Written by: Pzai, Foresight News
On July 10, the Ethereum Foundation released 'The Future of Ecosystem Development,' launching a series of profound structural reforms aimed at addressing long-standing challenges in project support, ecosystem operations, and funding management.
In the new vision statement, the Ethereum Foundation outlines two primary overarching goals: first, to maximize the number of individuals who directly or indirectly use Ethereum and benefit from its underlying values; second, to maximize the resilience of Ethereum's technology and social infrastructure. The core of this structural reform lies in redefining the Foundation's role within the Ethereum ecosystem by introducing four strategic pillars (accelerate, amplify, support, and long-term unblock), establishing a new governance framework, and reforming its funding management strategy to enhance the ecosystem's scalability, resilience, and degree of decentralization.
New Ecodev Organizational Chart
Ecosystem Acceleration
Previously, some users and developers criticized the Ethereum Foundation for its long-standing governance philosophy of 'benign neglect,' which led to a series of ecological fractures and a loss of narrative coherence. As more companies are competing to establish crypto reserves, the territorial expansion of reserve strategies has also become a key factor in ecological development. In ecological acceleration, the Ethereum Foundation has newly established support modules for segmented directions, including:
Enterprise Relations: Providing support to enterprises looking to adopt Ethereum, with a team focusing on vertical sectors such as finance and supply chain to promote on-chain tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) such as real estate and bonds.
Developer Growth: Attracting and supporting the next generation of Ethereum ecosystem developers. This module is managed by Gitcoin's research director Austin Griffith.
Application Support: Accelerating the development of meaningful applications aimed at users.
Founder Support: Project-related support on a non-financial level, managed by former Consensys frontend technology director Adrian Li.
The previous amplification of ecological acceleration covers work related to promotion and ecosystem development, including:
Digital Studio (ethereum.org team): Ethereum narrative engine, producing narrative-rich content, videos, publications, and unique visualizations to showcase Ethereum's potential.
Strategic Activities: Designing and executing targeted activities.
Ubiquitous Ethereum: A team focused on expanding support for local communities and centers that develop applications.
EcoDev Automation: Enhancing internal operations through automation and AI-driven tools to help the team achieve its goals more effectively.
Ecosystem Support
For a long time, the Ethereum Foundation has faced criticism for a lack of transparency, for example, regarding the Ecosystem Support Program (ESP), where the Foundation previously only disclosed the names of funded projects without publishing specific funding amounts or subsequent updates on project progress. Furthermore, former early Ethereum developer @econoar criticized the Foundation upon leaving for being 'cumbersome,' 'time-consuming,' and for the 'leadership being disconnected from the broader community.' Subsequently, the Foundation also reduced its future operational expenditure ratio from 15% to 5% by 2025, gradually approaching the standards of a donation-based organization, and carried out on-chain asset deployments to ensure long-term financial buffers (aiming to maintain a 2.5-year operational cash reserve).
In the new structural reform, the Foundation's new ESP/funding support program emphasizes more targeted applications and non-financial support, and co-funds important public goods organizations through strategic funding plans, benefiting the broader Ethereum ecosystem. Additionally, in the new support structure, Launchpad will assist organizations in addressing operational design, sustainable funding, governance, and other challenges. Support from Launchpad can come from the Foundation, grantees, or derivative products from other ecosystem organizations (similar to Protocol Guild).
In the future, the Ethereum Foundation will also participate in global crypto policy coordination, monitor global issues related to the Ethereum ecosystem, and collaborate with policy organizations around the world to establish ongoing relationships with governments and non-governmental organizations. Additionally, as one of the practical venues for blockchain academia, the academic secretariat will actively promote collaboration between Ethereum and universities, professors, and students to advance blockchain technology.
Conclusion
On July 11, Ethereum officially broke through $3,000. As the currency price rose, ecological development also gradually advanced. From this structural reform, the core goal of the Ethereum Foundation's transformation is to expand the user base and enhance the resilience of the infrastructure. This means that the Foundation will more actively coordinate resources, guide narratives, bridge community divides, and promote the scaling of its presence in key application areas while maintaining the core values of Ethereum. As the advantages of public chains are gradually being caught up, the Foundation seeks to explore and shape the next growth engine for the Ethereum ecosystem through systematic support and strategic guidance.
