Ethereum Foundation Doubles Down on DeFi—While Quietly Tightening Its Belt
The crypto world's favorite non-profit just made its move: Ethereum's treasury is going all-in on decentralized finance, but don't expect a spending spree.
Behind the DeFi cheerleading? A stealthy long-term austerity play. The Foundation's latest strategy shifts funds toward protocols and away from operational bloat—because even Web3 orgs eventually face the 'runway' question.
One hedge fund manager yawned: 'Treasury management? How very TradFi of them.'
Ethereum goes 'Defipunk'
In the note, the foundation introduced "Defipunk," a new term that describes how “cypherpunk” values can be applied to DeFi (decentralized finance) and the broader Ethereum ecosystem.
The term is derived from and borrows Core ideas in the Cypherpunk Manifesto, written by American programmer and mathematician Eric Hughes in 1993.
In the manifesto, Hughes argues that privacy is essential for a free and open society. To keep it, individuals need to build practical defenses through cryptography and code, rather than relying on the authority of governments or corporations.
The foundation has established criteria for projects it seeks to support, aligning with the vision.
"For privacy to be widespread, it must be part of a social contract," Hughes wrote.
The Ethereum Foundation echoes this, with Wang noting that privacy has "inherent network effects,” and yet has received "very little attention so far."
“Strong, early institutional support” from institutions such as the Ethereum Foundation could be “uniquely valuable in flipping the equilibrium” for privacy in the decentralized finance sector, Wang wrote.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
