Ethereum Foundation plans austerity push

The Ethereum Foundation will enter a period of austerity in supporting the ecosystem, commented Ethereum’s founder Vitalik Buterin. After years of active allocations, the Foundation will reconsider its approach.

Ethereum Foundation may provide funds under a program of austerity and tighter control in the coming years. Vitalik Buterin also announced he would be more closely engaged with some projects in the ecosystem. 

Buterin expects Ethereum to retain its status as a high-performance world computer. The Ethereum Foundation now has a long-term outlook to preserve the core blockchain layer and provide access to all its users with self-sovereignty, security, and privacy.

“To this end, my own share of the austerity is that I am personally taking on responsibilities that might in another time have been ‘special projects’ of the EF. Specifically, we are seeking the existence of an open-source, secure and verifiable full stack of software and hardware that can protect both our personal lives and our public environments,” explained Buterin in a recent X post.

The outline of the Ethereum Foundation’s future arrives just a day after Buterin announced the renewal of the DAO, almost a decade since the organization closed after a hack. 

Buterin to allocate 16,384 ETH

Buterin announced the withdrawal of 16,384 ETH toward goals over the next five years. Part of the sum will be securely staked to create passive income. 

In the past years, the Ethereum Foundation has been criticized for large-scale transfers and liquidations of ETH. With Buterin’s plans, the spending will be much lower. Ethereum will also try to focus on its basic usability, instead of bloating with additional use cases, explained Buterin. 

Ethereum will become open, instead of trying to solidify a strong presence in the crypto space or drive out other projects. Ethereum will remain dedicated to a full-stack open ecosystem, as previously outlined in one of Buterin’s blogs. 

Ethereum Foundation sits on 172K ETH

After years of outlays and distributions, the Ethereum Foundation retains 172K ETH. The organization rebuilt its strategy, shifting from passive holding to seeking DeFi and staking returns. 

The Ethereum Foundation Grant Provider wallet holds just 189 ETH and distributes much smaller sums. 

Ethereum remains the key hub for tokenized assets, stablecoins, and DeFi activity. Despite this, the price of ETH is seen as underperforming, while the Ethereum Foundation has spent resources on failing projects. The Foundation has not promised support for the price of ETH, which has moved based on other market forces. 

After the recent market downturn, ETH traded at $2,733.58, following one of the biggest liquidations for 2026. The market downturn further put pressure on the Ethereum Foundation to deliver results and avoid selling more ETH or overspending on grants. Previously, the Foundation has reached annual spending of up to $100M per year, raising questions on the efficiency of using the funds. Buterin’s reserves have also supported additional projects with direct grants. 

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