The Ethereum Foundation's transformation begins. Can ETH return to its peak?

Author: Pzai, Foresight News

On July 10, the Ethereum Foundation released "The Future of Ecosystem Development," initiating a series of profound structural reforms aimed at addressing long-standing challenges in project support, ecosystem operations, and fund management.

In the new vision statement, the Ethereum Foundation articulated two primary overarching goals: first, to maximize the number of people who directly or indirectly use Ethereum and benefit from its underlying values; second, to maximize the resilience of Ethereum's technology and social infrastructure. The core of this structural reform lies in redefining the Foundation's role within the Ethereum ecosystem, enhancing the ecosystem's scalability, resilience, and decentralization through the introduction of four strategic pillars (Accelerate, Amplify, Support, and Long-term Unblocking), establishing a new governance framework, and reforming its fund management strategy.

New Ecodev Organizational Structure

Ecosystem Acceleration

Previously, some users and developers criticized the Ethereum Foundation for its long-standing governance philosophy of "doing nothing," which led to a series of ecosystem fractures and a loss of narrative coherence. As more enterprises compete to establish crypto reserves, the strategic conquest of reserves has also become a key factor in ecosystem development. In terms of ecosystem acceleration, the Ethereum Foundation has newly established support modules for specific directions, including:

• Enterprise Relations: Providing support for enterprises looking to adopt Ethereum, focusing on verticals such as finance and supply chain, and promoting the on-chain tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) like real estate and bonds.
• Developer Growth: Attracting and supporting the next generation of Ethereum ecosystem developers. This module is led by Gitcoin Research Director Austin Griffith.
• Application Support: Accelerating the development of meaningful user-facing applications.
• Founder Support: Non-financial project-related support, led by former Consensys Frontend Tech Director Adrian Li.

The amplification of previous ecosystem acceleration includes work in promotion and ecosystem development, such as:

• Digital Studio (ethereum.org Team): The Ethereum narrative engine, creating narrative-rich content, videos, publications, and unique visualizations to showcase Ethereum's potential.
• Strategic Events: Designing and executing targeted events.
• Ubiquitous Ethereum: A team focused on expanding support for local communities and centers that assist application developers.
• EcoDev Automation: Enhancing internal operations through automation and AI-driven tools, enabling the team to achieve its goals more effectively.

Ecosystem Support

For a long time, the Ethereum Foundation has been criticized for its lack of transparency. For example, in the Ecosystem Support Program (ESP), the Foundation previously only disclosed the names of funded projects without revealing specific funding amounts or subsequent updates on project progress. Additionally, when early Ethereum developer @econoar left, he criticized the Foundation for its "cumbersome processes," "time-consuming efforts," and "disconnection between leadership and the broader community." Following this, the Foundation also reduced its future operating expenses from 15% to 5% by 2025, gradually aligning with the standards of a donation-based organization and deploying on-chain assets to ensure long-term financial buffers (aiming to maintain a 2.5-year operational cash reserve).

In the new structural reform, the Foundation's new ESP/funding support program emphasizes more targeted applications and non-financial support, co-funding important public goods organizations through strategic funding programs to benefit the broader Ethereum ecosystem. Additionally, in the new support framework, Launchpad will assist organizations in addressing operational design, sustainable funding, governance, and other challenges. Support from Launchpad can come from the Foundation, grantees, or derivative products from other ecosystem organizations (similar to Protocol Guild).

In the future, the Ethereum Foundation will also participate in global crypto policy coordination, monitor global issues related to the Ethereum ecosystem, and collaborate with policy organizations worldwide to establish ongoing relationships with governments and non-governmental organizations. Furthermore, as a practical venue for blockchain academia, the academic secretariat will actively promote collaboration between Ethereum and universities, professors, and students to advance blockchain technology.

Conclusion

On July 11, Ethereum officially broke through the $3000 mark. As the price of the coin rises, ecosystem development is also gradually advancing. From this structural transformation, the core goal of the Ethereum Foundation's transition is to expand the user base and enhance the resilience of the infrastructure. This means the Foundation will more actively coordinate resources, guide narratives, bridge community divides, and promote the scaling of Ethereum in key application areas while maintaining its core values. As the advantages of public chains are gradually being caught up, the Foundation aims to explore and shape the next growth engine for the Ethereum ecosystem through systematic support and strategic guidance.