Amid a prolonged lull in ETH price dynamics and regular coin sales by the Ethereum Foundation (EF), a wave of discontent has washed over the crypto community. The organization is increasingly blamed for weak marketing and insufficient support for the ecosystem. However, William Mougayar, a well-known blockchain researcher, investor, and author of The Business Blockchain, stepped up to cool the critics’ tempers.
In his essay aptly titled Leave the Foundation Alone, he made it clear: the community is confusing roles and expecting things from a non-profit organization that it was never meant to do.
The EF Is Not a Corporation, and It Doesn’t Owe You a Portfolio Pump
Mougayar emphasized that the Ethereum Foundation was never conceived as a commercial entity. The critics’ main mistake is evaluating the foundation through the lens of traditional corporate marketing.
“It is not a corporation. It never intended to be one. And the sooner the market accepts that, the sooner the noise around it will cease to matter. The Ethereum Foundation does not market ETH, it doesn’t pump your portfolios, it doesn’t do roadshows for institutions—that is simply not its function.”
Steering Toward “Subtraction”: What the Foundation Actually Does
According to the researcher, the EF’s strategy is unique: the organization deliberately pursues a path of “subtraction”. Instead of tightening its grip on the ecosystem and centralizing control, the foundation is gradually reducing its own footprint, handing the reins over to the decentralized community.
Instead of aggressive PR, the Ethereum Foundation focuses on fundamental, long-term tasks. Key areas of the organization’s work include:
- Fundamental Science: Funding core blockchain research;
- Scaling: Developing technical solutions to increase network throughput;
- Privacy: Working on robust confidentiality and privacy tools;
- Future-Proofing Security: Exploring post-quantum network resistance;
- Technological Synergy: Improving Ethereum’s compatibility with artificial intelligence;
- Infrastructure: Supporting unified standards for developers.
Apples to Oranges: The Three Dimensions of Ethereum
To clearly costly demonstrate the absurdity of the complaints, Mougayar used an ironic comparison. Expecting the foundation to market a crypto asset is like demanding that the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) buy an expensive commercial for the TCP/IP protocol during the Super Bowl broadcast.
To prevent investors from harboring false illusions and making flawed predictions, the researcher urged everyone to clearly distinguish between three distinct entities:
- ETH — The cryptocurrency itself (a market asset).
- Ethereum — The global decentralized infrastructure.
- EF — The non-profit organization coordinating development.
Mashing these concepts into one single pile, Mougayar believes, is what births the unrealistic expectations that turn into blind criticism during times of market turbulence.
