Key Takeaways
- Approximately 54 employees have been let go by the Ethereum Foundation, representing roughly 20% of total staff.
- Co-founder Vitalik Buterin has announced a 40% reduction in the Foundation’s 2026 annual spending plan.
- The organization is transitioning toward a more streamlined operation, aiming to spend just 5% of its treasury annually by 2030, compared to 15% previously.
- Ethereum (ETH) is currently hovering around $1,660 with critical support at $1,611 and potential downside to $1,524.
- Since January, nine top-level Foundation executives have departed, while a competing organization called Ethlabs has emerged.
In a sweeping organizational overhaul, the Ethereum Foundation has eliminated approximately 54 positions—roughly one-fifth of its total workforce—while simultaneously confirming plans to slash its 2026 operating budget by 40%. The announcement came via a blog post from Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin on Tuesday.
According to the Foundation, this restructuring represents the culmination of several months of internal strategic planning. The organization has been reorganized into five primary divisions addressing protocol development, network access, user experience, community engagement, and institutional relations, supplemented by two supporting groups handling operational and management functions.
Buterin explained that these financial reductions are part of a comprehensive long-term strategy. The Foundation’s goal is to decrease its annual expenditure rate from approximately 15% of total treasury assets (pre-2026) to roughly 5% yearly after 2030.
“I respect my EF colleagues far too much to pretend that there was not much that is lost,” Buterin stated, candidly recognizing the personal impact these workforce reductions have had.
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 Growing Concerns
These staff reductions come on the heels of co-Executive Director Hsiao-Wei Wang’s resignation. Her exit brings the total number of senior Foundation departures to nine since the beginning of January. Notable figures including former team leads Tim Beiko and Josh Stark have also exited the organization.
Crypto analyst Daan Crypto Trades (@DaanCrypto) provided commentary on ETH’s technical performance via X, observing that Ethereum continues facing rejection at the $1,750 threshold—February’s previous low point. According to his analysis, bullish traders must establish a higher low near that zone and successfully breach resistance on the subsequent attempt. “If they can’t, this will just start bleeding lower and test that ~$1.5K region again,” he commented, emphasizing the importance of ETH maintaining levels above $1,750 for positive confirmation.
Earlier this week, Ethlabs officially debuted as an independent research and development entity focused on the Ethereum ecosystem. The organization was established by five former high-ranking Foundation researchers and has secured backing from BitMine, SharpLink, and Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin.
Ethereum Price Faces Downward Momentum
ETH is presently changing hands near $1,660. The price remains below all three major exponential moving averages: the 20-day EMA at $1,753, the 50-day EMA at $1,901, and the 100-day EMA at $2,064.
Over the last 24 hours, the cryptocurrency has experienced $157 million in total liquidations, with long positions accounting for $140 million of that figure, per data from Coinglass.
Following rejection at both the descending trendline and the 20-day EMA, ETH is now testing the $1,611 support zone. A decisive break beneath $1,611 would shift attention to $1,524 as the next target, with additional support levels at $1,404 and $1,155 waiting below.
