Ethereum on the brink of a funding crisis: former EF employee sounds the alarm
The Ethereum ecosystem, in my estimation, is entering a zone of turbulence. In the next three to nine months, we may face a "slowly escalating funding crisis." This is not just a hypothesis — this is the view of Trent Van Epps, who spent five years at the Ethereum Foundation (EF) coordinating key areas: protocol development, the Protocol Guild program, and economic research.
In his article "Succession After Subtraction," he uncovers a fundamental problem. The EF philosophy called Subtraction, adopted in 2019, assumed that the foundation should not accumulate value within itself but must "subtract" itself from the equation, handing control over to the ecosystem. It sounds noble, but in practice, it has led to a paradox: legitimacy is still tied to the EF — due to the brand, the figure of Vitalik Buterin, control over communications and the treasury, as well as the direct hiring of 25% of active base protocol contributors.
Two main pressure factors
Van Epps highlights two specific triggers. The first is the compression of treasury capabilities. In June 2025, the EF presented a plan to reduce annual spending from 15% to 5% by 2030. This means the foundation is already tightening its belt. The second is the end of the Client Incentive Program in April 2026. The four-year program was the primary source of funding for client teams through staking, and there is no replacement yet.
According to estimates, the Ethereum ecosystem requires about $30 million in annual funding. This money goes to support more than 10 client teams, research and coordination groups. But finding these funds is becoming increasingly difficult. If the situation does not change, we risk losing key specialists with critically important experience, falling behind in scaling and preparing for future challenges, such as quantum computing. In 12–18 months, the consequences will be much more expensive to fix.
What is being proposed?
Van Epps calls for a revision of the social, political, and economic contracts within the ecosystem. Among his proposals:
- recognize and actively manage the three interdependent network resources: software, the blockchain itself, and the native coin;
- build scalable, accountable, and neutral funding mechanisms;
- prioritize widespread adoption of the technology.
My analysis: The situation resembles a classic growth dilemma. Ethereum has outgrown the "startup foundation" framework, but the mechanisms for decentralized financial management have not yet matured. Until the EF transfers real levers of control and funding to the community, the crisis will only worsen. This is not a collapse, but a serious stress test for one of the most important blockchain ecosystems.