The EF’s new structure

Today, the EF is changing shape, concluding a months-long process of reorganization arsenic portion of the implementation of the Mandate and the Treasury Management Policy.

We travel retired of this process with the structure, activities, and radical indispensable for execution connected the captious tasks up of us, but besides with 54 less colleagues, astir 20% of the EF, galore of whom volition beryllium uncovering ways to lend to Ethereum from extracurricular the EF successful the coming weeks.

This station provides a little instauration to the caller operation and details connected however we are supporting the radical who are leaving.

The caller structure

The EF present has 5 clusters with antithetic domains of enactment – protocol layer, entree layer, idiosyncratic layer, assemblage layer, and organization furniture – arsenic good arsenic a clump focused connected operations and 1 comprising absorption and teams straight supporting absorption work.

Each domain of enactment requires a antithetic approach, is held accountable for antithetic kinds of results, and has a antithetic interior operation tailored to the enactment that needs to beryllium done. We volition stock overmuch much astir these successful the coming month, truthful for contiguous we volition instrumentality to introducing them astatine the highest level.

Protocol Layer

The protocol clump carries the EF’s bequest and work for ensuring that Ethereum delivers connected its foundational committedness of scaling self-sovereignty. It does truthful by laying the groundwork for hardening and scaling the Ethereum protocol itself. Its nonsubjective is to guarantee that the Ethereum protocol continues to enforce the properties which marque it worthy defending: censorship and seizure resistance, unfastened root and openness, privateness and information arsenic non-negotiable protocol guarantees. The protocol clump exists to marque definite the halfway protocol continues to beforehand without compromising connected self-sovereignty guarantees. It does not beryllium to marque Ethereum much marketable oregon focused connected short-term interests, oregon to marque it easier to crook into different fiscal obstruction controlled by intermediaries. Its enactment is to marque Ethereum harder to corrupt oregon capture, and easier to trust connected erstwhile counterparties fail, platforms censor, governments overreach, and intermediaries extract. This means shipping forks safely, reducing unnecessary complexity, minimizing trusted dependencies, defending the transaction pipeline against toxic MEV and privileged orderflow, and accelerating and turning long-horizon probe specified arsenic post-quantum security, zkEVM, and L1 privateness into protocol changes that sphere and amended self-sovereignty astatine scale.

Access Layer

The entree furniture is wherever Ethereum either serves oregon fails individuals who request CROPS properties successful practice. This cluster’s occupation is to marque self-sovereignty available, legible and survivable crossed cardinal actions: speechmaking the chain, transacting, proving, delegating, and exiting. These actions indispensable beryllium supported for users, and progressively for the agents acting connected their behalf, who indispensable beryllium capable to work existent state, history, and related information without depending connected intermediaries they can’t verify. They should beryllium capable to transact privately and without hazard of censorship, with transaction outcomes that are either guaranteed oregon neglect cost-free if conditions are not met. As much of this moves to agents, users person to enactment successful control, granting bounded authorization and revoking it astatine will, and keeping custody of their ain intents alternatively than exposing them to intermediaries. The interfaces, from silicon to frontend, indispensable beryllium verifiable, understandable and recoverable, careless of however often idiosyncratic uses them oregon however heavy their method cognition goes.

The rule the clump applies is the zero option: for each intermediated path, a credible intermediary-free way indispensable beryllium and enactment accessible. Tactically this means identifying wherever stronger CROPS properties tin beryllium applied to existent infrastructure, and acknowledging wherever credible alternatives are indispensable due to the fact that economical incentives favour aggregation, recognition and control.

User Layer

The idiosyncratic furniture clump keeps EF enactment grounded successful the users and organizations with captious interests successful self-sovereign usage of Ethereum, and successful extending the tools and norms of specified usage arsenic wide arsenic possible. It helps the EF recognize the capabilities that substance most, the nonaccomplishment modes that are astir serious, and the tradeoffs that are acceptable to settee connected wherever necessary. Its enactment includes idiosyncratic segments, personas, acquisition materials, use-case research, and interaction evaluation. The extremity is not for the EF to go a merchandise studio, but to marque definite Protocol and Access Layer decisions are shaped by existent existent and imaginable users, existent constraints, and existent measures of self-sovereignty.

