Vitalik Buterin Reveals 90% of His Net Worth Sits in ETH Amid Foundation Overhaul Plans

The Ethereum Foundation holds about 0.16% of all ETH, far below central foundations behind other blockchains that often hold 10% to 50%. The Foundation plans to shrink its scope and act as a single node with a defined purpose rather than a center of gravity for the network. The focus will remain on censorship-resistance, privacy, and open infrastructure for Ethereum. Vitalik Buterin described a productive period with major efficiency gains in 2025, while acknowledging tension between public values and foundation actions. He called for AI-assisted formal verification to make Ethereum provably bug-free within months. He used an analogy to explain longevity over breadth and the importance of maintaining standards when the industry drifts.

"Buterin detailed on May 24, 2026, that the Ethereum Foundation (EF) holds only 0.16% of all ETH, far below rivals. The EF plans to shrink its scope, focusing solely on censorship-resistance, privacy, and open infrastructure for Ethereum. Buterin called for artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted formal verification to make Ethereum provably bug-free within months."

"Vitalik Buterin explained that the Ethereum Foundation (EF) is choosing longevity over breadth. The shift comes after a period he described as productive, with major efficiency gains in 2025, but one question kept surfacing in his feed: Why did the foundation's actions not reflect the decentralization and privacy values he spoke about publicly? Buterin acknowledged that tension clearly."

"He stated that the foundation is one node with a defined purpose, not a center of gravity for the entire network. The EF holds approximately 0.16% of all ETH. By comparison, central foundations behind other blockchains typically hold between 10% and 50% of their native supply. The original mandat"

"To explain the choice the EF is making, Buterin reached for an analogy. He described Google as a company that started with strong, idealistic roots but slowly moved away from them as mainstream corporate pressure set in. He remarked that if he could have pressed a button in 2008 to make Google two standard deviations more principled, he would have pressed it immediately. His reasoning: one organization choosing to hold a different standard matters more when the rest of the industry is drifting in the other direction."

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