Vitalik: Ethereum Foundation Enters "Moderate Austerity Period," Withdraws 16,384 ETH for Long-Term Core Mission

Odaily News Vitalik Buterin stated in a post on X that over the next five years, the Ethereum Foundation (EF) will enter a period of "moderate austerity" to achieve two major goals simultaneously:

First, to deliver a more ambitious technical roadmap, ensuring Ethereum continues to evolve as a high-performance, scalable "world computer" without compromising robustness, sustainability, and decentralization.

Second, to enhance the long-term sustainability of the Ethereum Foundation itself, safeguarding Ethereum's core mission, which includes the foundational blockchain layer and users' ability to utilize the network under conditions of security, privacy, and self-sovereignty.

Vitalik noted that as part of the austerity plan, he will personally take on some work that might otherwise have been handled by the Foundation's "special projects," focusing on supporting an open, verifiable, end-to-end software and hardware technology stack to protect personal life and the public environment. This technological vision spans finance, communications, governance, blockchain, operating systems, secure hardware, biotechnology (personal and public health), and emphasizes privacy protection, decentralization, and a local-first software architecture.

To this end, Vitalik has withdrawn 16,384 ETH and plans to gradually allocate it towards the aforementioned goals over the coming years, while also exploring more secure decentralized staking solutions to sustainably use staking rewards to support the related mission.

He emphasized that Ethereum itself is an indispensable part of the vision for a "full-stack open and verifiable" future. The Ethereum Foundation will continue to focus on Ethereum's core development, but its priority is not "Ethereum everywhere," but rather "Ethereum for people who need it"—serving self-sovereignty, security, and privacy, not catering to the needs of centralized enterprises.

Vitalik stated that in a world increasingly embracing "might makes right," this path offers a necessary alternative—building collaborative infrastructure free from domination through truly open, verifiable, and user-serving technology.