Ethereum Community Foundation Raises Millions to Fix the Network

A new organization called the Ethereum Community Foundation (ECF) has launched with a clear mandate: support institutional-grade Ethereum infrastructure, drive long-term ETH value, and correct what it sees as strategic missteps by the Ethereum Foundation.

A fork in priorities, not in code

“We hoped the Ethereum Foundation would course correct. They didn’t, so we’re stepping up.” said ECF founder Zak Cole.

The foundation, according to its announcement and a presentation at EthCC in Cannes, wants to fund “immutable and tokenless” projects that burn ETH, support validator infrastructure, and bring real-world assets on-chain. “Every dollar moves the number,” Cole said.

The ticker is $ETH.

The website is https://t.co/J2JXTDBcfQ.

— zak.eth (@0xzak) July 1, 2025

Rather than forking Ethereum’s codebase, the ECF represents a fork in strategic vision, prioritizing monetary alignment, supply burn, and institutional credibility over experimental token models and layer 2 proliferation.

ETH burn as a core metric

According to Cole, the foundation has already raised millions in ETH from individual backers and will use those funds to back “credibly neutral” technologies that help reduce ETH supply.

“All supported integrations must contribute to ETH burn,” the ECF’s website states, saying that aligning throughput with ETH scarcity is key to ensuring monetary integrity. Projects must be tokenless and immutable, rules meant to avoid speculative dilution and governance capture.

The foundation’s focus also includes addressing technical challenges, such as “mispriced blob space,” and supporting public goods that directly improve Ethereum’s base layer economics.

The ECF’s first major initiative is the Ethereum Validator Association (EVA), which will give validators a structured way to influence development using staked ETH as a signaling mechanism. It will also provide funding for validator infrastructure.

The ECF is also positioning itself as Ethereum’s institutional liaison, wanting to engage with policymakers, regulators, and enterprises. As Ethereum hopes to reclaim market share lost to faster and more efficient rivals like Solana, this institutional-facing layer could play a key role.

A new chapter for Ethereum governance?

The launch comes amid internal changes across Ethereum’s leadership, including a major shakeup at the Ethereum Foundation and the emergence of new institutional players like Etherealize, led by Vivek Raman and former EF researcher Danny Ryan.

While it’s unclear who ECF’s backers are, Cole said more will become clear in the next few weeks. For now, the Ethereum Community Foundation is making its mission clear: 

We fund projects that burn ETH. We enforce immutability. We reject token games. We show up where the EF is missing. This is Ethereum with teeth.