Ethereum Foundation faces ‘urgent’ funding and leadership challenges in months

The Ethereum Foundation has been put on notice of “urgent challenges” brewing beneath the surface, according to Trent Van Epps, a former core development coordinator at the organization from May 2021 to April 2026. 

In the X article that Van Epps shared, developer funding at Ethereum could enter crisis mode in a matter of three to nine months as the Foundation’s austerity period plays out as scaled-back spending and expiring grant programs.

How large is the developer funding gap at Ethereum Foundation? 

Van Epps’ commentary came against a backdrop of an escalating leadership crisis at the Ethereum Foundation, which cracked new depths as Hsiao-Wei Wang stepped down from her roles as co-executive director and board member. 

He pointed to a widening gap between existing funding structures and the costs of maintaining the Ethereum network as he made the case to overhaul what he called the “social, political, and economic contracts” between its stakeholders.

Van Epps fingered the roughly $30 million annual overhead it takes to maintain a roster of more than ten client teams as one of such problems. 

Another problem coming down the pipeline is the expiration of the four-year Client Incentives Program (CIP). The program, which funded the teams building and maintaining Ethereum’s core software, was set to end in April 2026.

Ethereum needs a more practical Foundation 

Van Epps also noted that the Foundation has gone out of its way on multiple occasions to insist that it does not want to be “the sole center of power.” However, without an explicit plan detailing “the contours of what it won’t or can’t do,” other parts of the ecosystem are scrambling to build alternative funding bodies, which haven’t been going smoothly so far.

Van Epps dropped the bombshell when he said: “From recent conversations across all core development, there is a risk we will enter a slow-burning funding crisis within the next 3-9 months.” 

He added that the gap may look episodic but reflects “larger structural issues related to gathering and allocating funding.”

Ethereum Foundation’s austerity and spending cuts add pressure

The Ethereum Foundation has adopted what it calls a “Subtraction” strategy, scaling back the frequency and cutting down the zeroes in the cheques it writes. 

Ecosystem self-sufficiency is an inevitable part of Ethereum’s future as the Foundation moves forward with its plan to bring annual spending down to a 5% baseline of its treasury by 2030 from roughly 15% right now. 

The Foundation is also losing members at an unhealthy rate. Since January 2026, eight high-profile contributors have left the Foundation. Before Cryptopolitan reported about Hsiao-Wei Wang’s departure, Tomasz Stanczak, a former co-executive director, stepped down in February. Researchers Carl Beek and Julian Ma also left in May. 

Van Epps warned that Ethereum contributors with years of institutional knowledge, scaling experience and quantum-computing preparedness may continue to jump ship as funding problems persist.

Not everyone is down with Van Epps’ angle

The post prompted a sharp response from Gabriel Shapiro, a crypto-legal commentator who posts as @lex_node on X. 

Shapiro argued that Ethereum’s rejection of both on-chain governance and traditional corporate structures leaves any protocol-level funding mechanism dependent on “sending a bunch of money to some guys & relying on their ‘alignment.’”

Shapiro went further, accusing Van Epps of pushing for “some kind of horrid zcash style devmine” and arguing that the priority should be making ETH (Ether) “investable” rather than expanding public-goods-style funding.

Van Epps, who now works with Protocol Guild, a project that channels independent funding to Ethereum developers outside the Foundation’s grant structure, responded that a patronage model “hasn’t scaled” and called for willing funders to step forward.

Buterin already warned of reduced organizational role 

The funding warning follows a May 24 post from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who wrote on X that the Foundation’s board was “in the process of expanding” and that his own power within the organization would “continue to decrease.” 

Buterin described the transition as something he wanted, and credited executive director Aya Miyaguchi with executing much of the change.

Whether Protocol Guild and similar independent funding efforts can replace the Foundation’s shrinking grants quickly enough to cover the estimated $30 million annual cost remains the open question heading into the second half of 2026.