A Conversation with the Chair of the Ethereum Community Foundation: Should the EF Be Responsible for ETH's Price?

Compiled & Edited by: Shenchao TechFlow

Guests: Zak Cole (Chair 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 for Ethereum right now isn't just the EF (Ethereum Foundation) "downsizing" or senior departures, but the misalignment of responsibilities between ETH as an asset, Ethereum as public infrastructure, and the EF as a coordination hub.

Zak Cole (Chair 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 the more radical "ETH asset value" camp, the other brings the perspective of engineering and infrastructure. Their disagreements precisely reveal the underlying tension of this conversation: must Ethereum continue as a values-driven cypherpunk network, or must it acknowledge price, governance, ecosystem cooperation, and competition like a mature company?

The most valuable aspect of this conversation is that it threads together Vitalik's statement that "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 create another $1 billion organization, and the diversion of on-chain revenue to Solana, Tron, and Hyperliquid, all within a single narrative.

Key Quotes

Ethereum Is No Longer an Early-Stage Startup

• "Ethereum is no longer a startup project; it is a mature and massive ecosystem with billions, even trillions of dollars at stake. Many people's careers and livelihoods depend on it."
• "The EF says it's not the center, but if a controversial fork happens, Circle and Tether will almost certainly follow the chain the EF chooses. The reality makes the EF the de facto center."
• "Admitting responsibility isn't shameful. On the contrary, I want the EF to truly take responsibility, diversify the board, and bring in people who understand products, companies, markets, and communication."
• "An organization can be professional, clear, and scalable while still adhering to principles like 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 maybe economics is important. 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, it should go back to the playground."
• "It's not that the EF can't uphold CROPS values. The problem is it hasn't treated ETH and the ETH price as tools to advance these principles."

The Real Issue Isn't Departures, But Who's Making Decisions

• "Personnel turnover in a mature organization isn't surprising, unless these people start collectively migrating to other ecosystems. Right now, it seems most will continue working within the Ethereum ecosystem."
• "Bastian might be a great person, but for someone in a central position in Ethereum, the outside world barely knows who he is or why he gets to make these significant decisions."
• "If key EF employees are indeed leading major projects, but even deeply involved ecosystem participants 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

• "Every past cycle had so-called ETH killers, but many were vaporware. The problem now is that someone has finally built a car that looks cooler and is also faster."
• "It's impossible for the EF to be completely unaware that competitors like Solana, Tron, and Hyperliquid are grabbing revenue and users, but many people probably don't really care."
• "CROPS might win in the long run, but it might not win 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 Possible, But the Board Can't Be Run Like a Family Business

• "The EF can continue to get smaller and focus on research, but it must hand over a lot of execution work to other, more capable organizations."
• "The board shouldn't be an internal promotion and old-boy network. It should include outsiders from DeFi, open-source, institutions, product, and communication fields."
• "Ethereum needs to increase its surface area for luck. Winning requires many factors, including luck. Expanding your surface area is itself a way to increase the odds of winning."

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 long-tenured individuals. At the same time, David Hoffman, co-host of Bankless (an Ethereum-focused crypto media and podcast), announced he sold his remaining ETH. ETH is currently around $2,100, after being near $5,000 last summer and fall.

On Sunday, Vitalik stated that "EF will be a smaller ship" and re-emphasized Ethereum's CROPS values as its guiding principles. CROPS stands for Censorship Resistance, Open Source/Openness, Privacy, and Security.

The community has long worried that Ethereum is losing to other chains. This concern eased somewhat in 2025 when Tomasz Stańczak was appointed co-executive director of the EF, but he left after 11 months. Now, the community feels Vitalik and the EF are reverting to the old patterns that previously caused so much anxiety. Before diving into details, I'd like to hear your overall take on this situation. Zak, you go first.

Zak Cole: I've been beating this drum for a long time, criticizing the EF's performance and its attitude towards the broader ecosystem. I feel they took a few steps in the right direction, but now it seems like a few steps back. Overall, however, the sentiment towards the EF is almost directly correlated with the price of ETH. If ETH were at $5,000, I don't think nearly as many people would be complaining about what the EF did or didn't do.

So I don't want to be overly harsh on the EF. A lot of the emotion comes from price performance, which isn't entirely within the EF's control. That's not to say the EF shouldn't consider price or treat it as part of network security. I just think a big part of this is likely bear market sentiment.

Laura Shin: Greg, what's your take?

Greg Markou: I also think the bear market and current price definitely affect the overall sentiment. However, I also want to say that since Tomasz joined the EF, it did mature quite a bit. There was a lot of turmoil within the foundation and the community when Danny Ryan was also seen as a potential leader. Tomasz at least tried to recalibrate the direction the EF should focus on.

