Ethereum Foundation Restructures R&D as Network Pushes Forward on Scaling and Adoption

Ethereum

Ethereum Foundation Restructures R&D as Network Pushes Forward on Scaling and Adoption

A major overhaul of the Ethereum Foundations research and development wing has been announced. It now operates under the name “Protocol” team.

Layoffs have occurred, and there is word now that the Foundation is very much encouraging—seems almost enthusiastic, in fact—other people in the ecosystem to hire away R&D going-persons. This is all to get more focus and more solve on key “Pressing Protocol Problem” (PPP) areas, namely scalability, data availability, and user experience.

Ethereum‘s leading position as the smart contract platform in the blockchain universe comes with pressures—internal and external—for it to be as efficient, as transparent, and as responsive to demands for rapid innovation as possible. The structural shift we’ve been discussing should be seen as a strategic response to these pressures—one that expands not the Foundation‘s, but the core protocol’s optimization and still colors the Foundations R&D efforts in a coherent way.

The Protocol team, which is newly formed, will concentrate its efforts on three key areas. The first is enhancing Ethereums Layer 1 scalability, which remains a core riddle that has to be solved as user demand and application complexity keep soaring. The second focused area is expanding “blobspace,” which is a constituent part of the Ethereum roadmap to improve data availability, alleviate growing pains, and reduce the bummer of high transaction fees. Finally, the team aims to get the simplification and enhancement of the user experience done right, ensuring that the network remains as accessible and efficient as ever for not just developers but also for end users.

At the ETHGlobal Prague conference, Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, shined a spotlight on this focus and stated, “Ethereum is targeting a tenfold increase in Layer 1 scalability over the next year.” Following this aggressive scale-up phase, the Ethereum network is expected to enter a “breather” period to stabilize and consolidate the technical improvements made to the network.

The reshaping also brings a redoubled promise to boost openness. In reply to the many-year community worry about opaque decision-making, the Foundation has promised to share more openly the upgrade timelines, the technical documents, and the research progress.

Hsaio-Wei Weng, Co-Executive Director of the Ethereum Foundation, took to social platform X to share the reasoning behind the teams restructuring.

According to Weng, the changes are in service of two very important goals: accelerating the core development work of the Foundation—and, of course, sharper focus and coordination among the team as we serve the Ethereum users and developers.

Regardless of the internal modifications, on-chain data and institutional interest from Ethereum indicate a still-continuing story of strong growth and market confidence as around 425,000 active addresses processed 1.05 million transactions on the Ethereum blockchain in the last 24 hours. The average number of new addresses created each day more or less sits at 120,000.

Total value transferred on-chain reached approximately $25 billion, while the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi protocols currently stands at about $53 billion.

Leading protocols by TVL include Lido, EigenLayer, Aave, and Uniswap, underscoring Ethereums dominant position in decentralized finance.

The segment of NFTs stays lively, with trading volumes in the neighborhood of $12 million and within easy reach of $20 million. Despite the emergence of new Layer 2s and alternative blockchains, Ethereum remains an anytime, anywhere kind of hub for a wildly diverse set of DApps.

Ethereum Foundation Restructures R&D Team to Focus on Core Protocol Challenges

— OKX Ventures (@OKX_Ventures) June 3, 2025

Positive momentum is also being seen in Ethereum ETFs. Nine Ethereum ETFs based in the U.S. reported a net inflow of 26,572 ETH as of June 3, 2025. Interestingly, BlackRock alone is responsible for 27,241 ETH of that amount, meaning they hold 1.42 million ETH valued at roughly $3.55 billion. Their leading Ethereum ETF, ETHA, recorded a cumulative inflow of $4.61 billion as of June 3, with a good portion of that coming (or going) in the last week, during which ETHA saw a net inflow of $206 million. Fidelitys FETH has similarly returned to positive inflows recently, logging a $67.37 million inflow during the week leading up to June 3 and reaching a cumulative net inflow of $1.51 billion since inception.

In the future, Ethereum‘s timeline of development continues to be occupied. The next mainnet upgrade, codenamed ’Glamsterdam,‘ is open for the submission of major feature proposals until June 20, 2025. Five major proposals have been submitted so far, with the majority concentrating on the performance that one can expect on Ethereum’s blockchain and the operations that must happen at the level of Ethereums protocol.

The completion of “Fusaka” will precede this upgrade, with a targeted launch window believed to be in 2026. As proposals for the core protocol take center stage, we will move non-core suggestions into the selection process beginning in July.

The recent advancements closely correspond with the aims of the newly established Protocol team. The Protocol team will be key in realizing the technical implementation of our vision. The current integration work around blobspace, combined with the optimization efforts that come next, is set to meaningfully influence what happens to Ethereum in the next few years.

Ethereum is entering a vital period of both internal development and external expansion. The recent revamping of its R&D unit is a direct manifestation of these changes and part of a broader effort to retool the entity that reigns over this second-most-popular blockchain. The Ethereum Foundation‘s new vision is pretty straightforward: hone in on “the protocol’s core issues” and “fulfill leadership ambitions in the decentralized finance and NFT spaces.” Strong on-chain performance, colossal institutional interest via exchange-traded funds, and an audacious upgrade roadmap all suggest a platform that keeps on keeping on.

While Ethereum maneuvers through these alterations, it still stands as a cornerstone in the blockchain landscape. The network, with its more streamlined Protocol team, unmistakable priorities, and heightened market dynamism, looks to be in fine form to meet the next crest of innovation and adoption.