Ethereum’s Greatest Danger Might Be a Funding Crunch, Former EF Contributor Warns

A former EF contributor says underinvestment immediately might create pricey improvement setbacks that develop into seen inside 18 months.

Ethereum could also be heading in direction of a funding disaster that would start to emerge throughout the subsequent three to 9 months, in accordance with former Ethereum Basis contributor Trent Van Epps.

In a latest article on X, Van Epps, who lately ended his five-year stint at EF, mentioned the danger isn’t merely the results of a brief funding hole however originates from deeper structural adjustments happening throughout the ecosystem.

Funding Crunch

Van Epps spoke about EF’s long-standing philosophy of “Subtraction,” a method that goals to step by step cut back the Basis’s affect and encourage the broader Ethereum group to tackle a bigger position in supporting the community.

Whereas he mentioned the strategy has been profitable in conveying that the EF doesn’t need to stay Ethereum’s sole heart of energy, he believes it has been much less efficient in guaranteeing different establishments step in to fill the gaps left behind.

Based on Van Epps, the Ethereum Basis nonetheless occupies a novel place throughout the ecosystem resulting from elements resembling its fame, historic position in main the protocol, connection to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, possession of main communication channels and logos, in addition to its long-standing help of core builders and researchers.

Nonetheless, he added that one of many Basis’s most essential assets, its treasury, is changing into more and more constrained.

The EF has spent a lot of its ETH holdings during the last decade serving to bootstrap Ethereum’s progress and has already begun lowering spending to protect remaining funds. He highlighted the Basis’s treasury plan introduced in June 2025, which outlined a gradual discount in annual spending from 15% to a 5% endowment-style stage by 2030.

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Van Epps additionally pointed to the expiration of Ethereum’s Consumer Incentive Program (CIP) in April 2026. The four-year initiative supplied funding to consumer groups by means of staking rewards, and no alternative program has been introduced up to now.

Shrinking Assets

Based mostly on conversations throughout Ethereum’s core improvement group, he mentioned these developments have created an actual danger that funding pressures might begin constructing over the approaching months. He estimated that sustaining Ethereum’s present improvement capability requires roughly $30 million per yr to help consumer groups, researchers, and coordination efforts throughout the ecosystem.

With out steady funding, Van Epps warned that Ethereum might lose contributors who’ve collected years of essential experience, which makes it tougher to deal with main challenges resembling scaling the community and making ready for future threats like quantum computing. Based on the previous contributor, the implications of underinvestment will not be instantly seen however might develop into obvious throughout the subsequent 12 to 18 months, when reversing the injury can be considerably tougher and costly.

Van Epps believes the Ethereum Basis is unlikely to stay the community’s main steward over the subsequent decade, as he echoed latest feedback from Vitalik Buterin that the group was by no means meant to function Ethereum’s everlasting caretaker. He referred to as for brand spanking new establishments and sustainable funding mechanisms able to supporting Ethereum’s long-term improvement and sustaining the shared assets the ecosystem depends upon.