Ethereum Foundation cuts 20% of staff, creates five clusters

The Ethereum Foundation reduced its workforce by 54 employees, roughly 20% of staff, and completed a reorganization on June 23, 2026 that groups activity into five domain clusters. The staff reductions were effective immediately.

The foundation said the reorganization followed several months of planning to narrow its focus to work it considers unique to the organization. Departing employees will receive severance equal to at least one month’s pay per year of service or the amount required by local law, whichever is higher. The package also includes transition grants, career coaching and assistance finding roles elsewhere in the Ethereum ecosystem. Management wrote, “These decisions were hard, but they are necessary.”

Under the new structure, the foundation created five domain clusters plus operations and management support. The Protocol Layer will concentrate on scaling and hardening the core Ethereum protocol, with projects that include post-quantum security research, zkEVM development and L1 privacy work. The Access Layer will address how users and software read chain state, transact privately and maintain custody without relying on unverifiable intermediaries. The User Layer will guide decisions with user research, personas and impact evaluation. The Community Layer will manage public presentation and build relationships with civil liberties organizations and open-source communities. The Institutional Layer will engage financial firms, governments, enterprises and universities exploring Ethereum integration.

The foundation drew a distinction between protocol engineering and market-facing activities. Management described the Protocol Layer’s mission as making Ethereum “harder to corrupt or capture, and easier to rely on when counterparties fail, platforms censor, governments overreach, and intermediaries extract.” The announcement added that the Protocol Layer “does not exist to make Ethereum more marketable or focused on short-term interests, or to make it easier to turn into another financial rail controlled by intermediaries.”

The reorganization comes amid weakened market performance for ether. Over the last 12 months ether is down more than 26% and was trading near $1,659 per ETH at the time of the announcement, more than 66% below its all-time high of $4,946. The foundation referenced current market conditions when explaining its decision to prioritize long-horizon protocol work over short-term market considerations.

The Ethereum Foundation said it will publish additional details about the new organizational design and channels for ecosystem engagement in the coming weeks and months. Management called the foundation “leaner and more focused” and noted that some people leaving may continue to contribute to Ethereum from outside the organization. Several individuals who left in recent months received the same severance terms now being offered to the 54 departing staff.