The Aave community has launched a criticism against the Ethereum Foundation, which has attracted many long-term supporters of the Ethereum ecosystem to repost. They believe that Ethereum has better ways to handle the dumping issue, and the Ethereum Foundation is also controversial in terms of promotion and marketing…
(Earlier summary: Ethereum ETF had a “net inflow of $2.6 billion” in December, growing for 8 consecutive weeks. Can ETH return to glory this year?)
(Background: Bitcoin rebounds to $95,000, Ethereum surges to $3,400. Is market liquidity returning?)
Aave, the largest lending protocol in the Ethereum ecosystem, initiated a “diss the Ethereum Foundation” statement in its community yesterday (6th). Marc Zeller, the founder of the Aave contribution team, posted on Twitter criticizing the lack of action by the Ethereum Foundation in recent years. Zeller believes that most idle positions and team leaders of the Ethereum Foundation should be immediately dismissed. Although Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin is not mentioned, the post also suggests that he should take responsibility.
Five reform proposals:
Zeller mentioned that the Ethereum Foundation should achieve the following five points to save its inefficient ecosystem operation and controversies:
1. Dismiss 80% of non-developers and many current team leaders.
2. Convert ETH holdings into long-term battle-tested collateral substitutes.
3. Cut 95% of sponsorship projects, especially those that only operate nodes in specific cities (Vorkuta).
4. Do not dump or Ethereum, borrow using collateral substitutes in lending protocols to reduce operational costs.
5. Hand over the Twitter accounts to people who truly understand Ethereum technology and marketing, such as @JimmyRagosa, @ethereumintern_, and @antiprosynth. They can each post 20 tweets per day.
How to solve the Ethereum foundation issues
1) Fire 80% of non-dev and current leadership roles on the spot
2) convert the ETH left into a balanced basket of battle-tested LSTs
3) Cut 95% of current grants, especially “run a node in Vorkuta” initiatives
3) Instead of dumping…
— Marc “Billy” Zeller (@lemiscate) January 4, 2025
Community reaction:
After the post was made, it sparked extensive discussions. Some of the discussions revolve around why the Ethereum Foundation does not handle the fund issue through lending protocols. Some members of the community mentioned that Ethereum has always avoided taking sides with any Defi or LST protocols, but it spent $2 billion on maintaining Danksharding and beamchain, and is unwilling to spend a penny on marketing. This should be an area that needs coordination, otherwise, it should be dissolved.
@0xVoltaireon, a community member who has participated in reviewing Gitcoin grants in the past, also fired shots simultaneously. He believes that the Ethereum Foundation is just a place full of money:
“The saddest thing I witnessed judging fellowships was that EF has essentially been a honey pot that was captured and drained by the WEF gang. Endless projects with no relevance to decentralisation just using the hymn sheet of social-good fraud.” – Voltaireon (@0xVoltaireon) January 4, 2025
The post has also been reposted by many long-term Ethereum supporters, including Manta core contributor @victorJi15, former eznyme finance core contributor @deepcryptodive, Ethereum OG @intocryptoast, and so on. How to calm down this wave of criticism initiated by the Ethereum internal community depends on how the Ethereum Foundation can regain the lost trust in the near future.
