ETH's Most Loyal Whale Sells Off, What's Happening to Ethereum

On May 21, David Hoffman posted on X, announcing that he had sold all his ETH holdings.

On the same day, Ryan Sean Adams followed up with a post. He mentioned that he "remains bullish on ETH and Bankless." However, as Bankless enters its "second era," he plans to take a step back. The weekly podcast will continue, but the content direction and guest selection will no longer be his focus, as "David will take full control."

Former Bankless member Lucas took to social media to express, "Let me just lay out the things that cannot be said—Bankless apparently laid off most of the team yesterday. There was neither a thank you nor a public announcement to help the team members find new opportunities."

All these events unfolded during a period of significant turnover within the Ethereum Foundation.

They Were Once ETH's Most Loyal Mouthpieces

Bankless is not your typical crypto media outlet.

In September 2020, David Hoffman and Ryan Sean Adams co-founded this brand, starting from a newsletter and growing over five years to become one of the most vital content ecosystems in the English-speaking crypto space. With podcasts, videos, a paid membership called Citizenship, a derivative DAO, and the separate venture capital fund Bankless Ventures established in 2023, valued at around $35 million. They have a dedicated Ethereum Weekly section.

It served as ETH's most crucial amplifier of narratives, bar none. The core argument of this amplifier mainly stemmed from David Hoffman.

David Hoffman, with a background in counseling psychology, entered the space in 2017. He initially served as the COO of the real estate tokenization platform RealT and began writing in-depth articles on Ethereum fundamentals in 2019. He was the research arm within Bankless, the narrative architect. Ryan Sean Adams had a more extensive investment track record, having established positions in crypto around 2017 through Mythos Capital, taking on a macro cycle-oriented, evangelist role on the show.

Starting in 2019, David Hoffman has successively written "Ether: The Triple Point Asset," "Ether is Equity," "Ethereum's Economic Engine," and "The Ethereum Watershed." The core argument is that ETH possesses triple characteristics of money, bonds, and equity, making it a "triple point asset." This narrative has provided ETH holders with a set of fundamental tools, transforming ETH from just a cryptocurrency into the underlying asset of the digital financial stack.

David Hoffman himself has taken this argument to the extreme. He has publicly stated that 99% of his net worth is in Ethereum, and he doesn't even have a bank account. At the Davos Forum in January 2026, he even mentioned that Ethereum will establish a new global order by 2026.

Only four months have passed since he announced his divestment today.

What Happened Inside Bankless

Bankless' narrative collapse on ETH did not happen overnight:

In April 2025, when ETH fell to $1415, David Hoffman publicly called out Ethereum's leadership and culture for "driving away users and developers," demanding that the Ethereum Foundation make a change.

In October 2025, he "mourned" the departure of the longest-serving researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, Dankrad Feist, who left to join the stablecoin L1 project Tempo, openly expressing concerns about talent being siphoned off by for-profit companies from the Ethereum Foundation.

In December 2025, he wrote "Crypto's Yearly Candles," acknowledging that 2025 was a bearish year for both ETH and BTC.

In January 2026, he wrote "This Crypto Cycle Skipped ETH," believing that this cycle's rally skipped ETH. On the day the Ethereum Foundation released its new Mandate in March 2026, he wrote "The EF's Endless Manifestos," criticizing the Ethereum Foundation for "not intending to fight for ETH's market share."

So today's liquidation is not considered sudden.

Aside from David Hoffman, Adams' approach is worth mentioning. He stated that he "still believes in ETH," not that he has "reduced his position," nor that he is "following David." This can be seen as a relatively graceful internal power transition, following the recent layoffs at Bankless.

By handing over content leadership to David, Adams implied that Bankless will be more "ETH-lite" moving forward, featuring more Solana, Hyperliquid, prediction markets, and an ICO renaissance.

Ethereum Foundation Undergoes Another Major Shake-up

Since Vitalik initiated the restructuring of the Ethereum Foundation in 2025, the Foundation has gone through several rounds of significant changes:

Long-time leader Aya Miyaguchi stepped down as Executive Director, with Tomasz Stańczak and Hsiao-Wei Wang taking on the role of Co-Executive Directors. The community's discontent with the Foundation's lack of transparency, slow pace, and failure to capture value for ETH has been brewing for a long time.

But as of 2026, these changes continue.

On February 13, 2026, Stańczak announced his resignation as co-ED at the end of February, after serving for less than a year. Bastian Aue succeeded him.

On March 13, 2026, the Ethereum Foundation released a 38-page "Ethereum Foundation Mandate." The core of this is the CROPS framework, which stands for censorship-resistant, open source, private, and secure. The document makes it clear that the Ethereum Foundation is reverting to being a "neutral nightwatchman," not leading ecosystem expansion and not being responsible for ETH's price. The document also includes a reference to the Remilia "Source Seppuku License," a two-dimensional illustration depicting the Foundation's commitment to Ethereum, indicating that if this is violated, it will perform ritual suicide with a sword.

According to community rumors, the Ethereum Foundation is requiring employees to sign and accept the new Mandate, or they will have to leave.

From March to May 2026, all three heads of the Ethereum Foundation's Protocol Cluster departed, with five senior researchers leaving in a single month in May. The complete list includes Carl Beekhuizen (a seven-year veteran), Julian Ma, Barnabé Monnot, Tim Beiko, Trent Van Epps, Alex Stokes, Josh Stark, along with former co-ED Stańczak. Eight individuals in one year.

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