With senior figures continuing to leave the Ethereum Foundation, Zcash (ZEC) co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson (엘리 벤사손) publicly stated his position on the recent turmoil surrounding Ethereum.

On June 21 (local time), blockchain media outlet U.Today reported that Ben-Sasson acknowledged Ethereum’s strengths but said politics exists inside the foundation.

At the Ethereum Foundation, Xiaowei Wang (샤오웨이 왕), co-executive director and a board member, recently stepped down from the role. Over the past 5 months, at least 8 senior figures have left the foundation. These moves are spreading concern about Ethereum’s core development system as competition with rival blockchains intensifies.

Concerns have also been raised about funding. Trent Van Epps (트렌트 밴 엡스), a former Ethereum Foundation contributor, warned that a crisis could emerge in funding for Ethereum development within 3 to 9 months, citing reduced foundation spending and the end of the Client Incentive Program (CIP). By contrast, BitMine Chairman Tom Lee (톰 리), known as a bull, drew a line, saying the chance of a funding crisis for Ethereum is "zero."

In this situation, Ben-Sasson said he was not trying to attack the Ethereum Foundation or speak of Ethereum’s demise. "I’m not here to join those bashing EF, or saying this is the end of Ethereum," he said. "I’m also not here to defend it and say all is rosy," he added.

Ben-Sasson described himself as a friend of Ethereum and a Layer 2 (L2) operations leader who has been involved in scaling it for a long time. "I’m here to share my point of view as an L2 leader who has been scaling Ethereum for quite a long time, not a few days," he said. Ben-Sasson is also a Zcash co-founder and a StarkWare co-founder.

He said Ethereum’s technical strengths are clear. But he noted that technology choices within the ecosystem were not always welcomed. Ben-Sasson referred to StarkWare’s development in 2019 and 2020 of a post-quantum ZK-STARK system to support Ethereum scaling and quantum readiness. He said the decision to choose STARK and zkVM was an unusual choice at the time, and was even assessed as not aligning with the ecosystem.

Even so, Ben-Sasson signaled he does not regret that choice. It amounted to emphasizing that technical direction mattered more than market views.

He also remained optimistic about future change. "I hope the new system that emerges will place more weight on competence and technical capability than on conformity," Ben-Sasson said. "From a position of supporting the entire crypto ecosystem, if that happens, I will work more closely with them," he added.

The remarks came as concern grows over the Ethereum Foundation’s organizational stability and core development funding. Ben-Sasson did not declare a crisis and did not criticize the foundation one-sidedly. Instead, he highlighted that Ethereum’s strengths and internal conflict exist at the same time, and signaled an awareness that the future operating structure needs to be reorganized around technology.

My view on the Ethereum Foundation turmoil: I'm not here to join those bashing EF, or saying this is the end of Ethereum. I’m also not here to defend it and say all is rosy. Ethereum has many strengths, and it also has its politics. I'm here to share my point of view as a friend…