Ethereum Foundation Chief Strategy Advisor Aerugo published a six-part execution thread on Monday, laying out a plan to treat MEV extraction as a structural threat and push privacy into the protocol's default settings. The foundation also said it will move its own compensation into ETH and Ethereum-native stablecoins, a concrete step toward aligning internal incentives with the network's health.
Why MEV gets labeled a 'structural threat'
The thread, posted under Aerugo's handle, commits the foundation to treating maximal extractable value not as an inevitable feature of Ethereum but as a systemic risk. That framing matters: it signals the EF will push for research and code changes that curb the kind of front-running and sandwich attacks that raise costs for regular users. The six-part plan doesn't prescribe specific tooling yet, but it sets a direction—one that could eventually touch how validators order transactions and how L2s handle sequencing.
Privacy as a protocol default
Aerugo wrote that the EF wants privacy built into Ethereum's base layer by default, not bolted on as an afterthought. That's a notable shift for a foundation that has historically left privacy to application-layer teams. Making it a default means changes to how the EVM handles encrypted data or how users interact with addresses. The thread didn't offer a timeline, but the commitment alone puts the EF on a collision course with protocols and regulators that have treated privacy features as suspect.
Walking the talk on compensation
The most concrete move: the foundation says it will denominate its own staff compensation in ETH and Ethereum-native stablecoins. That's a small step in dollar terms—the EF's budget is modest relative to the ecosystem—but it's symbolically heavy. If the foundation is willing to take its pay in the same assets it's trying to protect, it removes any argument that the EF is detached from the risks its decisions create. The move also pushes the market for native stablecoins, signaling confidence in the infrastructure that supports them.
What comes next
The thread is a policy document, not a pull request. Aerugo didn't release code or name specific EIPs. The next concrete milestone will be a technical follow-up—likely a series of Ethereum Improvement Proposals or a research post detailing how privacy and MEV reduction interact without breaking DeFi. For now, the foundation has drawn a line in the sand. Whether the broader Ethereum community follows is the open question.
