Former Ethereum Foundation member: Ethereum core development may face a funding crisis in 3 to 9 months

Foresight News reported that former Ethereum Foundation member Trent Van Epps tweeted that the Ethereum Foundation will not be the main administrator of Ethereum for the next 10 years, and that the ecosystem needs to reset the social, political, and economic contracts among stakeholders. The Ethereum Foundation’s treasury is limited and becoming increasingly constrained. The four-year Client Incentive Program (CIP), which uses staking returns to fund client teams, will expire in April 2026, and no replacement plan has been seen. According to his recent conversations with core development stakeholders, Ethereum core development (clients, research, coordination) may face a slow funding crisis in the next 3 to 9 months. Currently, maintaining the delivery capacity of over 10 client, research, and coordination teams requires about 30 million USD in sustainable funding per year. If there is a funding gap, it will lead to the loss of key talent, reduced protocol maintenance capacity, and will affect long-term scaling and the response to challenges such as quantum computing.