Now That Ethereum is near its launch and has already gone through its Homestead phase, the team at Ethereum Foundation has been able to take a step back and evaluate their strategies from a broader perspective. From a development point of view, they have started working on Serenity, the next major revision to the Ethereum Protocol, which will include Casper, a consensus algorithm, as well as some basic building blocks that could allow for scalability features to be added without much disruption. POC1 has been released, and POC2 should be available in about a month. Martin Becze is also exploring ways to optimize the EVM using WebAssembly, and many groups are now researching and developing advanced cryptography on the EVM.
Even though this type of work is exciting, there is also a significant amount of less glamorous work to be done behind the scenes. Ethereum Foundation needs to ensure that their organization can survive and thrive long enough to realize their vision for Ethereum.
At the time of the last major update, the biggest problems facing the Foundation were both organizational and financial. Expenses were very high, reaching over €400,000 per month, and included development, communications, administration, and security audits. The ecosystem was flourishing, with numerous Ethereum companies popping up, and the Foundation didn’t need to fund each layer of the ecosystem anymore. But this transition was difficult, and administrative inefficiencies, which included 6 entities across 4 jurisdictions, made it hard to manage.
Under the new CEO, Ming Chan, the team started to streamline the operations. On the non-administrative front, they have placed a greater emphasis on using the Gitter channels for discussion instead of Skype, and on the EIP process for protocol updates. This has been quite successful, with most of the discussion taking place on the channels, and many EIPs being discussed and developed. They also review other forms of communication and media, like documentation, forums, and tutorials, and welcome feedback from the community.
End of an era, the end of a series, the beginning of a new series, or the beginning of another.
The financial situation was the biggest concern. Open source projects are often underfunded, and while crypto-economic blockchains offer opportunities not possible in any other circumstances, the funding issue remains. The team wanted to make sure they were using the money they had efficiently before looking for ways to get more money. This is where they made the most progress over the last four months, with positive results.
The team decided to focus on the core and take a less focused approach to the development side. They chose to focus on the Ethereum software, especially the Go client, and some original features are still intact. They also support C++, Python, and development tools like Solidity and Mix, but left other aspects of the ecosystem to the community. They streamlined their communications, and now have a smaller team spread out across the globe, who work part-time.
Someone else’s electric bills now…
The Foundation’s monthly expenses have more than halved since 2015’s peak of more than 400,000 EUR per month. They now amount to approximately 175,000 EUR/188,000 USD monthly. The main components are: C++ development (€22,000/month, down 75%), Go development (€65,000/month, down 10%), Python development (€5,000/month, down 50%), IT/hosting/maintenance/release coordination (€13,000/month), communications (€6,000/month, down 85%), and research (€20,000/month, virtually unchanged). They also pay 40,000 EUR/month for senior administrative and executive personnel, accounting, office administration, legal, and other (down 50%, with more cuts expected soon).
The Foundation’s current assets are made up of approximately 2,250,000 ETH and 500 BTC, plus $100,000 in fiat currency. This would give them approximately one year, assuming the ether
