Ethereum Foundation (ETH) Implements Drastic Budget and Staff Reductions: Impact on Price

Key Takeaways

• Approximately 54 employees—representing 20% of total staff—have been laid off from the Ethereum Foundation across multiple divisions.
• Co-founder Vitalik Buterin has announced a 40% reduction in the foundation’s annual budget for 2026.
• The foundation is transitioning to a more efficient operating model, aiming to spend just 5% of its treasury annually by 2030, compared to 15% previously.
• Ethereum is currently hovering around $1,660 with critical support at $1,611, and further downside risk to $1,524.
• Since January, nine senior leadership members have departed the foundation, while a new parallel entity called Ethlabs has been established.

The Ethereum Foundation has finalized a significant organizational overhaul, eliminating approximately 54 positions—roughly 20% of total staff—while confirming plans to slash its 2026 budget by 40%. The announcement came via a blog post from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin on Tuesday.

According to the foundation, this reorganization represents the culmination of several months of strategic internal planning. The restructured foundation now operates through five primary clusters: protocol development, access infrastructure, user experience, community engagement, and institutional relations, supplemented by two supporting clusters dedicated to operations and executive management.

Buterin explained that these budget reductions form part of a comprehensive long-term strategy. The foundation intends to decrease its annual expenditure from approximately 15% of treasury holdings prior to 2026 down to roughly 5% annually following 2030.

“I respect my EF colleagues far too much to pretend that there was not much that is lost,” Buterin stated, openly recognizing the personal impact these workforce reductions have on affected individuals.

The organizational transformation also involves discontinuing the Privacy and Scaling Explorations division, scaling back Devcon event operations, and implementing a more focused institutional engagement approach.

Leadership Exodus and Growing Concerns

These workforce reductions come on the heels of co-Executive Director Hsiao-Wei Wang’s resignation. Her departure brings the total number of senior leadership exits since January to nine. Notable departures include former team leads Tim Beiko and Josh Stark.

Market analyst Daan Crypto Trades (@DaanCrypto) provided commentary on ETH’s technical situation via X, highlighting that Ethereum continues to face rejection at the $1,750 threshold—corresponding to February’s bottom. He explained that bullish traders must establish a higher low near that zone and successfully breach resistance on the subsequent rally attempt. “If they can’t, this will just start bleeding lower and test that ~$1.5K region again,” he observed, emphasizing the need for ETH to maintain levels above $1,750 for bullish confirmation.

This week, Ethlabs emerged as a fresh research and development entity dedicated to advancing the Ethereum ecosystem. The organization was established by five former senior researchers from the Ethereum Foundation and has secured backing from BitMine, SharpLink, and Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin.

Ethereum Price Faces Downward Pressure

ETH is presently trading near $1,660. The price remains below all major exponential moving averages: the 20-day EMA at $1,753, the 50-day EMA at $1,901, and the 100-day EMA at $2,064.

Ethereum (ETH) Price

The cryptocurrency has experienced $157 million in liquidations over the past 24 hours, with long positions accounting for $140 million of that total, per Coinglass data.

ETH is now testing the $1,611 support zone after facing rejection at both the descending trendline and the 20-day EMA. Should price breach below $1,611, the next significant support levels to monitor are $1,524, followed by $1,404 and $1,155.