The Ethereum Foundation (EF) is undergoing a major transformation, marked by leadership shakeups, treasury challenges, and a controversial late dive into DeFi. Over the past year, EF has restructured its team to strengthen technical leadership and better support Ethereum’s ecosystem, while navigating scandals like the EigenLayer fiasco, which raised questions about conflicts of interest and governance. With a $165M DeFi deployment aimed at replenishing a dwindling treasury and heightened scrutiny on its decision-making, EF is walking a tightrope between maintaining Ethereum’s neutrality and evolving to meet financial and operational demands. As the foundation confronts these challenges, it’s clear Ethereum’s future will depend on how well EF can balance decentralization, trust, and innovation in an increasingly financialized ecosystem.