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- Ethereum developer Péter Szilágyi expressed deep concerns about centralization and favoritism within the Ethereum ecosystem.
- He believes the Ethereum Foundation has lost its founding principles by allowing financial motives to override community values.
- His letter highlights internal struggles over leadership, compensation, and influence centered around Vitalik Buterin.
Ethereum’s internal tensions came into focus after core developer Péter Szilágyi shared a letter addressed to the Ethereum Foundation leadership. His message, written last year but revealed recently, paints a troubled picture of the world’s second-largest blockchain network.
Szilágyi, the leader of the Geth client team, outlined years of discomfort with the structure, culture, and leadership of Ethereum. He explained the decision-making of the Foundation as having become strongly dictatorial by an inner core.
In his view, the circle comprises 5–10 lead players and some venture capital firms that define the success of greenfield projects. He maintained that even though the notion of Ethereum has been genuinely open and permissionless, the reality of the present-day Ethereum has become an application of personal networks and closeness to Vitalik Buterin.
Szilágyi’s tone was not resignation but disillusionment. He appreciated the opportunities Ethereum offered but mourned that its original vision of equality and transparency had been lost.
Funding Imbalance Exposes Ethereum to Protocol Capture
In the letter, the berated the Foundation for striking economic imbalances between developers and influential insiders. He noted early contributors resigned en mass due to the absence of equitable rewards.
He argued that the system eventually forced ethical builders to work elsewhere, often attracted by outside investors with personal interests. In his view, this situation put Ethereum at risk of “protocol capture,” where individuals with capital or power make decisions that override community-driven leadership.
He referred to the manner vagueness and underpaying make enthusiastic contributors “useful fools”, worthless laborers but without real power. His words were reminiscent of the broader concern spreading throughout the crypto world: the recourse to visions of decentralization are thigh-ly undermining by the same hierarchical impulsesосени found within established money.
Szilágyi Warns of Centralized Power Around Vitalik Buterin
He also spoke of the role of Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum. Szilagyi noted the greatness and hardwork of Buterin but cautioned that the influence of Buterin has increased to the level of dictating success within the ecosystem.
He alleged most projects these days are now reliant on getting permission by Buterin or the inner circle. For Szilágyi, this culture has produced an elite class dominating new startups, advisory roles, and spin doctoring of stories.
The trend, as far as he was concerned, contradicts the open access philosophy of where once the bases of Ethereum once were. He concluded the system was irretrievably gone. Decentralization of power, as far as he was concerned, compromised the spirit of decentralization upon which Ethereum once stood.
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