The Ethereum Foundation is undergoing a strategic shift following a recent leadership transition aimed at prioritizing Layer-1 scaling and user experience improvements.
As co-founder Vitalik Buterin steps back from day-to-day responsibilities to concentrate on long-term research, the network also faces renewed criticism from Bitcoin advocate PlanB. The pseudonymous analyst has questioned Ethereum’s centralization, governance model, and technical complexity, sparking debate across the crypto community about the network’s direction and design choices.
PlanB Reignites Feud With Vitalik Buterin in Fiery Ethereum Attack
The long-standing philosophical and technical divide between Bitcoin and Ethereum reached a new boiling point over the weekend as PlanB, the pseudonymous creator of the controversial Bitcoin stock-to-flow (S2F) model, launched a fresh barrage of criticism aimed at Ethereum and its co-founder Vitalik Buterin.
On April 21, PlanB mockingly resurfaced a 2022 tweet from Buterin in which the Ethereum founder lambasted the S2F model for being inaccurate during a market downturn. Buterin wrote at the time, “Stock-to-flow is really not looking good now.” In a sharp rebuttal nearly two years later, PlanB posted: “Ethereum is really not looking good now.”
The tit-for-tat exchange has ignited a broader conversation about decentralization, network architecture, and ideological differences between the two leading blockchain networks.
Ethereum Under Fire: Centralization, PoS, and Disk Space Woes
PlanB, known for his staunch Bitcoin maximalism, went on to criticize Ethereum’s foundational design and governance model. Among his key points was Ethereum’s shift from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS), which he argued compromised the network’s decentralization and trustless nature.
He said that Ethereum’s evolving monetary policy, including changes in ETH issuance over the years, contrasted sharply with Bitcoin’s fixed 21 million coin supply—a cornerstone of the Bitcoin value thesis.
PlanB also highlighted a more technical issue: the size and complexity of running a full Ethereum node. “I can not run [an Ethereum full node],” he lamented, referencing the large disk space requirements.
Indeed, Ethereum’s archival nodes—used for comprehensive historical queries—require over 21 terabytes of space, according to data from Etherscan. Even a pruned full node running the Geth client can consume over 1.2 terabytes. In comparison, a Bitcoin full node typically uses less than 700 gigabytes and can be run with significantly less computational overhead.
PlanB argued that this disparity undermines Ethereum’s decentralization, as fewer users are capable of independently verifying the chain.
However, not everyone sees PlanB’s criticism as valid or productive. Jeremiah O’Connor, CTO of crypto security firm Trugard, dismissed the remarks as “classic Bitcoin maxi energy.”
He acknowledged the legitimate concerns around Ethereum’s reliance on centralized infrastructure providers such as Infura but emphasized the network’s ongoing efforts to evolve.
In another jab, PlanB referenced Ethereum’s controversial 2016 DAO hack rollback, which saw the blockchain reversed to undo a $60 million exploit. “The fact that this is even possible should worry you,” he posted, warning against what he sees as Ethereum’s manipulable governance.
But this critique triggered immediate pushback from historians in the crypto community, who reminded PlanB that Bitcoin itself underwent a rollback in 2010 after an inflation bug minted 184 billion BTC in a single transaction. The incident was patched by Satoshi Nakamoto and other developers, rolling back the chain by one block.
A Deepening Divide Between Bitcoin and Ethereum Maximalists
PlanB’s recent comments add fuel to the ongoing divide between Bitcoin and Ethereum supporters. His S2F model, once hailed for its price predictions, has lost some credibility after its forecasts failed to align with market realities in recent years. Still, PlanB retains a large following and significant influence in Bitcoin circles.
By mocking Buterin and Ethereum’s design, PlanB is reinforcing a growing sentiment among Bitcoin maximalists who believe Ethereum’s flexibility and programmability come at the cost of decentralization and monetary soundness.
But for Ethereum advocates, those same design choices are what make the network vibrant, flexible, and forward-looking. They argue that Ethereum’s adaptability, large developer base, and broad use cases—from DeFi to NFTs—make it more than just an alternative store of value.
