For the founders of Ethereum Institutional, becoming an independent nonprofit rather than staying within the foundation was a deliberate choice.
“The EF has always been quite explicit about its principle of subtraction,” Dawson said, referring to the organization handing over network responsibilities to other organizations. “This is an example of that increasing decentralization and the number of nodes participating in the representation of Ethereum.”
Operating outside the foundation also gives the organization more freedom, Walsh said.
“We feel like we have a lot more autonomy and freedom to work as an independent entity,” he said. “We can become a little more stubborn and a little more aggressive in terms of being able to support these teams.”
For years, the Ethereum Foundation has walked a careful line in terms of how much influence it exerts over the ecosystem. Its mandate has largely been to coordinate protocol development and manage Ethereum’s technical roadmap, rather than act as a central authority driving development or enterprise adoption. But as the network grew, some community members pushed for the foundation to take a more active role in areas such as institutional outreach and ecosystem coordination, responsibilities it has increasingly chosen to decentralize.
Ethereum Institutional joins a growing network of organizations taking on specialized roles within Ethereum. Last month, EthLabs launched to support ecosystem development, while companies like Etherealize, launched in 2025, have focused on bringing institutions onto the chain through commercial products and services.
