Ethereum core developers criticized the foundation's compensation system, saying their total compensation over six years was only $625,000

PANews reported on October 20th that Péter Szilágyi, an Ethereum core developer and lead maintainer of the Geth client, publicly criticized the Ethereum Foundation (EF)'s internal compensation system and governance structure, expressing his "deep disappointment with the EF." Szilágyi stated that "working at the EF has been a poor financial decision" since joining, stating that his total compensation over six years at the Foundation was only $625,000 (pre-tax and without incentives), a period during which the total market capitalization of ETH grew from zero to approximately $450 billion. He noted that this low salary structure forces members who truly care about protocol development to seek external compensation, thereby creating a risk of "protocol capture by interest groups."

Szilagyi also criticized EF for issues such as unfair compensation, lack of transparency, and concentrated power, claiming the foundation's overreliance on "idealists" and maintaining an internal culture of opacity by concealing compensation information. He also pointed out that the Ethereum ecosystem has become a small circle centered around Vitalik Buterin, with a small number of opinion leaders and venture capital firms controlling major projects and decision-making. Szilagyi bluntly stated that Ethereum has shifted from idealism to realism, and that its governance and incentive structures "have designed the protocol to be a captive system," adding that "it's difficult to see a bright future."