Now he's left, and others are leaving. It's a complex situation. Many of those who left have been at the EF for four, five, six years. They might just need a break, a change of direction, or want to pursue other things. Overall, the EF has made several moves toward maturity, cut some things the community had long complained about, and increased transparency. As for the recent news around CROPS, I think there's some validity to it.

But after Tomasz left, things did shift a bit towards the current state. Overall, I still feel things are moving in a positive direction. Vitalik's post yesterday even slightly changed my perspective.

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

Greg Markou: I mean the EF is starting to realize it needs to mature, understand where its priorities should lie, and acknowledge it must rely on other teams in certain areas to hold the line.

Zak Cole: My concern is that we've heard this before. They gave Tomasz a try, and it went south. Now it seems they want to retreat to what's familiar: endlessly talking about infinite gardens, funding longevity research, and doing things that no one cares about except Vitalik and his inner circle. To put it bluntly, the EF is completely out of touch.

Sure, after I criticize them, I can also say, at least they admit other organizations need to step up. But the question is, are they truly willing to cede power to organizations that are more capable and grounded? Ethereum is no longer a startup; it's a mature, resilient ecosystem. There are billions, even trillions of dollars riding on it now. Many people's livelihoods depend on it. My entire career is built on Ethereum. If it goes wrong, what do I do?

Laura Shin: You both mentioned earlier that many recent departures from the EF are senior and well-known members. To me, that doesn't seem optimistic; it's concerning. But it sounds like you're not as worried. How do you see it? It seems like several of them were true Ethereum evangelists.

Zak Cole: I don't find it particularly concerning. Mature organizations have personnel turnover, and these people have been around for 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 just saying it could be a signal of ecosystem maturity. Or maybe it's not the EF maturing, but the EF regressing from the path Tomasz set. I don't know. Regardless, the ecosystem itself is growing. If these people's directions don't align internally, maybe it's better for them to leave and start their own things. I believe they'll continue to work within the Ethereum ecosystem, or 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 how they feel.

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

Zak Cole: They are indeed well-known. But with all due respect to their past contributions, I have to ask, what have they done specifically *recently*? What have they contributed to the EF and the broader ecosystem lately?

Laura Shin: Perhaps not all their work is acknowledged. Are you saying you don't think they're that important?

Zak Cole: I'm not saying they're unimportant. I just feel they might have achieved a sort of "tenure" and started pursuing passion projects. If they *are* actually in charge of big things and major projects, then perhaps it's another failure of the EF to communicate 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, and 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, then the EF has failed in showcasing and explaining its work.

Laura Shin: Greg, your thoughts?

Greg Markou: It's not optimistic, but I'm not at the point of worrying yet. Unless we start seeing these people flowing en masse to other ecosystems.

My gut feeling is, this isn't like the very high-profile departure of Max Resnick to Solana. From what I've heard, most of these people will continue to build on Ethereum, just not within the EF. This looks more like healthy churn. The real alarm bells should ring when an organization enters a negative spiral and everyone gets poached by other ecosystems.

If they start building on Solana, then we should worry. Peter Szilagyi's departure last year was an example. His output declined over six to twelve months, maybe one or two PRs a month, and he eventually left. I might be underestimating his contributions, but it felt like natural churn. This group hasn't had that kind of sharp exit yet.

Laura Shin: What about Tomasz's departure? He only came in 11 months ago, a response to community demands for change and dissatisfaction. He was very popular, with praise all over the timeline. He was open and 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's voice. Why do you think it happened?

Zak Cole: I believe the EF caved to community pressure and put Tomasz in that position, but it wasn't genuinely willing to cede control. He was still just co-executive director, sharing power 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 brought in this mysterious figure, Bastian Aue, whom almost nobody knows or has seen. Then the EF released a so-called 'mandate' document with a visual style reminiscent of DeviantArt. It could have been a clear blog post explaining the 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 child's financial future putting out something like this.

Laura Shin: We should put it on screen for the audience. We were laughing at it earlier too. It certainly has a unique aesthetic, with some strange font choices.

Zak Cole: Let's be direct, Tomasz would never have released something like this. Greg, I know you're trying to stay non-pessimistic, but it's hard to look at this document and say it's suitable for bearing the weight of a financial future, that institutions will feel comfortable parking money here. They also have lines like "if we fail, may the EF fall on its sword." The weird design is one thing, but the copy itself is equally out of touch.

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

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

Zak Cole: The