‘Wartime’ Vitalik, DeFi Moves, and Milady Vibes—What’s Up With the Ethereum Foundation?

Milady PFPs, an angry Vitalik Buterin, and leadership shakeups—what exactly is going on at the Ethereum Foundation these days?

For months, Ethereum holders have complained that the network’s leadership appears often more focused on niche technical objectives than public perception and political considerations that have become increasingly critical to other top industry projects and companies.

Certainly, the fact that ETH’s stubbornly stagnant price has become a meme amid an otherwise historic crypto boom isn’t helping matters.

hello world computer

— Ethereum.org (@ethereum) January 13, 2025

Last week, the Ethereum Foundation appeared to start taking those complaints into account, by revamping its X (formerly Twitter) account with a more public-facing, cheeky vernacular.

In short order, potentially wishful rumors began swirling online that the Foundation was overhauling its top brass, first and foremost by replacing longtime executive director Aya Miyaguchi.

Black smoke has been released from mainnet signifying that the Ethereum Foundation has not yet chosen a new executive director pic.twitter.com/QFgala6zNe

— robin whitney (@RobinWhitney_) January 16, 2025

Days later, Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin confirmed that the Foundation was indeed in the process of making “large changes,” but emphasized that this push had been ongoing for nearly a year.

While Buterin revealed that the organization is actively working to improve its ties to ecosystem actors and more actively involve itself with app builders and everyday users, he also emphasized what Ethereum would not be doing: caving to Crypto Twitter pressures to “execute some kind of ideological/vibez pivot from feminized WEF soyboy mentality to bronze age mindset.”

He also added that Ethereum would adamantly refrain from “aggressively lobbying regulators and powerful political figures,” an allusion to the intensive push by many crypto industry leaders to cozy up to U.S. President Donald Trump in recent weeks.

Mere minutes after that defiant post on Saturday, however, Charlotte Fang, creator of the controversial Milady NFT collection, implored Buterin to “embrace Milady” and the aggressive online fandom it represents.

Incredibly, Buterin—who largely abstains from engaging with the edgier sides of Crypto Twitter—then immediately yielded, changing his X profile picture to a Milady.

milady

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) January 18, 2025

Further changes to Ethereum are afoot. On Monday, the Ethereum Foundation set up a wallet funded with 50,000 ETH—a sum worth some $165 million at writing—to participate in the Ethereum decentralized finance ecosystem and support related projects. Ethereum DeFi leaders like Aave founder Stani Kulechov immediately hailed the announcement as a major breakthrough.

This is incredible from EF. This is the beginning of a new era for EF, powering and participating in DeFi on Ethereum.

After building 8 years on Ethereum, this feels really good. Thank you for using Aave. https://t.co/a3n0H6rTly

— Stani.eth (@StaniKulechov) January 20, 2025

And yet, the masses still have yet to be appeased. When one crypto influencer posted that X users should “keep the pressure” on Miyaguchi in a bid to force her to resign and pump ETH’s price, Buterin swatted back aggressively.

“No. This is not how this game works,” the Ethereum creator wrote Tuesday. “If you ‘keep the pressure on’, then you are creating an environment that is actively toxic to top talent. Some of Ethereum’s best devs have been messaging me recently, expressing their disgust with the social media environment that people like you are creating.”

No. This is not how this game works.

The person deciding the new EF leadership team is me. One of the goals of the ongoing reform is to give the EF a “proper board”, but until that happens it’s me.

If you “keep the pressure on”, then you are creating an environment that is…

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) January 21, 2025

Buterin then laid out a number of abusive posts disparaging Ethereum Foundation employees, denouncing them while emphasizing that only he had the power to decide who will run the organization in the future.

He then signed off by posting the word “Milady” repeatedly.

Vitalik now in wartime mode

ETH will be saved pic.twitter.com/dEl1s0F5Kw

— cygaar (@0xCygaar) January 18, 2025

A defiant tone for the embattled Ethereum co-founder? Certainly. A display of Bronze Age mindset? Perhaps indeed.

Numerous industry builders and observers have hailed Buterin’s recent moves as a pivot to “wartime mode,” with the apparent attitude shift, potential leadership shakeup, and DeFi initiatives showing a founder that’s in the trenches and listening to feedback—and battling for the future of Ethereum.

Edited by Andrew Hayward

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