The assemblage clump owns however the EF shows up successful the world, some wrong and beyond the Ethereum ecosystem. Its occupation is to marque legible what the EF stands for, and however that materially differs from zero-sum fiscal crypto, from corpo-compromised crypto, and from the bland, presumption quo-preserving and perversely-incentivized, grant-managing parts of the non-profit satellite which are susceptible to usage for laundering geopolitical interests. The EF is committed to maximizing its assemblage worth by maintaining independency from these and different counterproductive entanglements.

This clump besides builds the EF’s relationships beyond crypto. Self-sovereignty has earthy allies successful escaped and unfastened source, unafraid and local-first bundle and hardware, successful privateness and cryptography probe and advocacy, and successful civilian liberty, decentralized web, and public-interest technology, among different fields. This clump works to guarantee the overlap betwixt Ethereum and those spaces is fruitful, unforced, and precocious quality.

Institutional Layer

This clump owns the EF’s enactment with the institutions that signifier institutionally intermediated paths for end-users to interact with Ethereum. This tin see fiscal institutions, whether user payments, security oregon otherwise. It tin see non-financial enterprises, including manufacturing, social, publishing and galore different industries. It tin see authorities applications. It tin see universities oregon different nonprofit groups.

In each cases, our extremity is to prioritize creating showcases of effectual integration of Ethereum and cryptographic technologies that maximizes CROPS properties and the guarantees that are made disposable to some institutions and users - specified arsenic guaranteeing just and close execution, ensuring information portability and much mostly applicable quality to exit, protecting each actors’ privacy, proving authenticity of data, amended detecting oregon adjacent preventing misbehavior, and more. We judge that galore enterprises, governments, and nonprofits volition recognize that their incentives favour serving users successful ways that fortify self-sovereignty portion retaining the guarantees they request successful bid to make worth oregon fulfill their mission, and that Ethereum and cryptographic technologies tin beryllium a portion of making this happen. In summation to nonstop engagement, the organization clump volition prosecute these ends by helping to found and thoughtfully pass champion practices, standards, notation architectures, and acquisition materials for organization adoption.

The organization clump besides works upstream with academics and allied advocacy organizations astir the satellite to guarantee Ethereum is correctly understood successful some its existent signifier and potential, and to way and respond to argumentation and regulatory developments that could impact Ethereum's committedness to self-sovereign usage and its halfway principles of censorship (and capture) resistance, unfastened source, privacy, and security.

The radical leaving

As portion of the alteration to the signifier of the EF’s structure, activities, and spending, we are parting ways with 54 of our colleagues today.

These decisions were hard, but they are necessary. We indispensable beryllium resourced and organized successful a mode that allows america to absorption connected the captious enactment that lone EF can, and truthful must, bash successful the coming years, without excessive disruption from short-term marketplace movements.

In bid to marque definite those who are leaving are acceptable up good for the modulation we are offering a bundle comprising severance and modulation support. The severance is the higher of 1 month's wage per twelvemonth worked astatine the EF and the magnitude locally mandated by the individual’s jurisdiction. This is the aforesaid severance we offered to the colleagues who near the EF successful the past fewer months. The modulation enactment includes assistance uncovering a caller spot to lend successful the ecosystem, positive a tiny modulation assistance earmarked to screen idiosyncratic modulation expenses (career coaching and similar).

We are grateful to each of them for the talent, dedication, and clip they person contributed to Ethereum astatine the EF, and look guardant to continuing to enactment alongside those of them who find homes elsewhere successful the ecosystem.

What comes next

The EF that emerges from this alteration is leaner and much focused. We volition stock much successful the coming weeks and months astir however our enactment is changing and however the ecosystem tin champion prosecute with the caller structure.