Ethereum Community Foundation: Challenge the Status Quo, Drive Change

At the Ethereum community conference held in Cannes, France in 2024, a new organization emerged, drawing widespread attention. This entity, named the "Ethereum Community Foundation" (ECF), was founded under the leadership of Ethereum core developer Zak Cole, and its declaration is like a sword, aimed directly at the core of the Ethereum ecosystem.

The mission of ECF is clear and bold: to support institutional-level adoption of infrastructure and ultimately drive up the price of ETH. This goal stands in stark contrast to the "subtraction philosophy" long upheld by the Ethereum Foundation (EF). EF has always pursued "doing the best for the long-term success of Ethereum" while consciously diminishing its own influence. The emergence of ECF, however, represents a whole new "addition" mindset.

Zak Cole admitted at the conference: "We had hoped that EF could self-correct, but they did not. So we stepped up." The slogan of ECF "Every dollar will drive up the value of ETH" precisely captures the expectations of ETH holders, condensing a complex strategy into a compelling promise.

Founder of ECF: Zak Cole

Zak Cole's background provides key insights into the pragmatic and tough style of understanding ECF. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he was responsible for building and protecting critical network infrastructure during the Iraq War. After retiring, Cole immersed himself in the crypto world, founding Whiteblock, which focuses on blockchain performance testing, and co-founding the smart contract security competition platform Code4rena.

Cole combines idealism with pragmatism, and his experiences have shaped the core principles of ECF: "immutable, no tokens, promote destruction". These principles did not come out of thin air, but are survival rules distilled from countless system failures and security vulnerabilities.

The Three Pillars of ECF

ECF has proposed three pillars aimed at reshaping the value creation and distribution mechanism of the Ethereum ecosystem:

1. "Promotion of Destruction": Requires that all funded projects must promote the destruction of ETH, directly linking network usage to the value of ETH.

2. "No Token": Fund projects that do not issue their own tokens, ensuring that all the economic value created is returned to ETH holders.

3. "Immutable": Support the development of smart contracts that minimize centralized control points as much as possible, pursuing predictable and reliable technical rules.

These three pillars form a closed loop: by funding eligible projects, encouraging high-quality on-chain economic activities, driving the destruction of ETH, thereby enhancing the scarcity and value of ETH.

Strategic Focus of ECF

ECF has quickly proposed two key strategic areas:

1. Establish the Ethereum Validators Association (EVA): Aimed at organizing independent validators to form a political group capable of countering the influence of large protocols.

2. Focus on Real World Assets (RWA): Targeting the RWA market, which is considered the next trillion-dollar opportunity in the crypto industry, by utilizing a platform that adheres to the "no tokens" and "immutable" principles, converting the economic energy of the traditional financial world into the destruction of ETH.

Fundamental Differences Between ECF and EF

The rise of ECF reflects a profound divergence from EF in terms of mission, operation methods, and ideology:

• Mission: EF pursues ecological prosperity and technological advancement, with ECF directly aiming for an increase in ETH price.
• Operation: EF adopts a traditional non-profit foundation model, while ECF introduces direct capitalist accountability.
• Ideology: EF maintains a "trustworthy neutrality", focusing on funding "public goods"; ECF advocates "ETH-centered capitalism", concentrating on applications that capture value for ETH.

This struggle between new and old forces will determine the future development direction of Ethereum. Regardless of the outcome, this competition may drive the Ethereum ecosystem to become more resilient and adaptable. The emergence of ECF marks the entry of Ethereum's governance model into a new era of competition.