Buterin discloses $139K salary amidst Ethereum Foundation budget scrutiny
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin disclosed his annual salary of $139,000 from the Ethereum Foundation (EF).
This announcement comes in response to growing discussions on social media concerning the allocation of funds by the EF, which is responsible for supporting Ethereum’s development.
The disclosure aimed to address concerns about the nonprofit’s financial management, particularly regarding gas fees collected by the Foundation.
Despite holding a substantial amount of Ether, Buterin revealed that he has not sold any ETH for personal gain since 2018.
In addition to his salary revelation, Buterin, alongside Ethereum Foundation member Josh Stark, provided an overview of the Foundation’s financial priorities.
They promised a detailed budget report would be available before the Devcon SEA conference in November 2024, set to take place in Bangkok.
Initial data shared by Buterin and Stark indicates a notable shift in the Foundation’s expenditure. In 2023, the EF allocated 36.5% of its resources to supporting “New Institutions,” up from 23.8% the previous year.
This increase shows the Foundation’s commitment to fostering essential Ethereum-related projects, such as the 0xPARC Foundation, the Decentralized Research Center, and the L2Beat analytics firm.
The second-largest portion of the EF’s budget was dedicated to layer-1 research and development, including updates and testing on the Ethereum mainnet, such as the recent Dencun update.
Stark noted that in the first quarter of 2024, the Ethereum Foundation disbursed around $11.4 million to external teams and provided grants to internal teams like Geth.
