Author: Fairy, ChainCatcher
Editor: TB, ChainCatcher
Ethereum is experiencing a deep "transformation".
On one side, the foundation is reducing staff, cutting expenses, with engineering orientation becoming the core; on the other side, capital is intensively deploying, acquiring listed shells, making bulk purchases of ETH, constructing an Ethereum version of "MicroStrategy".
Foundation Begins to "Take Action"
The Ethereum Foundation is starting to "perform surgery". In the past, the two most criticized points about EF were: first, frequent coin selling and non-transparent accounts; second, team "retirement" and low efficiency. Now, the foundation is trying to turn this situation around.
At the beginning of the year, the Ethereum Foundation's leadership completed a major reshuffle. However, just a few days ago, the foundation announced the start of layoffs and directly renamed the "Protocol R&D" team to "Protocol", reorganizing around three strategic goals: L1 scaling, blob scaling, and user experience optimization. Each direction has a clear person responsible and introduces a stronger accountability mechanism. In other words, EF will enter the "KPI" era, moving from "talking about vision" to "making products".
An even bigger move appears on the financial front. Last night, the foundation updated its financial policy: annual expenditure must not exceed 15% of treasury assets, and plans to compress this to 5% in the next five years. Whether to sell ETH will be dynamically adjusted quarterly based on operational buffer cycle (currently set at 2.5 years) and fiat reserve ratio, achieved through on-chain or fiat channels.
Meanwhile, the foundation introduced the "Defipunk standard" to assess projects, emphasizing open-source, self-custody, permissionless access, and privacy protection principles.
This transformation from structure to system is a signal of deep change. The Ethereum Foundation believes 2025-2026 will be a critical stage for Ethereum, and this may be the beginning of restarting its efficiency engine.
SharpLink Enters, "Restructuring" Signal Emerges?
Ethereum is becoming a battlefield for a new round of strategic capital. OGs joining forces with US stock shell companies' "cash" capabilities and attempts to connect with sovereign capital seem to be quietly activating ETH's capital landscape.
The Ethereum version of "MicroStrategy" is starting up. On May 27, SharpLink Gaming announced completing a $425 million private placement and incorporating ETH into the company's treasury. Immediately following on May 31, the company plans to raise another $1 billion to increase positions. However, the private placement was participated in by early Ethereum heavy investors like ConsenSys, ParaFi, Pantera Capital, and Galaxy Digital, suggesting an ETH strategy led by OGs and top players is emerging.
ETH "MicroStrategy" Collection
Meanwhile, Ethereum co-founder and ConsenSys CEO Joe Lubin stated that the company is in talks with a sovereign wealth fund and bank from a "major country", exploring building financial infrastructure in the Ethereum ecosystem. He hinted that these institutions might involve Ethereum's layer one and layer two infrastructure, signaling sovereign capital's interest.
Internal funds are also actively moving. Last night, an address seemingly related to ConsenSys purchased ETH worth $320 million from Galaxy Digital. It has already staked ETH worth $120 million through Liquid Collective, demonstrating a long-term configuration intent.
Investment company Trend Research openly went long on ETH, buying 8,846 ETH on May 27, spending $23 million, with funds sourced from borrowing after pledging ETH on Aave, indicating leveraged position increase.
Additionally, the US spot Ethereum ETF has recorded net inflows for 13 consecutive days, with ETH/BTC rising about 30% in the past month, rebounding 48% from the multi-year low of 0.01766 on April 22.
Optimistic Voices Rise Again
In the current context, more and more investors, institutions, and analysts are re-evaluating Ethereum's potential and resilience.
10x Research in their latest market analysis noted that ETH's trend far exceeds expectations. "Although we expected a pullback a few days ago, the actual trend is much more resilient than anticipated. From a technical perspective, Ethereum is approaching the apex of a large triangular consolidation structure, and the final breakout direction could push prices to $2,000 or $3,000."
Institutional investors are increasing their bets. LD Capital founder JackYi said Ethereum's oscillation cycle may be near its end, stating "we are basically fully positioned" and shifting strategy to ETH-based. He emphasized that as the ETH foundation continues to optimize growth strategy, ETF approval, and macro factors like M2 growth and rate cut expectations accumulate, ETH and its ecosystem's medium to long-term logic becomes increasingly clear.
The warming sentiment is also reflected in the community. KOL Blue Fox said, "I originally thought Ethereum would take 5-10 years to reach a cognitive breakthrough moment like BTC's current cycle, but now it seems 2-3 years might suffice, and the world's frequency is accelerating."
However, voices of confusion also exist. Community user @diamondhandjs said: "From some indicators, ETH's performance isn't good, but OI continues to rise, as if something big is about to happen. Many third-party funds and Twitter bloggers are long on ETH and have already bought in, but after much consideration, I'm still uncertain."
Ethereum is working to overcome its "midlife crisis".
The era driven by idealism and community belief may be drawing to a close, with more pragmatic capital logic and institutionalized construction gradually taking over the narrative. As a16z pointed out, the foundation model is struggling to adapt to the current pace of evolution, and the crypto industry needs more efficient incentive mechanisms, clear accountability systems, and scalable structures.
