Konstantin Lomashuk, the founder of the Lido staking protocol, teased his intention to build a “Second Foundation” to advance the Ethereum ecosystem.
Over the past few days, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin have drawn up plans for a major restructuring of the Ethereum Foundation (EF), the nonprofit organization responsible for supporting the development of Ethereum. In a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter), Buterin shared details of the restructuring, which he said will streamline decision-making processes and address inefficiencies.
The announcement drew criticism, with some arguing that Buterin’s central role in the restructuring process undermined Ethereum’s ethos of decentralization.
The Ethereum Foundation, however, has long been under scrutiny for its own centralized influence within the Ethereum ecosystem. Over the past year, the organization has faced increasing pressure to define a clearer vision for Ethereum’s future as competing networks like Solana make moves.
Read more: Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin Continues On Offense Amid Major Leadership Shake-up
EF has also been criticized for its “rollup-centric” roadmap, prioritizing “layer-2” networks that enable faster and cheaper transactions on top of Ethereum. While these layer-2 rollups boosted Ethereum’s throughput, they also raised concerns about potential trade-offs, such as diminished security guarantees and a dramatic reduction in revenues on Ethereum’s base fee.
Lomashuk, who previously expressed concerns about the direction of the Ethereum Foundation, hinted at the concept of a “Second Foundation” in a December post on X. “The idea of a ‘Second Foundation’ is more about creating competition between different groups, giving the community a choice,” Lomashuk wrote. “EF is very deep, and it’s almost impossible for outsiders to contribute without building long-term research muscle. Without competition, we risk losing track.”
On Wednesday, Lomashuk published another X post sharing a newly established account for “Second Foundation.”
Representatives for Lomashuk did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Martin Köppelmann, a prominent Ethereum developer close to Lomashuk, told CoinDesk that the “Second Foundation” proposal is genuine.
“He’s definitely thinking about it seriously,” Köppelmann said. “The goal of course is to make it open to anyone who subscribes to the same ideas – roughly what Ethereum needs to scale better and faster.”
Lido, the protocol founded by Lomashuk, allows users to pool their ETH to participate in Ethereum’s staking mechanism. Lido currently owns a large portion of Ethereum’s staked ETH, solidifying influence within the proof-of-stake system. The stake is tied to Ethereum’s governance power, making Lido an important entity in the ecosystem.
In addition to Lido, Lomashuk co-founded P2P Validator, a company that provides infrastructure for Ethereum validators, and cyber.Fund, a venture capital firm he runs with another Lido co-founder. His growing influence will inevitably raise questions about the potential dynamics between a “Second Foundation” and the existing Ethereum Foundation.
