Ethereum foundation slashes core team amid ongoing reorganization

The Ethereum foundation has announced a shakeup of its internal structure, including the rebrand of its research and development team.

A June 2 release by the Ethereum Foundation has outlined a strategic restructuring of its core development team. The reorganization aims to sharpen focus, improve collaboration, and accelerate progress toward Ethereum’s scaling and usability goals.

Key to the restructuring includes laying off several staff members and rebranding the Protocol Research & Development (PR&D) team as simply ‘Protocol.’ The revamped team will focus on three strategic priorities, including scaling Layer 1, improving user experience, and expanding blobspace capacity.

“This means some members of PR&D won’t be continuing with the Ethereum Foundation,” stated the release, adding that “We must rethink our current approach to designing, developing and stewarding the protocol. This process of “shipping protocol” is messy, asking us to respond proactively to demands that are hard to articulate and even harder to fulfill.”

The announcement comes on the heels of co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s recent confirmation at ETHGlobal Prague that Layer 1 is expected to scale roughly tenfold within the next year, as well as his January 2025 remarks about forthcoming changes to the ecosystem’s leadership. 

The changes also come in response to growing industry calls for ecosystem-wide improvements to address operational inconsistencies and recent security concerns.

Ethereum’s Pectra Security Flaw

The Ethereum Improvement Proposal EIP-7702, introduced earlier this year, exposed vulnerabilities that malicious actors have actively exploited, underscoring the critical need for a more focused approach to protocol development.

Originally introduced to enhance wallet functionality by allowing standard Ethereum accounts to temporarily behave like smart contracts, EIP-7702 has inadvertently opened the door to new forms of abuse. On-chain analysts and security firms have flagged a wave of wallet-draining attacks exploiting the new delegation feature, raising urgent questions about the security implications of recent protocol changes.

The timing of the Ethereum Foundation’s reorganization suggests an effort to address the operational shortcomings and restore confidence in its protocol development roadmap.