Vitalik Buterin outlines plans to shrink the Ethereum Foundation and prioritize censorship resistance, privacy, and security over expansion.
The Ethereum Foundation will scale back its operations and reduce ETH sales, focusing on a narrower set of priorities dubbed CROPS: censorship resistance, openness, privacy, and security. The foundation currently holds about 0.16% of all ETH, significantly less than the 10%-50% typical for central foundations in other blockchains.
Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder, emphasized a shift toward “longevity over breadth,” arguing that maximizing throughput or speed risks mediocrity. His influence within the foundation will diminish as the board expands, aligning with his stated preference for a decentralized structure.
Buterin also disclosed that nearly 90% of his net worth is in ETH, with the remaining $40 million allocated to open-source biotech, software, and hardware initiatives. The changes reflect a strategic pivot to ensure Ethereum’s long-term resilience in core areas.