Ethereum’s core development ecosystem could face a significant funding crisis within the next several months, according to former Ethereum Foundation (EF) member Trent Van Epps.
Van Epps, who worked at the Ethereum Foundation from May 2021 to April 2026, sounded the alarm in a Thursday blog post, arguing that Ethereum is approaching a “slow-burning funding crisis” that could undermine the network’s long-term development efforts.
Notably, the warning arrives at a key time for Ethereum, as the ecosystem prepares for future upgrades while navigating organizational restructuring, reduced spending, and ongoing debate over the Foundation’s role.
According to Van Epps, two major developments are placing pressure on Ethereum’s development ecosystem.
First, the Ethereum Foundation is implementing a long-term treasury strategy to reduce its annual spending rate from roughly 15% to 5% by 2030. The plan, announced in June 2025, is intended to preserve the Foundation’s remaining resources and ensure long-term sustainability.
 
The second challenge stems from the expiration of the Client Incentive Program (CIP), a four-year initiative that supported Ethereum client teams through staking rewards. The program ended in April 2026, and no replacement has been announced.
Van Epps believes these simultaneous changes could leave a substantial funding gap for the teams responsible for maintaining Ethereum’s core infrastructure.
“From recent conversations across all core development, there is a risk we will enter a slow-burning funding crisis within the next 3-9 months,” Van Epps wrote.
He estimated that sustaining Ethereum’s network of more than 10 client teams, alongside research and coordination activities, requires approximately $30 million annually.
Without consistent funding, he warned, Ethereum risks losing developers with years of specialized experience.
“Without continuous funding, we lose people with critical context built up over years, fall behind on looming challenges like quantum computing or scaling, and ultimately risk mainnet’s reputation for reliability,” he added.
At the center of the discussion is the Ethereum Foundation’s organizational philosophy known as “Subtraction.”
Originally introduced in 2019 and reaffirmed in the Foundation’s March 2026 mandate, the strategy seeks to gradually reduce the Foundation’s influence and encourage greater decentralization across the ecosystem.
The Foundation has stated that its goal is to ensure Ethereum becomes mature enough to “outgrow and outlast” the organization itself.
However, Van Epps argued that despite these intentions, the Foundation still retains significant influence through its brand, treasury, ecosystem assets, and close association with Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.
He noted that the broader ecosystem has yet to establish alternative institutions capable of taking over many of the Foundation’s responsibilities.
“Legitimacy is downstream of repeated competency, which is itself downstream of resources,” Van Epps wrote, emphasizing that financial support remains essential for sustaining Ethereum’s development capacity.
The funding concerns come amid a broader wave of departures from the Ethereum Foundation.
Over the past year, several prominent contributors have left the organization, including developer Péter Szilágyi, longtime contributor Josh Stark, Beacon Chain architect Karl Bickhusen, and researcher Julian Ma.
Van Epps himself departed the Foundation in April, though he continues contributing through Protocol Guild.
Van Epps argued that solving Ethereum’s challenges will require more than temporary financial support. Instead, he believes the ecosystem must establish new institutions and create “scalable, accountable, neutral funding mechanisms” capable of sustaining development over the coming decade.
The debate comes as work continues on Ethereum’s upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade, which relies on many of the same development teams currently facing funding uncertainty.
That said, with no successor to the Client Incentive Program in place, the Ethereum community may soon have to decide how to fund the network’s future while preserving its decentralized principles.
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