Vitalik Buterin Just Cut the Ethereum Foundation's Budget by 40% — And 9 Senior Leaders Have Already Left This Year
One of the most important organizations in the history of blockchain technology is going through the biggest internal reset of its existence — and the entire crypto world is watching.
Vitalik Buterin has officially announced that the Ethereum Foundation will cut its operating budget by 40% — on the very same day the organization confirmed a 20% reduction in its total headcount.
Here is the full picture of what is happening:
◆ Co-Executive Director Hsiao-Wei Wang has resigned — one of the most senior figures at the Foundation
◆ Her departure brings the total number of senior Ethereum Foundation leaders to leave since January 2026 to nine — an extraordinary number in just six months
◆ The Foundation is simultaneously cutting budget by 40% and staff by 20% — the largest restructuring in its 10-year history
◆ In response, a brand new organization called Ethlabs has been formed — backed by SharpLink, Bitmine, and Consensys CEO Joe Lubin — to expand the network's development beyond the Ethereum Foundation
◆ Despite all of this internal turbulence, the Ethereum network itself is reporting record usage — Q1 2026 saw 13.2 million monthly active users, up 53.5% quarter-over-quarter
◆ Ethereum processed 200.4 million transactions in Q1 2026 — an all-time record for the network
◆ The network's upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade in H2 2026 will introduce parallel transaction execution and push gas limits beyond 100 million per unit — making it dramatically faster and cheaper
◆ A $10 billion Bitcoin and Ethereum options settlement is approaching this week — one of the largest derivatives events of 2026 — which is adding pressure across the entire market
◆ Meanwhile a $10 billion options expiry is approaching — creating significant market-wide attention on near-term price movement
Here is what this actually tells us about Ethereum's future:
The Ethereum Foundation was always meant to be temporary. Vitalik himself has said for years that a decentralized network should not depend on a single centralized organization.
The emergence of Ethlabs — backed by the biggest Ethereum treasury companies in the world — is not a sign of weakness. It is the natural evolution of a network mature enough to be governed by multiple independent bodies instead of one foundation.
Record users. Record transactions. Falling fees. Multiple independent development organizations. This is what a maturing protocol looks like.
The organizations change. The network keeps growing.
What do you think — is the Ethereum Foundation's restructuring a warning sign or the necessary evolution of the world's largest smart contract network?