Ethereum Foundation layoffs; Senate blocks CBDC until 2030

The Ethereum Foundation notified staff on Tuesday that it had laid off 54 employees, roughly 20% of its workforce, and will reorganize into five groups focused on protocol development, user access, community engagement, institutional adoption and operations. The nonprofit described the restructuring and budget reduction as intended to concentrate work on scaling, privacy, security and censorship resistance.

Leadership plans to move toward an endowment-style funding model and to reduce annual spending from about 15% of the foundation’s remaining funds to roughly 5% after 2030. Co-founder Vitalik Buterin linked the spending targets to the decision to cut staff and reshape the organization. The foundation did not publish a list of eliminated roles. Co-executive director Hsiao-Wei Wang resigned last week, following other recent senior departures.

On Monday the Senate voted 85-5 to approve the 21st Century Road to Housing Act, a bipartisan housing bill that includes a prohibition on the Federal Reserve issuing a central bank digital currency until 2030. The bill bars the Fed from directly or indirectly creating a CBDC or any digital asset substantially similar to one, while explicitly exempting privately issued stablecoins. After 2030 the Fed would still need explicit congressional authorization to pursue a CBDC. The measure now heads to the House and is expected to move promptly to the president if passed.

At the Point Zero Forum, Agustín Carstens, who led the Bank for International Settlements until 2023, praised stablecoins for supporting financial innovation, inclusion and lower costs and urged regulators to set rules that allow fiat currency and stablecoins to operate together. He framed the issue as creating conditions for coexistence between traditional money and privately issued digital coins.

Carstens previously raised concerns about stablecoins while at the BIS, warning that issuers might invest reserves to seek higher returns and create liquidity risk. The current BIS general manager, Pablo Hernández de Cos, has said the stablecoin market remains small and that structural features limit their use as money for society.

The foundation said it will implement the new structure while adjusting to lower planned spending. The housing bill will move to the House for a vote, and Carstens delivered his remarks during a livestreamed forum address.