Adults are changing, Ethereum is "changing its bones"

Author: Fairy, ChainCatcher

Edited by: TB, ChainCatcher

Ethereum is undergoing a deep "bone change".

On the one hand, the foundation lays off employees and shrinks expenditures, and engineering orientation becomes the core; on the other hand, capital-intensive layout, acquiring listed shells, buying ETH bulk, and building an Ethereum version of "micro-strategy".

The foundation begins to "take action"

The Ethereum Foundation has begun to "exercise". In the past period of time, EF has been criticized by the community for two most: one is frequent coins selling and opaque accounts; the other is the team’s “oldering” and inefficiency. Now, the Foundation is trying to turn this around.

At the beginning of the year, the leadership of the Ethereum Foundation completed a "big blood change". However, just two days ago, the foundation announced that it had begun layoffs and directly renamed the "Protocol R&D" team to "Protocol", reorganizing around three major strategic goals: L1 expansion, blob expansion, and user experience optimization. A clear person in charge is set up in each direction and a stronger accountability mechanism is introduced. In other words, EF will enter the "KPI" era, from "talking about vision" to "making products". (Related readings: 7 personnel adjustments and three new organizations, can Ethereum’s “self-rescue” be reborn? )

Larger moves appear at the financial level. Last night, the Foundation updated its financial policy: annual expenditures must not exceed 15% of treasury assets and plans to shrink to 5% over the next five years. Whether to sell ETH will be dynamically adjusted every quarter based on the operational buffer cycle (currently set to 2.5 years) and fiat currency reserve ratio, and will be achieved through on-chain or fiat currency channels.

At the same time, the foundation introduced the "Defipunk standard" to evaluate the project, emphasizing the principles of open source, self-hosting, permissionless access and privacy protection.

This change from architecture to system is a signal of a deep transformation. The Ethereum Foundation believes that 2025-2026 will be a critical phase of Ethereum, and perhaps this is the beginning of Ethereum restarting the efficiency engine.

SharpLink is entering the market, and the "reform" signal emerges?

Ethereum is becoming the battlefield for a new round of strategic funds. OG joins forces with US shell companies to enter the market and attempt to connect with sovereign capital, and ETH's capital market seems to be quietly active.

The ETH version of "Micro Strategy" starts to start. On May 27, SharpLink Gaming announced the completion of a private equity financing of US$425 million and included ETH in the company's treasury. Immediately afterwards, the company plans to raise another $1 billion to increase its position. However, private equity financing is participated by veteran institutions such as Consensys, ParaFi, Pantera Capital, and Galaxy Digital, which had a heavy holding of Ethereum in their early years. An ETH strategy led by OG and resonated with top players is emerging.

ETH version of "Micro-Strategy" collection

At the same time, Joe Lubin, Ethereum United Chuang and Consensys CEO, said that the company is in contact with a "big power" sovereign wealth fund and banks to explore building financial infrastructure on the Ethereum ecosystem. He hinted that these institutions may involve Ethereum’s first and second-tier infrastructure. Release a signal of sovereign capital.

On-site funds are also taking active action. Last night, the suspected Consensys affiliate address purchased $320 million worth of ETH from Galaxy Digital. It has now pledged US$120 million in ETH through Liquid Collective, reflecting its long-term configuration intention.

Investment company Trend Research Mingpai went long ETH and bought 8846 ETH on May 27, costing US$23 million. The funds came from mortgage ETH on Aave and then borrowed and bought again, indicating that it was leveraging and increasing its position.

In addition, the US spot Ethereum ETF has recorded net inflows for 13 consecutive days, with ETH/BTC rising about 30% in the past month, rebounding by as much as 48% from the multi-year low of 0.01766 set on April 22.

Look, the sound sounds again

Against the current context, more and more investors, institutions and analysts are beginning to reevaluate the potential and elasticity of Ethereum.

10x Research pointed out in its latest market analysis that ETH has been moving far beyond expectations. "Although we expected a pullback a few days ago, the actual trend is far more resilient than expected. From a technical perspective, Ethereum is approaching the vertex of a large triangle consolidation structure, and ultimately breaking through the direction, which may push the price to $2,000 or $3,000."

Institutional investors are stepping up their bets. Jack Yi, founder of LD Capital, said that the volatile cycle of Ethereum may be approaching its end, "we basically have full positions" and shifted its strategy to the ETH base. He stressed that with the ETH Foundation's continuous optimization of growth strategies, the approval of ETFs, and the superposition of macro factors such as M2 growth and interest rate cut expectations, the medium- and long-term logic of ETH and its ecosystem is becoming clearer.

The emotional recovery is also reflected in the community. KOL Blue Fox said, "I originally thought that Ethereum would take 5-10 years to usher in a cognitive icebreaking moment like BTC in this cycle, but now it seems that it may be completed in 2-3 years, and the frequency of the world is accelerating."

But the confused voice also exists. Community user @diamondhandjs said: "From some indicators, ETH is not performing well, but at the same time, OI continues to rise, as if something big is going to happen. Many bloggers on third-party funds and Twitter are bullish on ETH and have bought it, but I have thought about it for a long time, but I still haven't been sure."

Ethereum is working hard to overcome the "mid-life crisis".

The era driven by idealism and community beliefs may be over, and more pragmatic capital logic and institutional construction are gradually taking over narratives. As a16z pointed out, the foundation model is no longer suitable for the current pace of evolution, and the crypto industry needs to use more efficient incentive mechanisms, a clear accountability system and a scaleable structure.