DeFi isn’t a speculative bet on the future. It’s the inevitable evolution of finance, driven by a fundamental truth: financial autonomy is a right, not a privilege. And it’s been a critical driver of Ethereum’s growth and adoption. We want to see DeFi thrive, but we’re opinionated about what it should look like: permissionless, censorship-resistant,…

We introduced Protocol last June which organized our work around three strategic initiatives: Scale L1, Scale Blobs, and Improve UX. A lot has happened since then! In this post, we want to share what we accomplished last year, how our thinking has evolved, and where Protocol is headed in 2026. TL;DR Great progress with tracks…

Platform is a new team inside the EF with one goal: Deliver the strongest possible Ethereum platform, where L1 and L2s are best positioned to support users, apps, and all organizations building on Ethereum. This requires improving the L1 <> L2 relationship, so that we grow as a mutually reinforcing system across each layer. Since…

tl;dr: Ethereum Protocol Studies returns for 2026 with new content tracks in cryptography, lean consensus and zkEVM, plus a new self-paced learning platform. The program kicks off February 23rd. Visit epf.wiki to get started. Ethereum Protocol Studies (EPS) is back. Since launching as a 10-week study group ahead of EPF5, EPS has grown into the…

Today, we are announcing a transition in the executive leadership team at the Ethereum Foundation. After extensive contributions to the Foundation’s mission and operations, Tomasz Stańczak has decided to step down from his role as Co-Executive Director. The Foundation’s Board has appointed Bastian Aue to serve as interim Co-Executive Director, effective immediately. Tomasz joined the…

tl;dr I am stepping down from my co-ED role at the EF at the end of February 2026. Bastian Aue is taking over the co-ED role alongside Hsiao-Wei. The future is bright for builders, for Ethereum, for the EF, and for me. Future of Ethereum As competing ideas emerge and fail and the markets jump…

The EF’s Academic Secretariat team is proud to announce the launch of the inaugural PhD Fellowship Program, a pioneering initiative aimed at empowering and expanding the frontiers of Ethereum-related academic research, by supporting Ethereum-related academic work led by PhD students. Round Scope The scope of this round includes work that is broadly relevant to students…

During Devconnect Buenos Aires, the Ethereum Foundation and Secureum TrustX brought together Ethereum security practitioners for Trillion Dollar Security Day, a focused event exploring what it would take to securely support a trillion-dollar Ethereum economy. The event brought together around eighty participants from across the Ethereum Security Ecosystem—spanning Infrastructure, Interoperability, Layer 1 & 2, Onchain,…

Community & education Cal Hacks 12.0 Collegiate hackathon organized at the University of California, Berkeley covering themes such as AI and web3. Community & education Destino Devconnect Grants round focused on supporting community-led events and initiatives that help bring Argentina and the broader Latin America region onchain. Community & education ETH Latam Hackathon Brasil 2025…

Ethereum’s All Core Developer calls are a lot to keep up with, so this “Checkpoint” series aims for high-level updates roughly every 4-8 weeks, depending on what’s happening in core development. See the previous update here. If you enjoy reading core development updates, you may also be keen to learn that Forkcast now publishes call…