PANews reported on July 2 that according to The Block, Ethereum core developer Zak Cole announced the establishment of the Ethereum Community Foundation (ECF), whose mission is to support institutional adoption of Ethereum infrastructure and ultimately push up the price of ETH. The organization has raised millions of dollars worth of ETH to date, which will be allocated to projects building trusted neutral technologies.

ECF will focus on funding "immutable and token-free" projects. In particular, the foundation is looking to support real-world asset applications that put stocks, bonds, real estate and other assets on the chain. It will also focus on projects that contribute to "public goods", including fixing mispriced blob space. The foundation will use token voting to determine grant allocations, and all funding decisions and discussions will be fully transparent. ECF's first project will be the "Ethereum Validator Association", which aims to give network validators a "voice in development" and express their preferences by staking ETH.