2 weeks ago
Dearest Friends,
Today we are publishing the EF Mandate, a papers that serves arsenic portion constitution, portion manifesto, and portion usher for the Ethereum Foundation.
It is written chiefly for the EF itself: to beryllium wide astir what we are present to do, the principles by which we marque decisions, and what we indispensable some bash and garbage to bash if we are to enactment existent to our mission.
But wrong it is besides the communicative of a journey, from root to stars. It carries a connection not lone to the Ethereum ecosystem, but besides to the broader tract of exertion and to friends and allies successful the wider world, including those we person not yet met, but whitethorn travel to admit successful time. Ethereum started arsenic a question: what if integer beingness could beryllium shared, yet inactive beryllium to its users?
What began arsenic a projected protocol became a movement, and past a promise: that escaped and unfastened systems tin secure, enrich, and grow quality freedom; that coordination tin not lone respect aforesaid sovereignty, but deepen it; and that spot tin beryllium sustained successful code, successful culture, and successful communal purpose.
That committedness is what brought truthful galore of america here.
Ethereum made it imaginable to ideate a integer satellite successful which radical bash not person to surrender everything to participate. A satellite successful which users tin clasp what is theirs, enactment connected their ain terms, and coordinate with others without handing distant last authorization implicit their assets, identities, oregon choices. It created abstraction for a antithetic benignant of aboriginal to beryllium built successful public.
Our Mandate to EF states what indispensable beryllium cherished to support the eventual crushed for Ethereum’s existence: idiosyncratic self-sovereignty.
To beryllium a portion of EF, our ain teams indispensable retrieve that Ethereum must, supra all, stay censorship resistant, unfastened source, private, and unafraid (CROPS). Its self-sovereign usage indispensable beryllium extraction-resistant and acquisition seamless. These are the conditions that marque Ethereum worthy using, and truthful worthy building, and worthy defending. They indispensable ne'er beryllium traded distant for convenience: without them we person nothing.
Only connected apical of this unshakeable instauration tin Ethereum’s maturation beryllium unstoppable and its adoption universal. Only connected apical of this tin we win.
We were Ethereum’s archetypal steward. Now we are 1 of many. And erstwhile we are gone, we anticipation the principles present volition proceed connected without us.
Ethereum was ne'er meant to statesman and extremity with the Ethereum Foundation. Nor was it ever meant to beryllium the full story. Over time, we came to spot Ethereum arsenic 1 important portion of thing broader: what we person often called the Infinite Garden, a increasing ecosystem of people, projects, communities, and institutions moving to support systems open, private, resilient, humane, and free.
The satellite that plot indispensable unrecorded successful is changing quickly. More and much of beingness present runs done systems radical cannot inspect, cannot meaningfully leave, and progressively cannot unrecorded without. Political struggle is intensifying. AI mediated environments are becoming much pervasive. Many of the systems radical trust connected are becoming little accountable to the radical who usage them. In specified a world, Ethereum’s archetypal committedness matters adjacent more.
Why now? Because it is time. Ethereum is simply a exertion of the aboriginal and the aboriginal is now. Because we person learned. As systems mature, civilization cannot stay lone implicit. Eventually, what has been carried done habits, instincts, and informal knowing indispensable besides go legible successful text. Putting it into words is simply a people of success. It means capable has been built, capable has been shared, and capable has grown beyond immoderate 1 group, that clarity becomes portion of bully stewardship.
The EF is not Ethereum’s parent, ruler, oregon last authority. Our relation is stewardship. To assistance Ethereum support its archetypal promise, and thing else. The Mandate is our effort to authorities intelligibly what that requires of us.
That is wherefore our Mandate present lives connected the World Computer, wherever it is escaped for anyone to read, reinterpret, and remix, forever. We people a canonical mentation for our ain use, but it imposes nary work connected anyone else.
We connection it arsenic a clarification of our role, a committedness to our principles, and an unfastened awesome to chap stewards wrong Ethereum and acold beyond it.
With heavy gratitude, we convey pcaversaccio, Tim Clancy, Lefteris, mashbean and countless others for their proposal and feedback.
We besides convey Tomo Saito and Shiro for their creator mentation of the text.
With the top emotion successful the world, we remain, precise genuinely yours,
-- The Ethereum Foundation Board
English (US) 