Dialogue with the Ethereum Foundation Chair: Should the EF Be Responsible for the ETH Price?

Organization & Translation: TechFlow

Guests: Zak Cole (President of the Ethereum Community Foundation), Greg Markou (Co-founder & CEO of Sprinter, Co-founder of ChainSafe)

Host: Laura Shin

Original Title: The EF Is Shrinking. What Does It Mean for Ethereum and ETH?

Podcast Source: Unchained

Air Date: May 26, 2026

Editor's Introduction

The core contradiction facing Ethereum today is not just the EF (Ethereum Foundation) "downsizing" or senior departures, but the misalignment of responsibilities and authority between ETH as an asset, Ethereum as public infrastructure, and the EF as a coordination hub.

Zak Cole (President of the Ethereum Community Foundation) and Greg Markou (Co-founder & CEO of Sprinter, Co-founder of ChainSafe) have both been building within the Ethereum ecosystem for a long time. One represents a more radical "ETH asset value" camp, the other an engineering and infrastructure perspective; their disagreements also precisely reveal the underlying tension of this conversation: should Ethereum continue as a values-driven cypherpunk network, or must it, like a mature company, acknowledge price, governance, ecosystem cooperation, and competition?

The most valuable part of this conversation is that it threads together Vitalik's statement that the "EF will be a smaller ship," the CROPS values (Censorship resistance, Open source, Privacy, Security), senior employee departures, David Hoffman selling his ETH, Dankrad Feist's proposal to build a $1 billion organization, and the diversion of on-chain revenue by Solana, Tron, and Hyperliquid, into a single line of discussion.

Key Quotes

Ethereum Is No Longer an Early-Stage Startup

• "Ethereum is no longer a startup project; it is a mature and vast ecosystem with tens or even trillions of dollars in interests behind it, and many people's careers and livelihoods depend on it."
• "The EF says it's not a center, but if a controversial fork occurs, Circle and Tether will likely follow the chain the EF chooses; the reality makes the EF the de facto center."
• "There's no shame in admitting you're in charge. On the contrary, I want the EF to truly take responsibility, diversify its board, and bring in people who understand products, companies, markets, and communications."
• "An organization can be professional, clear, and scalable while still adhering to principles of censorship resistance, openness, privacy, and security."

Price Is Not Noise, It's Part of Security

• "After transitioning to PoS, the value of ETH is part of network security; the lower the ETH price, the lower the network security."
• "You can't build an economic system and then, a decade later, say that maybe economics matters. The monetary premium of ETH itself is a mechanism to attract users, create security, and generate value."
• "If there's a scoreboard on the field, it means you're in a game where scores matter. If a team doesn't care about winning, they should go back to the playground."
• "It's not that the EF can't uphold CROPS values; the problem is it hasn't used ETH and the ETH price as tools to advance these principles."

The Real Issue Isn't Departures, It's Who Makes Decisions

• "Personnel turnover in a mature organization isn't surprising, unless these people start collectively moving to other ecosystems; currently, it seems most will still work within the Ethereum ecosystem."
• "Bastian might be a great person, but for someone in a central position at Ethereum, the outside world hardly knows who he is or why he can make these major decisions."
• "If key EF employees are indeed responsible for large projects, but even deeply involved people in the ecosystem don't know what they're doing, that's also a failure of the EF to communicate clearly."

Ethereum Isn't Facing the Next Round of 'ETH Killer' Noise

• "In past cycles, there were so-called ETH killers, but many were vaporware; the problem now is that someone has finally built a car that looks cooler and is faster."
• "It's impossible the EF is completely unaware that competitors like Solana, Tron, and Hyperliquid are capturing revenue and users, but many people there might not really care."
• "CROPS might win in the long run, but not necessarily in the short term. The problem is, if you lose in the short term, you might also lose the chance to win in the long term."

