Ethereum Faces Risk of Development Slowdown Amid Funding Crunch Warning

Ethereum could face a funding shortfall within the next few months, Cointelegraph reported on June 19.

Trenton Van Epps, a former Ethereum Foundation member, wrote in a recent blog post that Ethereum may need to secure a new funding model within the next three to nine months or face a crisis in funding for core development.

Cuts in Ethereum Foundation spending, along with the impact of the Client Incentive Program, or CIP, which ended in April, have left Ethereum’s core development ecosystem needing about $30 million a year in funding, Van Epps wrote. Citing discussions with core developers, he added that Ethereum risks entering a “slow-burning funding crisis.”

The warning comes as departures continue at the Ethereum Foundation. Nineteen people, including co-executive director Hsiao-Wei Wang, have left the foundation this year.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has also said the foundation could face financial strain. In a social media post last month, he said the Ethereum Foundation’s holdings account for only about 0.16% of total Ether supply, limiting its financial flexibility.