While Bitcoin and Solana hit all-time highs and grew several times this cycle, Ethereum’s price performance has been quite disappointing. The price has been stuck around $3,300, and without significant catalysts, it does not seem to have the momentum to grow further.

The situation sparked growing tensions within the Ethereum community, with some significant figures leaving the Ethereum ecosystem last year due to the project “lacking ambition.” The recent turn in this saga started last week, as users began questioning the Ethereum Foundation (EF) and its leadership, prompting them to resign. 

Unsurprisingly, all the criticism on “Crypto Twitter” has been directed at EF CEO Aya Miyaguchi. X (formerly Twitter) users found her previous interviews and were disappointed by some of her statements on how she runs the foundation. Users shared her quote widely on X, where she was believed to encourage people to "say no to the culture of competing and winning." 

However, it was later revealed that the quote had not been translated correctly from Japanese, and she did not say this. By the time the misunderstanding was clarified, it was already too late.

Besides that, users have also questioned the way the foundation manages its finances. Notably, EF does not stake its Ethereum, does not engage in any DeFi activities, and only sells ETH to fund its development. Some have even pointed out that EF’s number one use case is to “dump ETH.”

As of October 31, 2024, EF had $970.2 million, mainly in ETH. The foundation spent $240 million in 2022 and 2023, and 2024 spending will likely exceed $100 million. If EF staked its ETH and engaged in DeFi, where yields are quite high at the moment, it could cover a significant portion of its yearly spending with returns from the Ethereum ecosystem.

Another concern comes from founders within the community. For example, the founder of Abstract Chain Layer 2, which is planning its mainnet soon and has built quite a substantial community, pointed out that no one from the Ethereum Foundation has ever reached out to him or anyone on the Abstract Chain team. This is quite surprising, given the overall hype around Abstract Chain. This could be another sign that the foundation does not spend much time engaging with builders in the community.

All of the above concerns, along with slow development, have sparked a campaign on X with users asking Miyaguchi to resign. In response, Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, announced that the foundation currently undergoing significant leadership changes.

"We are indeed currently in the process of large changes to EF leadership structure, which has been ongoing for close to a year. Some of this has already been executed on and made public, and some is still in progress."

Additionally, he mentioned that they plan to improve the level of technical expertise within EF leadership, enhance communication between EF leadership and ecosystem actors, bring in fresh talent, and have the EF start using the ecosystem.

Following the announcement, it appears that, for the first time in EF’s history, the foundation will use 50,000 ETH to generate some returns, whether from staking or other DeFi activities.

However, Vitalik also pointed out that he doesn't want the foundation to become highly centralized or a dominant force in Ethereum, and that he supports Ethereum being managed by decentralized teams, not one centralized organization.

While the community keeps pushing Ethereum's management to do something, the EF future remains uncertain. It's unclear if Aya Miyaguchi will resign, though it seems likely. It's also unknown if the changes at EF will significantly impact Ethereum and its price.

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