TLDR
- Joe Lubin said the Ethereum Foundation cuts and departures are not a crisis.
- He stated that the foundation must focus on protocol stewardship and remain neutral.
- Lubin argued that commercialization should be handled by separate organizations.
- He said Ethereum is not in decline despite stronger AI competition.
- Lubin pointed to scaling upgrades and agentic commerce as future growth drivers.
Leadership changes and budget cuts at the Ethereum Foundation have drawn criticism from parts of the community. However, Consensys CEO Joe Lubin said the restructuring reflects planned evolution rather than instability. He stated that the organization must refine its mission while other groups drive adoption and commercialization.
Ethereum Foundation Narrows Its Core Mandate
Lubin said the Ethereum Foundation should focus strictly on protocol stewardship and core values. He explained that the group must remain neutral and avoid business conflicts. “It is important that the Ethereum Foundation be credibly neutral above reproach,” he said.
He added that separating builders from commercial interests protects decentralization and governance integrity. According to him, blending business strategy with protocol oversight creates perceived conflicts.
“The opportunity for conflicts of interest between the business side and the builders is just not a credibly neutral way to run your decentralized protocol ecosystem,” Lubin said.
Lubin said many critics misunderstand the foundation’s intended role within the broader ecosystem. He noted that Ethereum processes about 2 million transactions daily, based on Etherscan data. Therefore, he said the foundation must prioritize technical reliability over market positioning.
He described the current changes as internal housekeeping rather than structural decline. “What’s happening at the EF is cleaning that up,” Lubin said. He clarified that the foundation does not direct ecosystem growth or institutional partnerships.
Lubin also stated that Ethereum’s decentralized structure requires multiple institutional leaders. He said no single entity should dominate protocol development and commercial expansion. He expects several organizations to guide different sectors within the ecosystem.
AI Competition and Ethereum’s Next Growth Phase
Lubin addressed concerns that Ethereum faces declining momentum against artificial intelligence ventures. He said AI currently attracts greater capital inflows and investor attention.
“We were the cool kids, the edgy bringers of the new excitement in the economy and society,” he said.
He acknowledged that crypto no longer dominates technology narratives. However, he rejected claims that Ethereum has entered decline. “Ethereum is not on the decline, not at all,” Lubin said.
Lubin pointed to long-term infrastructure upgrades as preparation for future adoption cycles. He highlighted scaling efforts that expanded transaction capacity and lowered costs. He said those improvements position Ethereum for renewed usage growth.
He identified autonomous AI agents conducting onchain transactions as an emerging use case. “A next major wave is agentic commerce, where the hybrid human-machine economy starts to make use of our rails,” Lubin said. He also cited rising institutional activity on Ethereum-based systems.
Lubin reiterated that the foundation must remain focused on protocol health. He said independent organizations will continue handling business development and adoption efforts. He concluded that Ethereum’s future will depend on distributed leadership across specialized institutions.
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