Ethereum Foundation Shakes Up R&D—’Time to Rethink Everything’ Says Internal Memo
In a move that’s got crypto Twitter buzzing, the Ethereum Foundation is tearing up its R&D playbook. No more business as usual—this is a full-scale rethink of how the chain gets built.
Sources say the restructure targets ’legacy bottlenecks’ (read: too many cooks in the kitchen). Expect sharper focus on scalability solutions—because let’s face it, $50 gas fees aren’t exactly winning over Wall Street suits.
One cynical take? Maybe this is what happens when your ’ultrasound money’ narrative gets outsold by a meme coin two years running.
Strategic roles
The three teams will be supported by Dankrad Feist, a prominent researcher and cryptographer renowned for "Danksharding," a blockchain optimization process named after him. Feist will work as strategic advisor to all tracks.
Last year, Feist was involved in a conflict of interest controversy, when he, alongside fellow Core developer Justin Drake, confirmed they received tokens for their advisory relationship with EigenLayer, a restaking protocol for Ethereum.
“It is clear that relying on culture and individual judgment has not been sufficient, and we have been working on a formal policy to address this," Aya Miyaguchi, the foundation’s former Executive Director, said at the time.
Still, the Ethereum Foundation’s efforts at restructuring with Protocol aim to bridge a perceived gap between research and actual implementation.
Previous upgrades, such as Pectra, faced several hurdles: testnet failures earlier this year delayed the rollout by weeks as developers scrambled to patch bugs.
Now, through Protocol, the foundation is attempting to show "the world is ready for the world computer."
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
