The Ethereum Foundation may stake its $1B ETH holdings following criticism of its passive role, while leadership changes are being discussed to revitalize the organization.
The Ethereum Foundation may be on the verge of staking its nearly $1 billion worth of ETH holdings. This is according to an explanation shared on X by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.
Recently, the foundation came under fire for its rather lukewarm approach. The criticism bordered on allegations that it barely took any part in the activities of the Ethereum ecosystem. However, someone like Josh Stark has been quick to defend the foundation.
Stark, who is one of the foundation’s contributors, claims that the Ethereum foundation has been using the blockchain to sell tokens, event tickets, and even pay out grants.
the EF uses Ethereum all the time, for instance to (1) swap ETH for stables (usually @CoWSwap) and (2) to pay people (grantees, team members) in stables and ETH, on mainnet and L2s. Events we run (like Devcon and Devconnect) take onchain payments and use onchain ID for tickets.
— Josh Stark (@0xstark) January 20, 2025
This response was not good enough. Particularly for those who believe that the foundation could be more involved in better ways.
Now that suggestions have begun pouring in, though, the Ethereum Foundation may be ready to take the advice of an angel investor identified as Eric Conner. The investor suggests that the foundation may stake its holdings and use the staking rewards to pay employees and issue grants.
Vitalik Buterin Defends Ethereum Foundation, Hints At Way Forward
Buterin has attempted to issue some explanations after admitting that the foundation may truly not have been very active in this regard. However, he claims that there are about 2 reasons for that.
First was the regulatory risks that came with being too involved. Then, there were concerns that the foundation may be forced to make a hasty decision when choosing the correct chain for a hard fork on the network.
Now, Buterin says regulatory tensions have eased up remarkably. Moreover, the foundation has also been working tirelessly to tackle the second problem. So, it might be safe to say that the foundation is already looking at Conner’s suggestion, weighing the good and bad sides of staking its ETH.
Call for Leadership Changes Still on the Table
Meanwhile, Buterin has recently been calling for a change of leadership at the foundation. In one of his recent posts, he suggested that these changes, which will introduce fresh talents, are extremely necessary to improve the foundation on all sides. This is so that the foundation can attain a point of better “execution ability and speed,” much better use of decentralized and privacy-focused technology.
Interestingly, there have been some suggestions agreeing with Buterin’s thought process. Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin, for instance, suggested that the foundation’s current executive director, Aya Miyaguchi, be replaced with two co-leaders: Danny Ryan and Jerome de Tychey. According to him, these two individuals are bursting with energy, and their joint leadership would inject “outside the box thinking and creativity” to the Ethereum community.
next