Vitalik Buterin — the co-founder of Ethereum (ETH), the blockchain that introduced smart contracts — announced changes to Ethereum Foundation’s leadership.
The new changes aim to emphasize technical expertise and improve communication between the Ethereum Foundation and those who build on the Ethereum blockchain. In his Jan. 18 X post, Buterin wrote:
“We are indeed currently in the process of large changes to EF leadership structure, which has been ongoing for close to a year. Some of this has already been executed on and made public, and some is still in progress.”
Buterin also announced that the Ethereum Foundation would not engage in political lobbying or ideological shifts. The organization won’t take a more central role in Ethereum protocol development either.
The details
Buterin explained that the objectives that the Ethereum Foundation hopes to achieve with the changes include improving the level of technical expertise in the organization, as well asl improving communication with ecosystem actors. The organization also hopes to bring in fresh talent to “improve execution ability and speed.
Other goals include the Ethereum Foundation becoming more active in supporting app builders. The organization will also work hard to preserve what it perceives as inalienable rights and values:
“Make sure important values and inalienable rights (esp privacy, open source, censorship resistance) are a reality for users including at the app layer.”
Lastly, the organization also hopes to increase its use of decentralized and privacy technology and the Ethereum blockchain. That adoption includes Ethereum Foundation’s payments and treasury management.
What Buterin promised the Ethereum Foundation will not do includes ideological shifts to adapt to the new U.S. political climate or engaging in regulator lobbying. The organization will also avoid becoming an arena for vested interests or becoming a centralized organization — or increasing its importance within the Ethereum ecosystem. Buterin wrote:
“These things aren’t what [The Ethereum Foundation] does and this isn’t going to change. People seeking a different vision are welcome to start their own orgs.”