Ethereum (ETH) needs a new $1 billion organization built outside the Ethereum Foundation to compete again, a former Foundation researcher argued this week.
Dankrad Feist Proposes $1B ETH Body
Dankrad Feist, who served as a senior researcher at the Ethereum Foundation until last year, posted the plan on Thursday.
He called for an independent entity funded with at least $1 billion in ETH and a steady share of network staking and fee revenue. He set out four conditions: the $1 billion base, a permanent revenue stream, a board accountable to ETH holders, and a leader willing to fight for the network's interests.
He framed the price tag as modest given the asset's scale, calling it reasonable for an ecosystem with a market value above $250 billion. The proposal landed during a difficult stretch for the Foundation, which holds less than 0.1% of all ETH and collects no staking or transaction fee income, a structure Feist argues leaves it disconnected from the token's market performance.
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Why Feist's Pitch Matters Now
Feist co-created the Danksharding scaling design, which gives weight to his criticism inside the community. His exit last year, when he joined Stripe's blockchain project Tempo, drew disappointment from developers who saw him as central to Ethereum's roadmap.
The timing sharpened the message. At least eight senior Foundation members have left in 2026, five of them in May, including researchers Carl Beekhuizen and Julian Ma.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has faced parallel scrutiny over his focus on technical and privacy upgrades rather than ETH's price, and investor Ryan Sean Adams publicly backed Feist's concept of a price-focused body. Supporters say routing staking income to such a group would tie its incentives directly to ETH's value, replacing the current reliance on discretionary grants and periodic asset sales. The Foundation did launch a staking initiative in February targeting 70,000 ETH, though critics call it far short of the alignment Feist describes.
ETH Price Slide Deepens Debate
Feist conceded that building consensus could take time, but described the new organization as the only credible route forward.
Ethereum traded near $2,126 this week, down roughly 57% from its peak above $4,900 last year, while Bitcoin and Solana outperformed it through that stretch. The asset has spent much of 2026 stuck in the low-$2,000 range, and that prolonged weakness, paired with the Foundation exits, is what hardened the argument that the network lacks a dedicated advocate for its market value.
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