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 operation, and fund management.
In the new vision statement, the Ethereum Foundation outlines two primary overall goals: first, maximizing the number of people who directly or indirectly use Ethereum and benefit from its underlying values; second, maximizing the resilience of Ethereum's technology and social infrastructure. The core of this structural reform lies in redefining the foundation's role in the Ethereum ecosystem by introducing four strategic pillars (accelerate, amplify, support, and long-term unblocking), establishing a new governance framework, and reforming its funding management strategy to enhance the ecosystem's scalability, resilience, and decentralization.
New Ecodev Organizational Structure Chart
Ecosystem Acceleration
Previously, some users and developers criticized the Ethereum Foundation for its long-standing governance philosophy of 'benign neglect,' leading to a series of ecological splits and a loss of narrative identity. As more enterprises compete to establish crypto reserves, the strategy of capturing reserves has also become a key factor in ecological development. In terms of ecosystem acceleration, the Ethereum Foundation has newly established support modules for segmented directions, including:
Corporate Relations: Providing support for companies wishing to adopt Ethereum, with the team focusing on verticals like finance and supply chain, promoting on-chain tokenization of physical assets (such as real estate and bonds).
Developer Growth: Attracting and supporting the next generation of Ethereum ecosystem developers. This module is led by Gitcoin Research Director Austin Griffith.
Application Support: Accelerating the construction of meaningful user-oriented applications.
Founder Support: Project-related support on a non-financial level, this module is led by former Consensys Frontend Technology Director Adrian Li.
The amplification of previous ecosystem acceleration encompasses work in promotion and ecosystem development, including:
Digital Studio (ethereum.org team): The 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 focusing on expanding support for application developers within local communities and centers.
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 been criticized for a lack of transparency, for example, in the Ecosystem Support Program (ESP), where the foundation previously only disclosed the names of funded projects without publishing specific funding amounts or follow-up updates on project progress. Previously, early Ethereum developer @econoar also criticized the foundation upon leaving for its 'cumbersome processes,' 'time-consuming efforts,' and 'disconnection between leadership and the broader community.' After this, the foundation plans to reduce the proportion of future operating expenses from 15% to 5% by 2025, gradually approaching the standards of a donation-based organization and deploying on-chain assets to ensure long-term financial buffers (aiming to maintain 2.5 years of operating cash reserves).
In the new structural reforms, the foundation's new ESP/funding support program emphasizes more targeted applications and non-financial support, co-funding important public goods organizations through strategic funding programs for the benefit of the wider Ethereum ecosystem. Additionally, in the new support framework, Launchpad will assist organizations in addressing operational design, sustainable funding, governance, and other challenges. Support for Launchpad can come from the foundation, grantees, or other ecosystem organizations' derivatives (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 fields of 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 $3000. During the rise in coin price, ecosystem development has also been gradually advancing. From this structural change, the core goal of the Ethereum Foundation's transformation is to expand the user base and enhance infrastructure resilience. It means the foundation will more actively coordinate resources, guide narratives, bridge community divides, and promote scaling in key application areas while maintaining Ethereum's core values. As public chain advantages are gradually caught up, the foundation attempts to uncover and shape the next growth engine for the Ethereum ecosystem through systematic support and strategic guidance.