While PlanB and Buterin may appear at ideological odds, both Bitcoin and Ethereum continue to dominate the digital asset space in their respective niches. As Bitcoin holds strong as a decentralized store of value, Ethereum powers a sprawling, programmable financial and digital services layer.
As Jeremiah O’Connor aptly put it, “Both matter. One is the rock. The other is the playground. Together, they define what crypto is today.”
Ethereum Foundation Charts a New Course: Focus Shifts to UX and Layer-1 Scaling After Leadership Overhaul
In related news, the Ethereum Foundation is recalibrating its strategic priorities following a recent leadership reshuffle aimed at optimizing the network’s development trajectory. According to an April 21 post by newly appointed co-executive director Tomasz Stańczak, the nonprofit will now dedicate greater attention to user experience (UX), Layer-1 scalability, and near-term protocol enhancements—all while giving Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin the freedom to focus on high-impact research and innovation.
The shift signals a renewed push by the foundation to address lingering pain points in Ethereum’s ecosystem, including transaction privacy, execution speed, and network congestion, while reinforcing its long-standing commitment to decentralization and community-driven development.
Leadership Reshuffle Frees Up Buterin to Innovate
The leadership transition, announced on March 1, saw Tomasz Stańczak, CEO of Nethermind, and core researcher Hsiao-Wei Wang assume the roles of co-executive directors effective March 17. The move was designed to allow Buterin to step away from the demands of day-to-day operations and crisis response, enabling him to concentrate on long-term protocol design and research.
“Each time Vitalik shares insights or communicates a direction, he accelerates major long-term breakthroughs,” Stańczak wrote in his X post, applauding Buterin’s role as Ethereum’s philosophical and technical North Star.
Since stepping back, Buterin has wasted no time diving deep into Ethereum’s most complex challenges. On April 11, he released a comprehensive roadmap for enhancing transaction privacy, calling for default-enabled anonymization features that would shield user identity and activity on the blockchain. Just days later, on April 20, Buterin proposed a bold rethinking of Ethereum’s execution layer, suggesting a transition away from the current EVM bytecode toward a more efficient RISC-V-inspired framework.
Stańczak emphasized that while Buterin’s proposals “always carry weight,” they are intended to kickstart meaningful discussions and catalyze innovation—not dictate consensus. “The community can either refine or reject the ideas,” he said, reinforcing Ethereum’s open-source ethos.
With the foundation’s leadership now solidified, Stańczak outlined a new strategic emphasis: delivering near-term protocol improvements to tackle scalability bottlenecks and enhance user experience.
A central focus is Layer-1 scaling—the core of Ethereum’s base protocol—which has long been criticized for high gas fees and slow throughput during peak network activity. While Layer-2 solutions like rollups and sidechains have gained traction, Stańczak believes the base layer must continue to evolve.
The Ethereum Foundation will also place greater emphasis on supporting Layer-2 ecosystems and improving interoperability, ensuring a more seamless experience for developers and end-users. These themes will underpin Ethereum’s next major upgrades—Pectra, Fusaka, and Glamsterdam—which are expected to bring measurable improvements to protocol efficiency, security, and accessibility.
Stańczak added that while the foundation is homing in on short-term results, it remains equally committed to nurturing long-term innovations. This includes work on next-generation execution and consensus layers, which could be deployed within a two-year window thanks to accelerated timelines and contributions from top researchers.
A Delicate Balancing Act Between Pragmatism and Vision
The Ethereum Foundation now finds itself at a pivotal juncture—caught between the immediate need for usability and the visionary drive to remain at the forefront of decentralized technology. Stańczak’s leadership appears aimed at harmonizing these two imperatives.
Still, the broader Ethereum community remains an integral part of shaping the network’s future. Every proposal, even from Buterin, is treated as a starting point—one that must survive community scrutiny, client team alignment, and rigorous technical evaluation before it sees daylight on the mainnet.
