PANews, June 19 – Former Ethereum Foundation member Trent Van Epps posted on X platform, discussing the Ethereum Foundation from a personal perspective and analyzing some of the pressing challenges it faces. These challenges include the difficulty of legitimacy distribution and an impending protocol funding crisis. Trent Van Epps believes these all point to the necessary reset of the social, political, and economic contract among Ethereum stakeholders. Only then can effective institutional succession be achieved.

The article notes that the Ethereum Foundation’s treasury is limited and increasingly constrained. The 4-year Client Incentive Program (CIP), used to fund client teams through staking, expired in April 2026 with no alternative in sight. Based on recent exchanges with core development stakeholders, Ethereum core development (clients, research, coordination) may enter a slow funding crisis within the next 3 to 9 months. Currently, maintaining the delivery capacity of over 10 client, research, and coordination teams requires approximately $30 million in sustained annual funding. A funding gap would lead to the loss of key talent, reduced protocol maintenance capabilities, and impact long-term scalability and challenges such as quantum resistance.