A Smaller Foundation Is Fine, But the Board Can't Be Like a Family Business

• "The EF can continue to shrink and focus on research, but it must delegate much of the execution to external organizations that are more capable."
• "The board shouldn't be a system of internal promotions and old boys' network; it should include outsiders from different fields like DeFi, open source, institutions, products, and communications."
• "Ethereum needs to increase its surface area for luck. Winning requires many factors and luck, and expanding your reach is itself a way to improve your odds."

Recent Turmoil in the Ethereum Community

Laura Shin: Over the past week, the Ethereum community has been in turmoil due to the departure of several foundation members, especially the exit of some senior members causing concern. At the same time, David Hoffman, co-host of Bankless (an Ethereum-focused crypto media and podcast), announced he sold his last ETH. ETH is now trading around $2,100, having been near $5,000 last summer and fall.

On Sunday, Vitalik stated, "EF will be a smaller ship," and re-emphasized that Ethereum's CROPS values are its guiding principles. CROPS stands for censorship resistance, open source/openness, privacy, and security.

The community has been worried that Ethereum is losing to other chains. This concern had eased somewhat in 2025 when Tomasz Stańczak was appointed as EF's co-executive director, but he left after 11 months. Now, the community feels Vitalik and the EF have reverted to old patterns, which had previously caused great anxiety. Before diving into the details of each event, I'd like to hear your overall take on this turmoil. Zak, you go first.

Zak Cole: I've been beating this drum for a long time, constantly criticizing the EF's performance and its attitude towards the broader ecosystem. I think they took a few steps in the right direction, but now it feels like steps back. Overall though, the current sentiment towards the EF seems directly correlated to the ETH price. If ETH were still at $5,000, I don't think there would be as many complaints about what the EF did or didn't do.

So, I don't want to be too harsh on the EF. A lot of the emotion comes from price action, which isn't entirely within the EF's control. Not that I'm saying the EF shouldn't consider price or see it as part of network security. I just think a large part of this is simply bear market sentiment.

Laura Shin: Greg, your thoughts?

Greg Markou: I also think the bear market and current price definitely affect the overall sentiment. However, I'd also say the EF has matured a lot since Tomasz came in. At the time, Danny Ryan was also seen as a potential leader, and there was much turmoil internally and in the community. Tomasz at least tried to recalibrate where the EF should focus.

Now he's leaving, and others are leaving too. It's a complex issue. Many who left have been at the EF for four, five, six years—they might just need a break, a change of direction, or to pursue other things. Overall, the EF has done quite a bit to mature, cut some things the community complained about for a long time, and increased transparency. As for the recent news around CROPS, I think there's some validity to it.

But since Tomasz left, things have indeed shifted somewhat to the current state. Overall, I still think things are moving in a positive direction. Vitalik's post yesterday even slightly changed my view.

Laura Shin: What specifically do you mean by moving in a positive direction?

Greg Markou: I mean the EF is realizing it needs to mature, understands where its priorities should be, and knows it has to rely on other teams to hold the line in certain areas.

Zak Cole: My concern is, we've heard this before. They tried Tomasz, and it went poorly. Now, it seems they want to retreat to what's comfortable: endlessly talking about the Infinite Garden, funding longevity research, and doing things no one cares about except Vitalik and his inner circle. I'll be blunt—the EF is completely out of touch.

Of course, I can criticize them and also acknowledge they've admitted other organizations need to step up. The question is, are they genuinely willing to cede power to more capable and grounded organizations? Ethereum is no longer a startup; it's a mature, resilient ecosystem. There are tens or trillions of dollars of interests at stake, and many people's livelihoods depend on it. My entire career is on Ethereum. If it fails, what do I do?

Laura Shin: You both mentioned this earlier: many of the recent departures from the EF are senior and very well-known members in the community. To me, that seems not optimistic but worrying. But it sounds like you're not that concerned. What's your take? To me, several of them are true Ethereum evangelists.

Zak Cole: I don't find it particularly worrying. Mature organizations have turnover, and these people have been there a long time.

Laura Shin: Even if they all happened after Tomasz left? Essentially within three months?

