Former Ethereum Foundation Core Member: Ethereum Could Face Protocol Funding Crisis in the Next 3 to 9 Months

BlockBeats News, June 19th. Trent Van Epps, former Ethereum Foundation core developer coordinator, stated in a post that as the foundation continues to advance the "Subtraction" governance strategy, gradually shrinks its treasury, and the 4-year Client Incentive Program (CIP) expired in April this year, the Ethereum core development ecosystem may face a slow-brewing funding crisis in the next 3 to 9 months.

Trent pointed out that currently, maintaining over 10 Ethereum client teams, research institutions, and coordination organizations operational requires approximately $30 million in funding annually. If the funding remains insufficient, it may lead to key developer attrition, protocol upgrade delays, and weaken Ethereum's long-term competitiveness in scalability, quantum computing defense, and network maintenance. The Ethereum Foundation is not designed to be a permanent governor, and new institutions will need to take on the protocol development responsibilities in the next decade. As the foundation's influence gradually wanes, the Ethereum ecosystem urgently needs to establish a new fund allocation mechanism, governance framework, and institutional succession system to ensure the protocol's long-term sustainable development.