Key Takeaways
- Approximately 54 employees, representing 20% of the total workforce, have been laid off from the Ethereum Foundation (EF).
- Co-founder Vitalik Buterin announced a 40% decrease in the foundation’s annual spending for 2026.
- The foundation aims to lower yearly expenditures from 15% of treasury holdings to just 5% by 2030.
- Ethereum currently trades around $1,660, with critical support at $1,611 and potential downside to $1,524.
- Since January, nine senior executives have departed the EF, while a new competing organization named Ethlabs has emerged.
In a significant organizational overhaul, the Ethereum Foundation has eliminated approximately 54 positions — representing roughly one-fifth of its total staff — while simultaneously announcing a 40% budget reduction planned for 2026. The strategic changes were detailed in a Tuesday blog post by Ethereum’s co-founder, Vitalik Buterin.
According to the foundation, this restructuring effort has been in development for several months. The organization has been reorganized into five primary operational clusters: protocol development, accessibility, user experience, community engagement, and institutional relations. Two supplementary clusters dedicated to operations and management complete the new structure.
Buterin explained that these spending reductions represent part of a comprehensive long-term strategy. The foundation’s objective is to decrease its annual expenditure rate from approximately 15% of total treasury assets (the rate prior to 2026) to roughly 5% annually following 2030.
“I respect my EF colleagues far too much to pretend that there was not much that is lost,” Buterin stated, openly recognizing the personal impact these workforce reductions have had on affected individuals.
The organizational changes also involve discontinuing the Privacy and Scaling Explorations division, scaling back Devcon conference operations, and implementing a more focused institutional engagement approach.
Leadership Exodus and Market Dynamics
These workforce reductions come on the heels of co-Executive Director Hsiao-Wei Wang’s resignation. Her exit brings the total number of senior leadership departures since January to nine. Notable figures including former leads Tim Beiko and Josh Stark have also exited the organization.
Market analyst Daan Crypto Trades (@DaanCrypto) shared his perspective on ETH’s current price behavior via X, highlighting repeated rejections at the $1,750 threshold — coinciding with February’s low point. According to his analysis, bullish traders must establish a higher low near that zone and successfully break through on subsequent attempts. “If they can’t, this will just start bleeding lower and test that ~$1.5K region again,” he commented, emphasizing the need for ETH to maintain levels above $1,750 for bullish confirmation.
Meanwhile, on Monday, a new research and development entity called Ethlabs officially launched to support the Ethereum ecosystem. The organization was established by five former senior researchers from the EF and has secured backing from BitMine, SharpLink, and Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin.
Current ETH Price Analysis
Ethereum is presently changing hands near $1,660. The price remains beneath the 20-day, 50-day, and 100-day exponential moving averages, positioned at $1,753, $1,901, and $2,064 respectively.
Liquidation data from Coinglass reveals $157 million in forced position closures over the past 24 hours, with long positions accounting for $140 million of that total.
ETH is now testing the $1,611 support zone after facing rejection at both the descending trendline and the 20-day EMA. Should price action breach $1,611, the next significant support level sits at $1,524, with additional floors at $1,404 and $1,155 below that.