Zak Cole: I'm not saying it's optimistic. I'm saying it could be a sign of ecosystem maturity. Or it could be the EF regressing from Tomasz's approach. I don't know. Regardless, the ecosystem itself is growing. If these people are misaligned with the EF's internal direction, maybe it's better for them to leave and start their own things. I believe they will continue working in the Ethereum ecosystem, at least I hope so. It's hard to judge the long-term outcome now because I haven't talked to them and don't know their thoughts.

Laura Shin: I didn't list names earlier, but this includes Tim Beiko, Barnabé Monnot, Josh Stark, Trent Van Epps, Carl Beekhuizen, Julian Mauduit, and others—these are familiar names in the community.

Zak Cole: They are well-known. But no disrespect to their past contributions—I just want to ask, what have they concretely done recently? What have they contributed to the EF and the broader ecosystem lately?

Laura Shin: Perhaps not every task they do is attributed to them. Are you saying you don't think they are that important?

Zak Cole: I'm not saying they're unimportant. I just feel they've almost achieved 'tenure' status and are working on passion projects. If they were indeed responsible for big things and major projects, then it might be the EF's failure for not communicating to the outside world what these people are leading.

Personally, I don't know what the EF is doing, what each employee is doing, or what the board is doing. I only know what Vitalik says, that's about it. As someone deeply involved in the ecosystem, if I can't articulate what they're doing, besides Trent working on Protocol Guild (a mechanism to fund Ethereum protocol contributors), then the EF has failed in showcasing and explaining its work.

Laura Shin: Greg, your take?

Greg Markou: It's not optimistic, but I'm not at the point of worrying yet. Unless we see a mass exodus of these people to other ecosystems.

My gut feeling is this isn't like Max Resnick's very public departure from Ethereum to the Solana camp. From what I hear, most of these people will continue working on Ethereum, just not within the EF. This seems like healthy churn. It's only when an organization enters a negative cycle, and everyone gets poached by other ecosystems, that you really need to worry.

If they start building on Solana, then we should be worried. Peter Szilagyi's departure last year is an example. His output gradually declined over six to twelve months, maybe one or two PRs a month, and he naturally left. I might be underestimating his contribution, but it felt like natural churn. This group hasn't had such a drastic exit.

Laura Shin: What about Tomasz's departure? He came in just 11 months ago, as a response to community demands for change and dissatisfaction. He was popular, widely praised online. He was open, talked to as many builders as possible, so his quick exit was shocking. The community feels this means the EF is going back to ignoring the community. Why do you think it happened?

Zak Cole: I believe the EF succumbed to community pressure and put Tomasz in that position, but didn't genuinely want to relinquish control. He was still just a co-executive director, sharing management with Hsiao-Wei Wang, so he didn't have full freedom to implement real organizational change. When he tried to push those changes, I think he was pushed out because he didn't fit the EF's 'Infinite Garden' culture.

After he left, they replaced him with a mysterious figure, Bastian Aue, who almost no one knows or has seen. Then the EF released a so-called mandate document with a visual style resembling something from DeviantArt. It could have been a clear blog post explaining CROPS principles, but they chose to make it look like a comic book manifesto. This makes me very pessimistic. I don't want an organization that affects my children's financial future to put out something like this.

Laura Shin: We should put it on screen for the audience. We were laughing at this document too. It certainly has a unique aesthetic and strange font choices.

Zak Cole: To be blunt, Tomasz wouldn't have released this. Greg, I know you're trying to stay not pessimistic, but it's hard to look at this and say it's suitable for carrying the financial future, that institutions will feel safe putting money into it. They also have lines like "If we fail, may the EF fall on its sword" or something. The strange design is one thing, the copy itself is equally out of touch.

Laura Shin: You mean the small comic at the bottom of page 11, right? It's indeed crazy.

Let's jump to Vitalik's Sunday post, because one point struck me. He said Bastian is leading this EF transformation. Do you think this mandate document came from Bastian, or from Vitalik? Or does it not matter?

Zak Cole: The EF has a board, and Vitalik holds the majority influence on it. No matter what he says, if you look at the organizational chart, Vitalik is at