Ethereum Foundation: The Rise of a New Order and the Reshaping of Power

At the Ethereum Community Conference held in Cannes, France, a remarkable power shift quietly unfolded. Core developer Zak Cole took the stage to announce the establishment of the Ethereum Community Foundation (ECF), a new entity whose mission directly targets the core of the current ecosystem - to drive institutional adoption of infrastructure and ultimately promote an increase in the price of ETH.

This move not only marks the birth of a new organization, but also poses a public challenge to the "subtraction philosophy" long upheld by the Ethereum Foundation (EF). When Cole declared, "We had hoped that the EF could self-correct, but they did not. So we stepped up," it effectively announced that the old governance model can no longer meet the needs of this increasingly financialized empire.

The slogan of ECF, "Every dollar will drive up the value of ETH," accurately captures the core demands of ETH holders, condensing a complex strategy into a highly compelling promise. So, what exactly is the origin of this ECF, which dares to raise a flag of opposition in the heart of Ethereum? Where does its confidence come from?

The Key Figure Behind ECF: Zak Cole

Zak Cole's experience is key to understanding why the ECF is so pragmatic, tough, and focused. He is not a traditional developer or community leader, but a "war engineer" forged in real-world conflicts and digital offensive and defensive scenarios.

Cole's career began in the United States Marine Corps, where he was responsible for building and protecting critical network infrastructure during the Iraq War. This experience gave him a deep understanding of the importance of reliability and security of systems under extreme pressure. After retiring, he quickly immersed himself in the crypto world, founding Whiteblock, a company focused on blockchain performance testing, and co-founding Code4rena, a leading platform for smart contract security competitions. Through auditing numerous projects, he witnessed firsthand the disastrous consequences of poorly designed token economics and centralized backdoors.

These experiences have shaped Cole into a leader who combines idealism with ruthless pragmatism. The three principles of "immutability, no tokens, and promotion of destruction" that ECF upholds are the culmination of all the lessons learned from his past ten years of professional experience.

The establishment of ECF also reflects Cole's profound insight into the talent crisis in the crypto industry. He has publicly stated that finding and validating truly talented developers is extremely difficult. ECF offers a radically different path: focusing on building tokenless infrastructure that strengthens Ethereum's core values and directly obtaining funding priced in ETH. This allows ECF to attract top talent who genuinely identify with the Ethereum protocol, rather than those eager to issue speculative application tokens.

The Three Pillars of ECF: Centralization, Dismantling Feudalism, and Minting Rights

The three pillars of ECF—"Promotion and Destruction", "No Tokens", and "Immutability"—form its core philosophy. This set of principles aims to reverse the trend of value being continuously diluted and differentiated in the crypto ecosystem, refocusing all economic energy on the core asset of Ether (ETH).

1. "Promotion of Destruction": Weaponizing monetary policy. ECF requires that all funded projects "must promote the destruction of ETH", which is a clear signal: ECF will directly link the utilization of the network with the value of ETH, and every successful application will serve as fuel to strengthen its monetary attributes.

2. "No Tokens": End Economic Feudalism. By funding projects that do not issue their own tokens, the ECF ensures that all economic value created by these projects will be returned to ETH holders through a burn mechanism. This is an aggressive value unification strategy aimed at ending economic decentralization within the ecosystem.

3. "Immutable": The cornerstone of eternity. Smart contracts funded by the ECF should eliminate the ability for a few individuals to upgrade or modify them as much as possible. This attribute is crucial for attracting institutional capital that requires long-term stability and legal protection.

These three principles together form a closed loop: by funding "immutable" "non-token" projects, the ECF encourages the construction of high-quality on-chain economic activities; the large number of transactions generated by these activities will drive the "burn" of ETH, thereby directly enhancing the scarcity and value of ETH.

Two Strategic Directions of ECF

At the same time as its establishment, ECF quickly showcased two core strategic directions: the establishment of the Ethereum Validator Association (EVA) and a focus on Real World Assets (RWA).

The establishment of EVA is a precise power grab in the current Ethereum staking ecosystem. It aims to organize decentralized independent validators into a political group strong enough to counter the influence of large protocols, and leverage their collective voice to advocate for proposals that can enhance the monetary attributes of ETH.

The focus on RWA represents a strategy for economic expansion. The Boston Consulting Group predicts that by 2030, the RWA market will reach a scale of $16 trillion. The RWA strategy of ECF perfectly aligns with its three core principles. When trillions of dollars in assets are settled on platforms adhering to the principles of "no tokens" and "immutability", the immense economic energy from the traditional financial world will be continuously transformed into the destruction of ETH through the EIP-1559 mechanism.

EF vs ECF: A Duel of Two Future Visions

The rise of ECF is a direct response to the long-standing dominance of EF. The two organizations have fundamental differences in their missions, operational methods, ideologies, and even in their understanding of the role of Ethereum itself.

EF views Ethereum as an "infinite garden" that needs to be carefully cultivated, with its "subtraction philosophy" aimed at gradually phasing out the foundation itself. In contrast, ECF sees Ethereum as an economy striving to survive in fierce market competition, with its "addition philosophy" aimed at taking proactive measures to directly strengthen its economic moat.

In terms of governance and funding operations, EF is more like a traditional non-profit foundation, while ECF attempts to introduce a more direct capitalist accountability. The funding for ECF comes directly from community donations, and funding decisions will be made by contributors through "token voting".

The difference in ideology is the most fundamental disagreement between the two. EF is the guardian of "trustworthy neutrality," focusing on funding "public goods." ECF, on the other hand, advocates for "ETH-centric capitalism," believing that the most fundamental "public good" is a strong and valuable Ether.

This struggle between the old and new monarchies will determine whether Ethereum becomes a flourishing federation of freedom or a centralized, economically powerful financial empire. The future will be defined by the dynamic game between these two factions. The battle for the soul of Ethereum has expanded from the technical realm to the public political and economic arena. And the ECF is the challenger in this new era, raising the royal banner with the intention of ruling the world.