Macauley Peterson

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The Ethereum Foundation has redrawn its engineering playbook just as its next major hard fork, Glamsterdam, takes shape.



Announced Monday, “<a href="https://blog.ethereum.org/2025/06/02/announcing-protocol">Protocol</a>” is a reorganized EF R&amp;D division focused on three goals: scaling L1, expanding blobspace and improving UX. Project coordinator Tim Beiko set <a href="https://x.com/TimBeiko/status/1929620527670575347">the tone</a>: “Protocol is now a more united and leaner organization with more focused teams&#8230;ensuring the EF’s resources are allocated toward maximal impact.”



Beiko and Ansgar Dietrichs will co-lead L1 scaling, while Francesco D’Amato and Alex Stokes oversee blob expansion and Barnabé Monnot and Josh Rudolf lead UX. Their mandates align directly with early <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ethereum-consensus-evm-upgrade-fusaka-devs">Glamsterdam priorities</a>.



At the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIHtUaIev4M">latest</a> AllCoreDevs call, developers floated two potential headliner EIPs: <a href="https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-7732">7732 (ePBS)</a>, which enables pipelined block validation to reduce node load, and <a href="https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-7805">7805 (FOCIL)</a>, which introduces fork-choice inclusion lists for stronger UX and censorship resistance.



“For Glamsterdam…we will have to find some ways to continue the blob scaling,” Dietrichs said on the call, adding that “there might be some EL-side scaling opportunities” too.



This new structure signals <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/steep-disconnect-ef-crypto-community">a much-needed shift</a>: less sprawl, more delivery. But the renewed focus also required layoffs. The EF hasn’t disclosed numbers, but Beiko acknowledged, “It was a difficult decision…We are deeply thankful for their contributions and are confident they will find other opportunities to impact Ethereum’s trajectory.”



Still, not everyone is reassured. Developer Micah Zoltu <a href="https://x.com/MicahZoltu/status/1929792695599616507">questioned</a> why improving censorship resistance, privacy and end-user security weren’t reaffirmed as “strategic goals,” calling the omission “incredibly concerning.” Hasu (of Flashbots and Lido) <a href="https://x.com/hasufl/status/1929799732173373614">responded</a> that prioritizing short-term usability — like cheap blobs and UX — may be necessary for Ethereum to scale without implying abandonment of its values. “More specialization [and] division of labor” between teams, he argued, is a feature, not a bug.



Yet Zoltu cautioned that unless values like CR and privacy are embedded into roadmap decisions — such as whether to include FOCIL — they risk becoming second-tier concerns. Whether Ethereum preserves its ethos while scaling depends not just on what it builds, but who decides what gets built.



That ethos sits at the heart of <a href="https://cyber.fund/content/eth">Cyber Fund’s thesis</a>: Ethereum is more than a platform — it’s a global coordination machine for programmable institutions. But that vision only holds if the system can scale without compromising neutrality or sovereignty. The Protocol reorg appears engineered for that balance.



Cyber Fund also contends that Ethereum’s dominance will deepen as rollups adopt Ethereum for data availability, enabling seamless interoperability. Shared DA does simplify trust models and bridges, but it’s not sufficient. Interop also depends on compatible proof systems and message standards, which can work across heterogeneous DA layers like <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/celestia">Celestia</a> or <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/eigenlayer-restaking-mantle-zksync">EigenDA</a> if paired with robust light clients and proof aggregation.



In practice, shared DA lowers friction, but isn’t mandatory, and may prove most valuable for DeFi and financial apps.



The bottom line is: Expectations are now high. “Ethereum stands at the edge of major breakthroughs,” Beiko <a href="https://x.com/TimBeiko/status/1929620437421773080">said</a>. “This may be our best shot at deploying not only our technology, but our values, at planetary scale.”



Glamsterdam will be the first real test of that model. As scoping progresses, it will show whether the Ethereum Foundation’s streamlined “Protocol” can move from principles to production.



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0xResearch Newsletter

Ethereum refactors itself for Glamsterdam hard fork

Donovan Choy

The lack of transparency around the Ethereum Foundation’s (EF) spending is in the limelight this week after an onchain <a href="https://x.com/lookonchain/status/1827036101858750549">transfer</a> of 35,000 ETH ($94 million) from the Foundation’s treasury to Kraken was detected on Saturday.



This prompted EF Executive Director Aya Miyaguchi to <a href="https://x.com/AyaMiyagotchi/status/1827219654999470258">clarify</a> that the transfer was part of the Foundation’s “treasury management” activities and is not necessarily “equal to a sale.”



Miyaguchi said that, due to “regulatory complications,” the Foundation was prevented from sharing the plan in advance, but there will be “planned and gradual sales” going forward.



In a separate post yesterday, Josh Stark of the EF provided a first glimpse at a breakdown of the Foundation’s spending for the last two years. He clarified, however, that the full details are expected to be published before Devcon 2024.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1600" height="519" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-60.png" alt="" class="wp-image-91186" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-60.png?w=1600 1600w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-60.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-60.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-60.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-60.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-60.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-60.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-60.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-60.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: <a href="https://x.com/0xstark/status/1828416179993522386">Josh Stark</a></figcaption></figure>



For the last two years, EF has spent 25-30% of its annual budget on “L1 R&amp;D.”



This includes internal spending on EF-affiliated teams like Geth, the dominant Ethereum software client on the execution layer, Privacy + Scaling Explorations, Solidity, Devcon, Ethereum.org, and more.



