Author: Weilin, PANews
In this cycle, the price and ecological performance of Ethereum have been slower than many users expected, and the recent attention has been gradually taken away by Solana, which has become popular due to memecoins such as TRUMP. Behind the complaints, the executive director of the Ethereum Foundation (EF) was accused of being "inefficient", and the foundation's periodic selling of ETH also made it a target of public criticism.
On January 21, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin published two consecutive posts on the X platform, criticizing the call for the resignation of Aya Miyaguchi, executive director of the Ethereum Foundation, and refuting concerns about the centralization of Ethereum in the future. This has caused widespread controversy within and outside the Ethereum community.
Vitalik takes a tough stance: I am the one who decides the new EF leadership team
According to the EF website, the board of directors has only three members: Vitalik Buterin, Aya Miyaguchi and Patrick Storchenegger.
On January 21, Vitalik made it clear in his X platform post that he was the only one who decided the leadership team of the Ethereum Foundation.
He stressed: "No, that's not how the game is played. I am the one who decides the new EF leadership team. One of the goals of the current reform is to establish a 'proper board' for the EF, but until then, it's still up to me to make the decision." He further stated that any pressure would undermine the working environment of Ethereum's top developers. "And you are reducing the possibility that I will have any interest in 'doing what you want'."
In a subsequent post, Vitalik clarified the future decentralization direction of the Ethereum Foundation. He pointed out that "the future of the world computer is decentralized. EF is just a part of the world computer. Maybe the organization that some people want to reform and bring back to the top is not EF, but Consensys (or a similar third-party organization)."
Vitalik stressed that the EF should not “play middle ground” but rather confidently represent those features of Ethereum that it can effectively represent, and intentionally create and foster open space for other organizations to represent other aspects of Ethereum. Arguably, some of these aspects are better suited to exist in a for-profit form.”
These comments come as the community calls for the promotion of Danny Ryan, a former researcher and developer at the Ethereum Foundation. Danny Ryan is widely praised for his important contributions in Ethereum's transition from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake. However, Danny Ryan, who worked at the Ethereum Foundation for seven years, announced his withdrawal in 2024 for personal reasons, which has been a great regret for many supporters.
Ryan’s supporters argue that his expertise aligns with Ethereum’s long-term goals, making him a strong candidate for leadership, even as Vitalik insists on maintaining control over the foundation’s decisions.
Meanwhile, since taking the position in 2018, Executive Director Aya Miyaguchi has faced criticism and even online abuse from some community members on the X platform, with some blaming her for inefficiencies within the foundation and others complaining that the Cancun upgrade was not as expected. Prior to 2018, Aya Miyaguchi was in charge of operations in Japan at the Kraken exchange.
CoinMamba, a high-profile cryptocurrency trader known for his criticism of the Ethereum Foundation, publicly called for Miyaguchi to resign. In response, Vitalik flatly rejected the proposal. Vitalik also pointed out the comments of several other X users, calling them "pure evil" because they contained vulgar memes, calls for bullying of Aya, and even "kill Aya".
Nonetheless, market commentator abstractXBT expressed concerns about the centralized nature of such a hardline stance, suggesting that the foundation should focus more on practical solutions, such as increasing support for developers through hackathons and grants, rather than getting bogged down in philosophical debates about leadership.
Ethereum Foundation to undergo “massive changes to leadership structure”
Earlier, on January 18, Vitalik Buterin wrote in the face of controversy that a large-scale change is currently being made to the leadership structure of the Ethereum Foundation, a change that has been going on for nearly a year. Some of these changes have been implemented and announced, while some are still in progress.
The reform aims to achieve the following goals:
- Increase the level of technical expertise among the Ethereum Foundation’s leadership;
- Improve two-way communication and engagement between the Ethereum Foundation leadership and new and existing ecosystem participants. The Ethereum Foundation’s role is to support: users (individuals and institutions), application developers, wallets, L2;
- Introduce fresh talents to improve execution capabilities and speed;
- More actively supporting application developers to ensure that important values and inalienable rights (especially privacy, open source, censorship resistance) are a reality for users, including at the application layer;
- Continue to increase the use of decentralized and privacy technologies and the Ethereum chain, including for payments and funds management.
Vitalik also made it clear that in the future, there will be no ideological/atmosphere shift; no active lobbying of regulators and powerful politicians (especially in the United States, but in fact anywhere, especially major countries) and the risk of damaging Ethereum’s status as a global neutral platform; it will not become an arena for vested interests; it will not become a highly centralized organization, or even become the “protagonist” of Ethereum.
The Foundation is stuck in selling coins, or has made changes to participate in DeFi
The Ethereum Foundation's financial operations, especially its continuous on-chain sales of ETH, have also recently become a focus of criticism in the community. According to Spot On Chain data, the Ethereum Foundation held its first Ethereum sale of the new year on January 8, 2025, selling 100 ETH and receiving 329,463 DAI tokens. On-chain data shows that throughout 2024, EF sold a total of 4,466 ETH, earning $12.61 million, with an average price of $2,823. Many KOLs and investors in the community blame the Foundation's sell-off for the decline in ETH prices.
