Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has announced a major personal funding commitment to support the continued growth and technical advancement of the Ethereum ecosystem, officials and industry sources report. Buterin said he has withdrawn 16,384 ETH, roughly US$43 million at current market values, from his personal holdings to back long-term open-source projects as the Ethereum Foundation (EF) enters a period of “mild austerity.”
In a post on social media platform X, Buterin explained that the Ethereum Foundation’s new strategic posture is aimed at balancing financial sustainability with an ambitious development roadmap focused on core protocol improvements while sharpening the ecosystem’s emphasis on privacy, security, decentralization and self-sovereignty.
Instead of broad funding across many initiatives, the foundation and Buterin are prioritizing high-impact infrastructure work that lays the groundwork for Ethereum’s future as a “performant and scalable world computer” without compromising its decentralized roots. The $43 million allocation is intended to support open-source software and hardware projects that enhance security, privacy and verifiable infrastructure across multiple layers of the ecosystem.
Buterin’s vision for the funds extends beyond the base layer of the Ethereum blockchain. He has discussed backing technologies in areas such as secure communications, governance platforms, operating systems, finance tools and secure hardware, as part of a broader “full-stack openness and verifiability” approach. These investments are expected to unfold gradually over several years rather than through one-off expenditures.
The move comes amid broader market volatility for Ether (ETH), which has seen price pressure in recent months, and follows discussions within the Ethereum community about how best to finance development in a shifting landscape of decentralized finance, tokenized assets and real-world adoption challenges. Buterin has also stated his intent to explore decentralized staking strategies as a potential ongoing funding mechanism, using staking rewards to further support ecosystem projects.
Buterin framed the funding shift as his personal contribution to the foundation’s new phase of focused investment. He emphasised that while the Ethereum Foundation is tightening its budget and prioritizing essential work, the broader ecosystem still needs robust support for foundational technologies that underpin decentralization and user sovereignty.
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