The Ethereum ecosystem could face a "slowly building funding crisis" over the next three to nine months. This was stated by former Ethereum Foundation (EF) employee Trent Van Epps. Van Epps worked at EF from May 2021 to April 2026. Over five years he coordinated core protocol development, funding through Protocol Guild, and economics research. According to his article Succession After Subtraction, the current risks are tied to an EF philosophy called Subtraction. "Following the path of subtraction means resisting the foundation's natural tendency to grow and accumulate value within itself, as well as ensuring that this value is created outside the organization, in the broader Ethereum ecosystem," — that is how the concept of the idea sounded in 2019. The approach was meant to demonstrate that EF does not claim the role of the sole center of power. However, as Van Epps noted, legitimacy still concentrates around the foundation — because of the brand, the organization's connection with Vitalik Buterin, control over media and communication assets, the historical role of the treasury, and the direct employment of about 25% of active core-protocol contributors. The former employee of the organization singled out two factors pressuring funding: the contraction of the treasury's capabilities. In June 2025 the foundation presented a plan to cut annual spending from 15% to a baseline level of 5% by 2030; the conclusion of the Client Incentive Program in April 2026. The four-year program was a key mechanism for funding client teams through staking, and there is no replacement for it yet. According to Van Epps's estimate, the Ethereum ecosystem requires about $30 million in annual funding. These funds support the work of more than 10 client teams as well as research and coordination groups, yet finding the money is becoming increasingly problematic. Without stable funding, the ecosystem risks losing people with critically important experience, falling behind in scaling and in preparing for challenges such as quantum computing, and jeopardizing the reliability of the main network. The developer added that in 12–18 months the consequences will be harder and more expensive to reverse. Van Epps called for revising the social, political, and economic contracts between ecosystem participants. Among the proposals: to recognize and actively manage the network's three interdependent resources (the software, the blockchain itself, and the native coin); to build scalable, accountable, and neutral funding mechanisms; and to prioritize broad adoption of the technology. Recall that in early June ConsenSys head Joseph Lubin dismissed talk of a crisis at the Ethereum Foundation.

Source: ForkLog