Szilágyi Criticizes ETH Foundation Pay, Sandeep Hits Back

• Szilágyi earned $625K total over the first six years maintaining Geth client software.
• Letter criticizes small group of 5-10 people controlling ecosystem investment access.
• Polygon CEO Sandeep echoes concerns about community treatment of major contributors.

Former Go Ethereum lead developer Péter Szilágyi has shared an internal letter sent to Ethereum Foundation leadership eighteen months ago detailing frustrations with compensation structures and ecosystem governance. The letter surfaced publicly as Szilágyi addressed concerns on social media.

Szilágyi disclosed receiving $625,000 total compensation during his first six years at Ethereum Foundation, covering the period when ETH market cap grew from zero to $450 billion. The amount includes pre-tax earnings with no additional incentives.

The former Geth lead characterized Foundation compensation as creating “perfect breeding ground for perverse incentives, conflicts of interests and eventual protocol capture.” He stated that underpaying committed workers forced trusted individuals to seek external compensation sources.

Since y‘all spammed my timeline full of #Ethereum existential crises, here’s a letter I sent to EF leadership in a year and half ago ????.

Szilágyi identified what he described as a “ruling elite” of 5-10 individuals controlling access to successful projects through investment and advisory positions. New projects bypass public offerings to reach this small group first, according to the letter.

“We set out to create a world of equal opportunity, yet all the most successful projects are directly backed by the same 5-10 people, behind who you can find the same 1-3 VCs,” Szilágyi wrote. He characterized this structure as indirect control through personal relationships.

The developer stated he felt positioned as a “useful fool” in a lose-lose situation, either remaining silent while values get compromised or publicly challenging power players at cost to personal reputation and Geth team credibility.

Polygon Foundation CEO Sandeep responded by questioning his own loyalty to Ethereum. He stated the community treats Polygon inconsistently and claimed credit when Polymarket succeeds while excluding Polygon from Ethereum ecosystem recognition.

Read this from Peter and realized that its time for me to also speak up.

Sandeep revealed Polygon could achieve 2-5x higher valuation by declaring itself a Layer-1 network rather than maintaining Ethereum alignment. He noted Hedera Hashgraph‘s higher valuation than Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, and Scroll combined despite Polygon’s contributions.

Related: Ethereum Outlook 2035: Is ETH Too Big to Fail or Too Centralized to Last？

“The Ethereum community as a whole has been a shit show for quite some time,” Sandeep posted. He questioned why major contributors regularly face public questioning of their allegiance to the ecosystem.

Sandeep referenced former colleague Akshay who left to help build Solana after becoming “disgusted by the socialistic behavior of the Ethereum community.” He announced plans for a final push to revive the Layer-2 narrative within weeks.