The second-largest cryptocurrency is executing a dramatic structural overhaul even as its token price endures one of its worst-ever first halves. The Ethereum Foundation has slashed one-fifth of its workforce and trimmed its operating budget by 40%, while simultaneously spinning off two new independent entities designed to bridge the gap to traditional finance.
Launched on 1 July 2026, the non-profit organisation Ethereum Institutional is tasked with converting global banks and asset managers into blockchain adopters. It operates entirely separately from the core foundation, which will now focus solely on protocol development. David Walsh and Matthew Dawson, both formerly part of the foundation’s enterprise unit, lead the new body. Backers include Bitmine – which alone holds nearly $10 billion in Ether – along with Sharplink and Joseph Lubin.
Ethereum Institutional offers free consulting to financial institutions, a move intended to eliminate commercial conflicts from day one. A newly created forum already counts 150 executives from the conventional finance sector, collectively overseeing roughly $250 trillion in assets. To cultivate regional ties, the organisation plans to open offices in Zurich, Frankfurt, Tokyo and Abu Dhabi.
A companion research group, Ethlabs, started work in late June, concentrating on technical protocol design. The foundation’s decision to shed 20% of its staff and reduce its operating budget by 40% underscores a deliberate retreat from commercial activities, which are now outsourced to specialist partners.
Alongside these organisational changes, the foundation quietly released a comprehensive policy guide that positions Ethereum as a neutral, public infrastructure. The document highlights the network’s error-free runtime since 2015 and points to existing government projects, such as land registries in India and digital identity systems in Buenos Aires. To demonstrate maturity, the guide includes key metrics: roughly $76 billion staked, around 11,000 active developers, $159 billion in stablecoins hosted on the network, and $15.2 billion in tokenised real-world assets (RWAs).
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Ethereum already dominates the RWA market with a 58% share, and more than half of global stablecoin supply runs on its blockchain. That traction is drawing heavyweight institutional interest. JPMorgan recently filed for a tokenised money-market fund on Ethereum, named JLTXX, which invests in short-term government bonds. The SEC approved the basic structure in May 2026.
Yet the market has not rewarded these strategic moves. Ether was trading at $1,644.24 on the day of the announcement, up 4.73% on the session, breaking a short-term downtrend and triggering around $67 million in short liquidations. The daily pop masks a brutal year: the token has lost more than 45% of its value since January and sits just 9% above its 52-week low.
The price remains well below the key 200-day moving average of $2,287. Traders are watching immediate resistance at $1,665 and then $1,741. Should the rally fail, primary support rests around $1,500.
The broader mood among large holders is strained. US spot ETFs for both Bitcoin and Ethereum suffered net outflows in June totalling billions, marking the weakest month since their debut. Citi Group has responded by slashing its Ethereum price target to $2,240, citing weak ETF demand and regulatory delays. On-chain activity is also softening: transaction fees halved in June compared with April.
The new advisory team faces a race to channel fresh capital from traditional finance into the ecosystem. If it fails to stem the ETF bleed, analysts warn that the token may struggle to reclaim the $2,000 level on a sustained basis.
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