The second largest chunk of spending is in the “New Institutions” category. That includes external grants to organizations such as L2Beat, 0xPARC Foundation, Nomic Foundation, Decentralization Research Centre, and other Ethereum-related organizations.



The stated goal of external funding to these organizations is to “strengthen and support the Ethereum ecosystem” in the long term, Stark said.



Internal spending made up about 38% while external spending was about <a href="https://x.com/0xstark/status/1828416182036111412">62%</a>. That roughly translates to $62 million being allocated as external spending for grants, given the Foundation’s <a href="https://x.com/AyaMiyagotchi/status/1827219654999470258">annual budget</a> of roughly $100 million a year.



Assuming the annual budget is spent in its entirety, the EF has a run rate of 6-7 years at today’s ETH prices, given EF’s <a href="https://etherscan.io/address/0xde0b295669a9fd93d5f28d9ec85e40f4cb697bae">treasury</a> of 273,274 ETH ($687.5 million).



Based on the EF’s Q1 2024 <a href="https://blog.ethereum.org/2024/05/14/esp-allocation-q124">report</a>, the <a href="https://x.com/EF_ESP">Ecosystem Support Program</a> allocated $11.4 million in funding to 109 different developers, research, events, and community projects.



Additionally, when asked on X, Vitalik Buterin clarified that he’s <a href="https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/1828418559875101058">paid</a> roughly $139,600 a year as a member of the EF.



To put the EF’s spending into context, Arbitrum DAO has spent about $70 million on its <a href="https://x.com/blockworksres/status/1820523746396184614">Short-Term Incentive Program (STIP)</a>, a grant that ran for three months since November 2023, and another $23.7 million for the <a href="https://www.tally.xyz/gov/arbitrum/proposal/110767177349707239820875764565747830009768307680609166467172874966002003291288">Long-Term Incentives Pilot Program (LTIPP)</a>.



Arbitrum also passed in May 2024 a <a href="https://www.tally.xyz/gov/arbitrum/proposal/53472400873981607449547539050199074000442490831067826984987297151333310022877">$215 million</a> grant to support its gaming ecosystem.



Cosmos’ Interchain Foundation spent $30.8 million in 2023 with the largest spending ($8.2 million) going towards the “IBC Protocol”, based on its <a href="https://medium.com/the-interchain-foundation/annual-report-2023-and-beyond-616d22dce090">2023 annual report</a>.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="674" height="406" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-58.png" alt="" class="wp-image-91184" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-58.png?w=674 674w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-58.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-58.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-58.png?w=433 433w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-58.png?w=364 364w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-58.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 674px) 100vw, 674px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: <a href="https://medium.com/the-interchain-foundation/annual-report-2023-and-beyond-616d22dce090">Interchain Foundation</a></figcaption></figure>



Polkadot, on the other hand, spent $87 million in the first half of 2024 alone, with $37 million going to “advertising and media, online and offline community building and events…big conferences and business development,” based on a <a href="https://forum.polkadot.network/t/2024-h1-polkadot-treasury-report/8862">treasury report</a> released in June.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="600" height="371" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-59.png" alt="" class="wp-image-91185" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-59.png?w=600 600w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-59.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-59.png?w=416 416w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-59.png?w=422 422w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-59.png?w=354 354w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image-59.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: <a href="https://forum.polkadot.network/t/2024-h1-polkadot-treasury-report/8862">Polkadot</a></figcaption></figure>



Other major L1 Foundations, including the Solana Foundation and the Aptos Foundation, have not released formal annual spending reports.



A Sui Foundation spokesperson told Blockworks that it may release treasury reports in the future in addition to its current updates.&nbsp;



The Solana Foundation and Aptos Foundation did not immediately return a request for comment.



Disclaimer: Blockworks Research is a delegate to Arbitrum DAO.



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Ethereum Foundation

Ethereum Foundation under fire for lack of transparency in treasury management

Jack Kubinec

The Ethereum Foundation, a non-profit supporting the Ethereum ecosystem, removed the warrant canary indicating it’s never been served a government subpoena from its website on Feb. 26.&nbsp;



“[W]e have received a voluntary enquiry from a state authority that included a requirement for confidentiality,” Ethereum web developer Pablo Pettinari <a href="https://github.com/ethereum/ethereum-foundation-website/commit/769b30603504b4b5e8f601f8014691a8d1821390">wrote</a> alongside a code commit removing the canary.&nbsp;



The Ethereum Foundation performs functions such as handling grants and providing research for the Ethereum ecosystem. It emphasizes that it does not control or lead Ethereum. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin <a href="https://ethereum.foundation/ef">serves</a> on its executive board.&nbsp;



The Ethereum Foundation erroneously <a href="https://x.com/TiKawamoto/status/1130081578028273664?s=20">removed</a> its warrant canary in 2019 — though this time seems to be for real.&nbsp;



The price of ether (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/eth">ETH</a>) <a href="https://x.com/MikeSeligEsq/status/1770475199609114831?s=20">fell</a> more than 2% immediately after the news broke, furthering a bearish week for the token.&nbsp;



Industry watchers were quick to point out that the Ethereum Foundation’s “voluntary enquiry” could be no big deal.&nbsp;



“It’s extremely common for crypto protocol foundations to receive voluntary requests for information from federal and state regulators. And subpoenas are about as sure as the sunrise for a crypto entity,” Mike Selig, partner at Willkie Farr &amp; Gallagher, <a href="https://x.com/MikeSeligEsq/status/1770475199609114831?s=20">said</a> on X.&nbsp;



The Ethereum Foundation did not immediately return a request for comment.



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