Coin Bureau|07. Juni
ETH Is Entering a New Era and It’s Getting Messy
Vitalik Buterin Announces 'Smaller Ship' Framework for Ethereum Foundation
- Background: ETH price at $2600 (20% YTD decline), ETH/BTC ratio at 10-month low, ETF outflows exceeding $2.4 billion in 2026, leadership turnover and multiple senior departures.
- Key framework points:
- Ethereum Foundation will become smaller and focus solely on 'CROPS' (censorship resistance, capture resistance, openness, privacy, security).
- No longer competing on transaction throughput (TPS) – described as 'a path to mediocrity'.
- Reduced ETH sales: EF holds only 0.16% of total supply.
- Vitalik's personal board influence decreasing; 90% of his net worth is in ETH.
- Contrarian reading: Every reform directly responds to public criticism from the past 18 months (e.g., accusations of ETH dumping, centralized authority, wrong priorities). The post reads more like damage control than a vision.
- Structural issues:
- Tokenomics: Since DenCun upgrade (March 2024), ETH is structurally inflationary (~45,000 new ETH per month). Value accrues to L2 operators (Coinbase, Arbitrum, Optimism) rather than ETH holders.
- Developer drain: Ethereum's share of blockchain developers fell from 82% (2020) to 31% (2025); Solana rose from 6% to 23%. Core developer salaries ($140,000) are 50–60% below market average.
- Bull case: Ethereum remains leading settlement layer for institutional use (60% of RWA market, 50% of stablecoin capitalization). Tokenization could reach $4 trillion by 2028.
- Bear case: Solana dominates in transactions (125x more), DEX volume, and RWA lending. Hyperliquid captures perpetual futures. Predictions: ETH could drop out of top 3 by 2030. David Hoffman (Bankless) liquidated his ETH holdings.
- Key indicators:
- Pectra upgrade: Delayed to Q3; if successful, 78% gas fee reduction and 10,000 TPS.
- ETF inflows: Outflow streak must break.
- $1 billion proposal from ex-EF researcher: New organization to advocate for ETH.
- Onchain treasury activity: EF unstaked 38,000 ETH in May – promise not yet confirmed by actions.
- Developer data: Next Electric Capital report will show if brain drain continues.
