Internal Conflicts Within Ethereum Revealed! Geth Core Developer Accuses of Being Marginalized, Foundation Allegedly Supports Fork Team

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Developer Reveals Foundation’s Intention to Separate Geth

One of the core developers of the Ethereum mainstream client Geth, Péter Szilágyi, recently publicly accused the Ethereum Foundation (EF) of secretly establishing and funding a second Geth development team, allegedly splitting the core technical force without informing the original developers beforehand.

According to Szilágyi’s post on X (formerly Twitter) last Wednesday, the Foundation has weakened the original Geth team in many ways, including encouraging developers to switch to other companies, requesting salary reductions, and even offering $5 million to encourage the team to independently set up a private company. Péter Szilágyi stated in the X post:
“The EF has created and funded a second Geth team within the Nethermind team. According to Josh Stark, this team is a completely independent branch with no intention of cooperation. They did not inform me, Felix, or Martin until I discovered it in November 2024.”
Szilágyi also pointed out that he was fired after questioning this matter in a one-on-one meeting with Foundation representative Josh Stark. He believes that this incident shows that the Foundation intends to conceal the plan for reallocating resources and exclude the original contributors. As for why they did not simply accept the proposal to independently establish a private company, Péter Szilágyi stated that Geth developers specialize in programming and do not have the resources or ability to manage a company, which will ultimately affect Geth’s development.

Although the Ethereum Foundation has not responded to Péter Szilágyi’s accusations, this controversy once again highlights the many problems within the Ethereum Foundation. And as one of the main Ethereum clients, if Geth splits, it may potentially impact the overall protocol stability.

Recent Personnel and Strategic Adjustments at the Foundation

This accusation comes at a time when the Ethereum Foundation is undergoing significant organizational restructuring and shifting its funding strategy. According to Zombit’s previous report, the Foundation announced layoffs and a reorganization of the core development team, with a focus on protocol scaling, Blobspace storage increments, and improving the Ethereum user experience (UX) in the future.
Furthermore, as part of the new strategy, the Ethereum Foundation is also shifting its funding from “selling ETH” to “earning profits through decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms” to obtain a sustainable source of funding. The Foundation also promises to regularly release financial reports, disclosing operational costs and asset reserves, to enhance community trust and transparency in fund management.