The Ethereum Foundation (EF) is changing gears on how it handles core research and development. On June 2, 2025, the EF introduced a restructured unit simply named "Protocol," marking a shift in how it approaches Ethereum's long-standing scaling bottlenecks and usability issues.
The new initiative aims to sharpen focus across three tracks: improving Ethereum’s base layer performance, optimizing Layer 2 (L2) data availability, and enhancing the user experience on-chain.
Clear goals, clearer leadership
With this reorganization, the EF has designated specific leads to steer each objective. Tim Beiko and Ansgar Dietrichs are heading up efforts to improve Ethereum’s Layer 1 (L1) scalability.
For L2 blobspace, which refers to storage capacity used to hold compressed transaction data, Alex Stokes and Francesco D’Amato are leading the charge. User experience (UX) improvements will be handled by Barnabé Monnot and Josh Rudolf.
Acting as a strategic advisor across all three efforts is Dankrad Feist, well-known in the Ethereum community for proposing EIP-7938, a roadmap to increase gas limits 100x over four years.
Feist has been vocal in recent months about the urgency of scaling, warning that Ethereum may struggle to maintain relevance without substantial improvements in throughput.
Streamlining and responding to community feedback
As part of the Protocol rollout, the EF also confirmed layoffs within its core dev team, aiming to streamline internal operations. While some in the community saw the move as abrupt, the foundation noted that laid-off members are encouraged to continue contributing independently.
Alongside the organizational shake-up, the EF also committed to improving communication around network upgrades and technical documentation, in line with long-standing community requests.
The timing aligns with recent developments, including Ethereum validators backing a gas limit increase to 60 million units on May 27, supportive of the scaling track’s long-term goals.
Additionally, the EF took a $2 million loan in GHO stablecoins from Aave on May 29, marking a move toward DeFi-native treasury tools and away from regular ETH sales.
As competition in the layer-1 and L2 landscape continues to rise, the EF’s Protocol initiative represents a renewed effort to keep Ethereum’s infrastructure aligned with its long-term vision. The focus now is on executing those priorities in a way that benefits both developers and users navigating the chain.
