The Ethereum Foundation has officially disbanded its Protocol Support team. This decision is part of a large-scale reorganization of the foundation, which recently saw about 20% of its staff laid off. While formally a step towards optimization, it conceals serious structural changes that could impact the future development of the network.
What did the disbanded team do?
The Protocol Support team was a key link in coordinating Ethereum's development. Its responsibilities included organizing meetings of core developers (All Core Developers), tracking network upgrades, supporting Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), and managing a training program for new contributors. Essentially, it was the "dispatch center" of the ecosystem, ensuring communication between disparate groups of developers.
The dissolution of the unit was announced by the Protocol Support account on X. Mario Havel, who worked on the team for over five years, confirmed that he remains with the Ethereum Foundation, but his entire team has been disbanded, and some colleagues have lost their positions. William Morriss, the former team lead, also stated that the reorganization concluded his work at the foundation.
Of particular note is the fate of the team's key projects: the Forkcast platform for tracking updates and the Ethereum Protocol Fellowship program. Over four years, the latter trained dozens of new specialists for work on the core protocol. At this point, the future of these initiatives remains uncertain.
Part of broader layoffs
The team's dissolution is just one stage of the reorganization announced on June 23. At that time, the Ethereum Foundation cut 54 positions (about 20% of its staff) after months of analyzing its activities and expenses. Vitalik Buterin confirmed these figures and discussed budget cuts. The foundation reorganized its work around five main areas: protocol, access, users, community, and institutional level. Laid-off employees were promised severance pay and job transition support.
However, the foundation has not publicly disclosed where or to whom all the functions of the disbanded team will be transferred. This raises questions: who will now coordinate developer meetings, support EIPs, and manage the Fellowship program?
It is worth noting that work on the core protocol continues. Ethereum developers are working on the Glamsterdam upgrade, but the development process itself does not depend on a single foundation team, as client developers and independent contributors work across different organizations. However, the loss of centralized coordination could slow down critical decision-making and reduce the efficiency of implementing upgrades.
My analysis: The dissolution of Protocol Support is not just a cost-cutting measure, but a signal of a transition to a more decentralized governance model. However, this transition carries risks: the loss of a single coordination center could lead to fragmentation of the development process, especially amid growing competition from Solana and other L1 networks. The Ethereum Foundation is betting on "organic" community growth, but it remains unclear whether the new structure can effectively replace the old one. The market will be closely watching how these changes affect the speed of implementing Pectra and other key upgrades.