Ethereum (ETH) Price: Ethereum Foundation Cuts Staff and Slashes Budget — Here’s What It Means for ETH

TLDR

• The Ethereum Foundation (EF) has cut roughly 20% of its workforce, affecting 54 people across different teams.
• Vitalik Buterin confirmed the EF will reduce its annual budget by 40% in 2026.
• The EF is shifting to a leaner model, targeting 5% annual spending of treasury by 2030, down from 15%.
• ETH is trading near $1,660 and faces key support at $1,611, with $1,524 as the next level to watch.
• Nine senior EF figures have left since January, and a new parallel organization called Ethlabs has launched.

The Ethereum Foundation has completed a major restructuring, cutting around 54 staff members — about 20% of its workforce — and confirming a 40% reduction in its 2026 budget. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin announced the changes in a blog post on Tuesday.

The EF said the reorganization follows months of internal planning. The foundation is now split into five clusters covering the protocol, access, user, community and institutional layers, plus two additional clusters for operations and management.

Buterin said the spending cuts are part of a longer-term shift. The EF wants to reduce annual spending from around 15% of its treasury before 2026 to roughly 5% per year after 2030.

The restructuring includes winding down the Privacy and Scaling Explorations unit, smaller Devcon events, and a narrower institutional strategy.

Senior Departures and New Pressure

The cuts follow the resignation of co-Executive Director Hsiao-Wei Wang. With her departure, nine senior EF figures have now left since January. Former leads Tim Beiko and Josh Stark are also among those who have left.

Analyst Daan Crypto Trades (@DaanCrypto) weighed in on ETH’s price action on X, noting that ETH keeps getting rejected at the $1,750 level — the February low. He said bulls would need to hold a higher low in that region and break through on the next attempt. “If they can’t, this will just start bleeding lower and test that ~$1.5K region again,” he wrote, adding he wants to see ETH hold above $1,750 for confirmation.

On Monday, Ethlabs launched as a new research and development organization for the Ethereum ecosystem. It was co-founded by five former senior EF researchers and is backed by BitMine, SharpLink and Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin.

ETH Price Under Pressure

ETH is currently trading around $1,660. Price is below the 20-, 50- and 100-day EMAs at $1,753, $1,901 and $2,064.

The token has seen $157 million in liquidations in the past 24 hours, with $140 million of that from long positions, according to Coinglass.

ETH is approaching the $1,611 support level after being rejected at the descending trendline and 20-day EMA. A break below $1,611 puts $1,524 in focus, followed by $1,404 and $1,155.

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