Vitalik responded that there are two reasons why the foundation did not choose to pledge ETH: the first reason is regulatory issues. Considering that Ethereum is one of the largest crypto protocols by market value, staking a large amount of ETH may attract unnecessary regulatory scrutiny. Such behavior may raise questions about whether Ethereum constitutes a security, which is a difficult problem that many crypto companies have faced for many years.
The second reason is that staking ETH could be seen as “taking a stand on any future contentious hard forks.” In this case, Buterin is referring to possible disagreements within the ecosystem that could lead one side of the community to prefer a particular blockchain version. If the foundation chooses to stake its tokens using one blockchain over another, it would look like the foundation is supporting that chain. Vitalik Buterin acknowledged that while regulatory concerns have lessened over the years, the second reason still exists.
Furthermore, he explained how ETH withdrawals can be more time-consuming than selling tokens directly. This is usually due to the higher number of validators using the chain. Therefore, if only the foundation conducts ETH withdrawals, it will take 2.6 days to complete the process.
Despite Vitalik's tough stance, the foundations he influences have apparently listened to some advice. On January 21, the Ethereum Foundation announced the establishment of a wallet address to start participating in decentralized finance (DeFi). The organization plans to inject about $150 million worth of ETH into the wallet, but noted that it may take a few days to complete the setup.
Hsiao-Wei Wang, who was recently appointed to a leadership position at the foundation, posted on X: “The Ethereum Foundation has established a new 5-signature 3-signature multi-signature wallet… The operation has been initiated to send 50,000 ETH to this wallet, but please be patient; due to signature delays, this will take a few days to process. The Ethereum Foundation will use this new wallet to participate in the DeFi ecosystem.”
The community joked about the establishment of a "second foundation" and called for more transparency in the foundation
In response to the debate, on January 22, Lido co-founder and P2P.org founder Konstantin Lomashuk retweeted a post suggesting the establishment of a "Second Foundation". But then, he clarified, "In fact, the second foundation has not yet been established." He continued, "Ethereum is the ultimate world computer, and every Ethereum enthusiast can help it grow, evolve, and succeed. If the second foundation is really established, it must have a clear goal to supplement the tremendous work of current contributors. I thank everyone for their support and think we need more organizations to contribute to Ethereum."
Some Ethereum core developers have also spoken out, and some have even quit due to disappointment. On January 22, Eric Conner, a core developer of Ethereum and co-author of EIP-1559, posted on the X platform: "I am no longer a member of .eth (Ethereum domain name). Maybe one day those leaders will get back in line with the community, but for now, I'm gone. Deep down, I really hope that Ethereum can succeed. Good luck."
Anthony DOnofrio, a founding member of Ethereum, also published a commentary on CoinDesk, titled "The Ethereum Foundation Has Lost Its Way". The article called for leadership changes at the Ethereum Foundation. He said: "To ensure its future, the Ethereum Foundation must transform from a passive institution to a proactive visionary." DOnofrio pointed out that the Ethereum Foundation is a contradiction; although it is committed to decentralization, its operation is centralized, with a director, a financial department, paid developers, and a core circle; these structures, while necessary for coordination, conflict with Ethereum's decentralized philosophy.
He pointed out that the Ethereum Foundation, in its current form, aims to minimize internal and external threats, but has lost its original vision. The next phase of Ethereum requires more than just technical research and coordination meetings. It requires visionary leadership - someone who understands not only the technology, but also its broader social, philosophical and political impact.
In addition, D’Onofrio called on the Ethereum Foundation to provide more transparency and strengthen ties with the community, and to seize opportunities to engage with lawmakers under favorable conditions in the current U.S. political climate, and while remaining politically neutral, the Foundation can create or promote frameworks that encourage compliance and innovation.
Brianq, an analyst at the chain analysis company Santiment, is more optimistic. Although Ethereum (ETH) has recently fallen by 4.7% in market value, far less than the 36.9% and 32.2% increases of XRP and Solana, which has triggered market controversy over Vitalik Buterin's selling of ETH, the degree of decentralization and modular strategy, it is under short-term pressure. The number of active addresses of Ethereum has increased and its market share has stabilized. Its long-term strategy is believed to help it maintain its leading position in the blockchain field. The rise in negative sentiment on social media may provide opportunities for contrarian investors.
At the same time, Joseph Lubin, co-founder of Ethereum and founder of Consensys, wrote: "One of Vitalik Buterin's greatest qualities is his way of making decisions. When a problem arises, he listens and collects information, weighs all factors, and makes a decision when he thinks he has weighed most of the necessary data. The best way forward is to realize that he has heard the voices of all of us and things are moving forward. Threats to harm or attempts to coerce are deeply disturbing and counterproductive. The Ethereum Foundation (EF), the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA), and Consensys have multiple ongoing projects that will reshape the way Ethereum will 'enter the market' in the near future. From what I have seen, there will be so many high-value plans made public soon that you will be dazzled. It is best to stay calm and not lose your mind before the wave starts."
At present, from Vitalik's response to the controversy to the announcement of major reforms by the Foundation, the Ethereum Foundation is facing a debate on power structure, decentralization, financial management, etc. As the reforms proceed, how the Foundation balances the interests of all parties and promotes the development of the Ethereum ecosystem on the basis of ensuring the concept of decentralization will be the key to future development.
