Ethereum Foundation Dissent Dampens ETH Price as Vitalik Asserts Authority

On Jan. 21, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin firmly asserted his sole authority over Ethereum Foundation leadership decisions, stating that it will remain until reforms establish a “proper board.”

“The person deciding the new EF leadership team is me. One of the goals of the ongoing reform is to give the EF a ‘proper board’, but until that happens it’s me,” he said on X.

The post came in response to significant backlash against Aya Miyaguchi, the Foundation’s executive director since 2018, with accusations of inefficiencies during her tenure.

“If you ‘keep the pressure on,’ then you are creating an environment that is actively toxic to top talent,” Buterin said in response to the social media backlash.

No. This is not how this game works.

The person deciding the new EF leadership team is me. One of the goals of the ongoing reform is to give the EF a “proper board”, but until that happens it’s me.

If you “keep the pressure on”, then you are creating an environment that is…

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) January 21, 2025

EF Backlash Mounts

Buterin announced changes to the Foundation’s leadership on Jan. 18, focusing on supporting dApp developers and promoting decentralization.

However, he emphasized the foundation would not engage in ideological shifts, political lobbying, or take a more central ecosystem role.

There is strong community pressure to promote developer Danny Ryan to a leadership position. On Jan. 22, Ryan, who left the EF in 2024 due to health issues, said, “Some of the discourse has turned counterproductive,” before adding:

“These are real people attempting to sort through and do what is best. With or without me, the EF is evolving and for the better. You’ve been heard, but vitriol is ultimately harmful to this process.”

Just to fill you in: I left the EF last year due to health issues and in an attempt to clear my head after working my ass off exclusively at the EF and on Ethereum for seven years.

I stepped aside, and the EF and the broader Ethereum ecosystem moved on without missing a beat—new…

— dannyryan (@dannyryan) January 21, 2025

Fellow developer Eric Connor announced his departure from the Ethereum ecosystem, stating:

“The Ethereum Foundation is a leftist-driven, anti-winning swamp. 80% of the budget can be cut and Ethereum would function and progress just fine.”

Meanwhile, Ethereum educator Anthony Sassano highlighted all the good things that the EF has done, stating, “Ethereum is much bigger than the EF,”

I am not an EF apologist or think that the EF is perfect and can do no wrong, but I think it’s worth highlighting some of the positive stuff they’ve done recently:

– Revived the @ethereum account (it’s no where near good enough yet, but it’ll get better)
– Moved 50k ETH into a…

— sassal.eth/acc (@sassal0x) January 22, 2025

ETH Price Flounders

Nevertheless, the situation appears to have created tension between Buterin’s desire to reform the Foundation while maintaining control over leadership decisions. Additionally, the dissent and recent EF ETH sales have dampened ETH prices, which have been consolidating for the past month.

ETH has gained 2.4% on the day to reach $3,330 at the time of writing, but most of the other altcoins are still outperforming it.

The asset failed to follow Bitcoin, XRP, and Solana to existing or new peaks and remains down 32% from its 2021 all-time high.

This is all despite US President Donald Trump actively buying ETH and the premise of staked Ethereum ETFs being approved by the SEC soon.

Tension within the Ethereum (and Bitcoin) communities is nothing new, and the ecosystem has survived and improved.

the last time there was this dissent in Ethereum

was February 2020 with the gory fight and eventual rejection of ProgPoW

(this is financial advice) pic.twitter.com/8P8vBJ2qra

— DCinvestor (@iamDCinvestor) January 21, 2025