Ethereum Protocol, consistent with its established mandate. He stated:
EF is not a 'center of Ethereum', rather EF is 'one node, with a defined purpose, alongside other nodes'. We have always said that the EF should be the latter, but many in the Ethereum ecosystem, and even within the EF, wanted us to be the former.
"Now, we are taking action to ensure that we will be the latter," he went on to say, emphasizing that while the Ethereum Foundation aims to bolster Ethereum's cybersecurity infrastructure and code base, it does not necessarily seek to rival high-throughput chains or achieve scaling to 1 million transactions per second.
These remarks come in the wake of multiple large ETH holders liquidating their complete ETH holdings and notable staff departures from the Ethereum Foundation, occurring as the cryptocurrency's current valuation, approximately $2,094, remains more than 50% beneath its all-time peak of nearly $5,000 that was achieved in August 2025.
"The EF has only about 0.16% of all ETH," he stated, pointing out that it is typical for other foundations to maintain 10-50% of their native tokens.
Under pressure amid falling token price
"I think Ethereum's original sin was not considering tokenomics with every move it made from Dencun on," stated cryptocurrency journalist Laura Shin.
The Dencun upgrade represented a significant protocol update that went live in March 2024, dramatically lowering network fees for layer-2 transactions and resulting in a subsequent decline in Ethereum's base layer revenue.
The majority of investors "don't want to believe in something that is not also putting up points on the scoreboard," Shin commented regarding ETH.
On Sunday, Buterin indicated that the Foundation would prioritize "longevity" and extend its financial resources to support research activities, implying it would conduct fewer ETH sales going forward.
During May, the Foundation withdrew 21,270 ETH from the Lido liquid staking platform, as part of its treasury management strategy.
The act of unstaking ETH indicates those assets will no longer produce yield for the Ethereum Foundation, though it does not represent a confirmation that the organization intends to sell those tokens.