Vitalik Buterin confirmed this week that his personal influence on the Ethereum Foundation board will continue to shrink. The Foundation is selling less ETH and narrowing its mission. Buterin framed the organization as one node within a wider ecosystem — not its central coordinator.
A smaller footprint on purpose
The Foundation holds just 0.16% of all ether. That's lower than several individual holders. By contrast, rival chain foundations often hold 10% to 50% of supply. President Aya Miyaguchi is leading much of the transition, which should stabilize over the coming months. The board is expanding to dilute any single member's influence, including Buterin's own. The Foundation's original 2014 mandate was completed in 2022.
What the Foundation will do instead
Going forward, the Foundation is focusing on CROPS: censorship resistance, openness, privacy, and security. Ethereum won't chase high-throughput chains on raw speed alone. Instead, it will pursue technical work that competing networks are unlikely to attempt. Concrete priorities include provably bug-free Ethereum via AI-assisted formal verification; lean consensus under asynchronous conditions and 49% attacker scenarios; intermediary minimization via FOCIL and EIP-8141; and wallet-layer projects like Kohaku to break dependence on third-party servers. The reduced ETH sales policy frees resources for longer-term goals.
Buterin's personal stake
Nearly 90% of Buterin's net worth is in ETH, with the remainder in open-source biotech, software, and hardware initiatives. The transition period is expected to last several months, after which the new mandate should stabilize. Outside groups are expected to absorb work the Foundation no longer prioritizes, including activities supporting ETH as an asset. 99.1% of Ethereum Foundation reserves remain in ETH, according to an earlier treasury report.
