#以太坊基金会重组降本 On June 23, 2026, the Ethereum Foundation (EF) announced its largest restructuring in history. This is not a simple cost reduction, but a profound transformation involving strategic positioning, organizational structure, and financial models.

📉 The hard data of "cost reduction"

From financial and personnel perspectives, the "cost reduction" is very straightforward:

· Budget cut by 40%: Annual expenses decrease from about 15% of funds to approximately 5% after 2030.
· 20% layoffs: 54 positions eliminated, accompanied by the departure of 9 executives, including Co-Executive Director Wang Xiaowei.
· Project contraction: Closure of the "Privacy and Expansion Exploration" department, downsizing of the Devcon conference, and reduced funding for external projects.

🎯 More than just saving money: a strategic turnaround

The core of this restructuring is a fundamental shift in EF's role: from "main ecosystem builder" to "lightweight protocol governance and maintenance."

· Say goodbye to "all-in-one": EF no longer attempts to handle everything from research and development to promotion, instead delegating execution functions to other organizations within the ecosystem. Its new mission focuses on the CROPS principles (Crypto Punks, Resilience, Open Source, Permissionless, Security).
· Focus on core protocols: efforts are concentrated on "what only EF can do, what must be done," with the core goal of ensuring the security and decentralization of the Ethereum protocol.

🏗️ New architecture: five major clusters unveiled

To achieve focus, EF reorganized into five core business clusters:

· Protocol Layer: 57 people. Responsible for core protocol development, advancing long-term research such as post-quantum security and zkEVM.
· Access Layer: 34 people. Ensures users can freely read on-chain data and conduct transactions without relying on intermediaries.
· User Layer: 5 people. Feedback real user needs to the protocol and access layer.
· Community Layer: 25 people. Responsible for EF’s internal and external image and community communication.
· Institutional Layer: 12 people. Handles engagement with financial institutions, enterprises, and governments.

🚀 One retreat, one advance: the birth of Ethlabs

Almost simultaneously with EF’s "retreat," an independent non-profit research organization called Ethlabs was established.

· Impressive background: Founded by five former EF senior researchers, supported by heavyweight backers like BitMine and Joe Lubin.
· Clear division of labor: Ethlabs focuses on more "grounded" industrial applications, such as large-scale on-chain integration for institutions, cross-chain transactions, and mainnet expansion, filling the ecological niche left by EF’s retreat.
· Deliberate distance: Vitalik Buterin is not listed among Ethlabs’ supporters, which is interpreted as him intentionally avoiding personal endorsement that could interfere with the new organization’s path.

💎 Summary: a "stress test" of long-termism

This restructuring can be seen as Ethereum’s proactive "stress test" after experiencing a market winter and intensified competition.

Vitalik proposed a new development philosophy called "Soft Lean and Done," emphasizing security fixes rather than constantly adding new features. This marks Ethereum’s transition from an ever-expanding "startup" to a more conservative, mature "protocol maintainer."

In the short term, large-scale layoffs and executive departures are significant shocks; in the long term, EF aims to explore a new path for decentralized governance through "strategic contraction" and nurturing new forces like Ethlabs.

Of course, this transformation also carries risks. The loss of core talent, the costs of integrating the new architecture, and adjustments to the "multi-client" strategy could cause short-term pains. Ethereum is at a critical crossroads, and the success or failure of this restructuring will profoundly influence its trajectory over the next decade.