The Ethereum Foundation has lost eight senior figures since January, fueling internal criticism and public debate over the organization's mission. On March 13, the foundation published a 'Mandate' document that recast itself as a steward rather than a 'parent, ruler, or final authority' — a shift that hasn't quieted its detractors.
Who left and what they're saying
The exodus includes former EF researcher Dankrad Feist, who publicly proposed creating a separate $1 billion ETH-aligned organization aimed at improving execution and value capture. Zak Cole, another critic, went further, calling the EF 'completely out of touch' and accusing it of funding irrelevant projects. The departures span research, engineering and leadership roles, though the foundation hasn't commented on each case individually.
Vitalik pushes back
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin defended the foundation's role, describing it as 'one node, with a defined purpose, alongside other nodes.' He emphasized the EF's core values — what he calls CROPS: censorship resistance, openness, privacy, security. The foundation's internal agenda still includes raising the gas limit to 200 million, advancing proposer-builder split work, and pushing mainnet-grade zkEVMs toward 128-bit provable security.
Governance jitters and market impact
Chris Buolos of Dromos Labs acknowledged the criticism about unclear direction has some merit, but defended the EF's neutrality in coordinating competing teams. Still, the uncertainty at the top is a real concern for institutions. If the foundation can't show a steady hand, ETH's positioning as a institutional-grade asset could take a hit. No concrete timeline has emerged for addressing the governance questions — or for the next Mandate update.
