Former Ethereum Foundation developer questions Buterin's influence, sparking debate

Péter Szilágyi, a former lead developer of Geth at the Ethereum Foundation, has ignited debate within the crypto community by publishing a letter he sent to Ethereum Foundation leadership last year, questioning Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin's outsized influence over the ecosystem. 

In the letter , disclosed Sunday, Szilágyi claimed that most Ethereum projects were controlled by a tight-knit group of five to 10 individuals backed by one to three venture capital firms. According to Szilágyi, the success of new projects depends heavily on their relationships with this inner circle.

"Ethereum's direction always boiled down to your relationship with Vitalik," Szilágyi said.

The letter also warned that access to fundraising and internal project approval channels leaves the Ethereum Foundation vulnerable to capture by aligned interests.

Szilágyi noted that his total compensation over six years at the Foundation amounted to just around $625,000 even as Ethereum's market value grew into the hundreds of billions during that period, pointing out another issue of disparity between compensation for workers and high rollers at the foundation.

Amid ongoing debate surrounding the foundation, Sandeep Nailwal, CEO of Polygon Foundation, said Monday on X that he has "started questioning" his loyalty toward Ethereum. "I/we never got any direct support from the EF or the Ethereum CT community — in fact, the reverse. But I have always felt moral loyalty towards Ethereum even if [it] costs me billions of dollars in Polygon's valuation perhaps."

Andre Cronje, co-founder of Sonic Labs, also weighed in on X, criticizing the foundation's lack of communication and detailing his own difficulty getting a response from its leadership.

The Block has reached out to the Ethereum Foundation and Vitalik Buterin for comment.

While Buterin did not publicly comment on the topic, he posted a message on X praising Polygon and its co-founder Sandeep Nailwal for their contribution to Ethereum. Buterin highlighted Polygon's early investment in zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine development, specifically mentioning Jordi Baylina's team and infrastructure projects like AggLayer.

In recent months, the Ethereum Foundation has undergone major restructuring . It announced a round of developer layoffs in June and released a blog post detailing a new strategy for managing and allocating its remaining ETH reserves.