Ethereum Foundation Cuts About 20% of Staff, Reorganizes into Five Core Clusters

The Ethereum Foundation has cut 54 roles—about 20% of its workforce—after a months-long internal overhaul, according to CoinDesk. The foundation said the move is intended to streamline its structure and concentrate resources on upcoming initiatives. The reorganization builds on documents released in March and aligns with the foundation's March "Mandate" and its updated fund management policy. The foundation said the post-restructuring setup—covering structure, responsibilities, and staffing—has been redesigned to better execute near-term priorities. Under the new model, work is organized into five core clusters: protocol layer, access layer, user layer, community layer, and institutional layer. Two supporting functions—operations and management—will provide cross-cutting support. In a blog post, the foundation said teams needed to be reorganized by function because goals, evaluation methods, and internal structures differ across areas of work, and the new structure is designed to give each team clearer deliverables. The foundation did not provide details on any additional job cuts, emphasizing that the restructuring is complete. The changes come after a series of senior departures. Joint Executive Director HsiaoWei Wang left last week. Former Joint Executive Director Tomasz Stanczak departed in February. Researcher Dankrad Feist moved last year to Stripe's stablecoin blockchain project, Tempo. Vitalik Buterin had also signaled further streamlining last month. In his latest comments, Buterin said the restructuring resulted in the loss of important talent and thanked departing staff for their contributions to the foundation and the broader Ethereum ecosystem. He added that the past few years have been challenging for Ethereum, but both the foundation and the ecosystem have adapted, and he still sees room for Ethereum to keep growing. Separately, a new research institution, Ethlabs, was announced this past Monday. The nonprofit R&D organization was founded by former Ethereum Foundation researchers and is backed by Ethereum treasury-related companies including BitMine Immersion Technologies and Sharplink. Ethlabs said its initial focus will be improving the connection between institutions and Ethereum, a shift that could see some research and ecosystem-development work previously handled within the foundation move to external organizations over time.