Vitalik Buterin has announced major leadership changes at the Ethereum Foundation to prioritize technical expertise and improve communication with Ethereum (ETH) builders. Supporting Devs On January 18th, the Ethereum co-founder outlined the goals of supporting decentralized app developers and advancing decentralization, censorship resistance, and privacy. He also confirmed that the Foundation would avoid political lobbying or taking a central role in ecosystem development. The Dencun upgrade in March 2024 led to a 99% drop in transaction fees on Ethereum, spurring a rapid increase in rollups. While this raised concerns over base-layer revenue loss, the base layer revenues, which had fallen 99% in mid-2024, rebounded by the end of the year. Dealing With Criticisms These changes follow a rocky 2024, marked by the Foundation being repeatedly criticized over various issues such as budgeting, roadmap, and staffing. In May 2024, the Ethereum Foundation introduced a conflict of interest policy after several researchers, including Justin Drake and Dankrad Feist, took paid advisory roles at EigenLayer. Drake later apologized and stepped down in November.
