Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin said the Ethereum Foundation is undergoing a restructuring that will reduce its role in the broader ecosystem and gradually diminish his own influence. In a lengthy post on X, Buterin said Bastian Aue—who earlier this year became co-director alongside Tomasz Stańczak—is leading the reorganization. He added that the foundation's board has expanded and that he intends for his personal sway inside the organization to decline over time. Buterin also addressed criticism from parts of the community that the foundation's actions have not always matched Ethereum's ideals of decentralization and privacy, calling the issue a "great burden and pain" for him. He said the foundation should be viewed as one node among many in the Ethereum ecosystem rather than its central hub. Going forward, he said, it will stop trying to cover the entire ecosystem and instead concentrate on work critical to Ethereum's stability and long-term sustainability, including censorship resistance, anti-hijacking protections, openness, privacy, and security. On finances, Buterin said ETH remains the most economically significant asset in the Ethereum ecosystem. He stated the foundation holds about 0.16% of total ETH supply, which he said is less than some individual holders and well below the 10%–50% level he described as typical for other blockchain foundations. Buterin also disclosed that roughly 90% of his net worth is in ETH, with the remaining about $40 million held in on-chain fiat funds earmarked for open-source research and technology projects. This is not investment advice.

HYPE has punched through its prior record and climbed to $65, drawing broad attention as much of the crypto market remains weighed down by sell pressure. Beyond the headline breakout, on-chain data from Hyperliquid points to a notable buyer behind the move. Hyperliquid data shows Garrett Jin—the trader widely identified as the whale who put on a $735 million Bitcoin short just ahead of the October 10 market crash—has been accumulating HYPE over the past four days. The purchases total 145,050 HYPE for an estimated $9.05 million. Jin has also set a TWAP (time-weighted average price) order to buy an additional 39,940 HYPE, valued at roughly $2.44 million. TWAP execution typically reflects a structured accumulation plan designed to build size over time without unduly moving the market, rather than a quick reaction to a breakout. Hyperliquid’s portfolio view indicates the HYPE buying sits alongside a broader, actively managed book. On the long side, Jin holds 504.4 BTC worth about $38.9 million. On the short side, he holds 57,460 ZEC worth about $38 million; the position is currently down around $2.11 million, suggesting he has maintained the short despite unrealized losses. In total, the data implies roughly $77 million in active directional exposure across BTC, ZEC and HYPE, with HYPE being added via systematic execution. On the chart, HYPE has moved into price discovery after breaking cleanly above the prior all-time-high area near $50. Momentum has accelerated over the past two weeks following months of consolidation, with a series of higher lows developing since March. The breakout carried price toward the $65 zone and has been accompanied by a notable expansion in volume, signaling broad participation rather than a thin-liquidity spike. Technically, HYPE remains above its 50-day and 100-day moving averages, both trending higher. The 200-day moving average sits well below current levels in the mid-$30s. Market structure stays constructive as long as HYPE holds above the former breakout zone around $56–$58, though the sharp advance raises the near-term risk of higher volatility and profit-taking. Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com

Vitalik Buterin has laid out a vision for a smaller, more purpose-driven Ethereum Foundation (EF), as renewed tension builds among ETH holders over the Foundation's treasury strategy and years of criticism tied to EF-linked ETH sales. Buterin wrote that the EF should become less central to Ethereum's future and more "opinionated" in what it stands for. He stressed the view is his alone, adding that the EF board is expanding while his own influence inside the organization is diminishing—an outcome he said he supports. The current dispute revolves around three issues: how much ETH the EF should sell, how tightly it should manage spending, and whether external organizations should take over growth-focused functions that some holders want the EF to own. A vocal segment of ETH holders argues the EF should operate more like a growth institution—competing more aggressively with Solana, strengthening the "ETH as an asset" narrative, coordinating business development, and improving execution. Buterin's counterpoint is that the EF should act as "one node among many," optimizing for what he frames as Ethereum's institutional identity: censorship resistance, open source, privacy, and security (CROPS). In his framing, doing less—especially on promotion and coordination—also supports the goal of selling less ETH, because a narrower EF would require less funding. He described the EF as "one node, with a defined purpose, alongside other nodes," and said it should prioritize longevity over breadth. Aya Miyaguchi is leading much of the transition, while Buterin's involvement is primarily focused on technical work. The EF holds about 0.16% of all ETH, far below the 10% to 50% foundation allocations Buterin says are common in other blockchain projects. In April, the EF's staking initiative reached roughly 69,500 ETH, nearing a 70,000 ETH target and shifting part of the treasury toward yield. Estimated annual staking income of $3.9 million to $5.4 million remains far below the EF's historical operating costs of nearly $100 million per year, meaning staking does not eliminate the need to sell ETH. The treasury therefore still depends on lower spending, continued ETH sales, outside funding, or a combination of these. Buterin's argument also ties back to the Mar. 13 Ethereum Foundation Mandate, which formalized CROPS as the EF's core institutional identity and positioned the EF as one steward among many. The mandate framed EF success as reducing reliance on the EF over time. In his post, Buterin said the EF should concentrate on work only it can credibly deliver—some of which he suggests is increasingly feasible through AI-assisted proof systems—while leaving asset promotion, business development, and coordination to outside groups. To explain why the EF should hold a more idealistic line, Buterin used a Google analogy: a single institution maintaining a principled stance can create more durable value for an entire field than having every institution bend to prevailing pressures. He argued that as technology trends toward financial capture and surveillance, the EF gains leverage by being explicitly resistant to those pressures, rather than trying to win as another growth-oriented organization. Community critics counter that Ethereum needs an organization focused on making "ETH the asset" win, executing decisively, and becoming louder in institutional markets. Buterin acknowledges that supporting ETH as an asset still requires real work; his view is that it should be funded and executed by external organizations rather than the EF. Buterin also framed the departure of senior EF members as decentralization in action. At least nine senior EF members have left in 2026, and he described this "brain drain" as part of distributing responsibility and attracting outside capital to critical tasks. He did not directly address whether external institutions will form quickly enough or coordinate effectively enough to absorb the functions the EF steps away from. The outcome, he suggests, hinges on whether a smaller EF can reduce treasury selling pressure while preserving technical credibility—and whether outside groups can build the adoption engine. If external organizations—funded by private capital and ETH-aligned institutions—take over business development, coordination, and the asset narrative, ETH holders could see less selling pressure and more decentralized execution. If they fail to emerge in time, the risk is slower upgrades, fragmented execution, and a smaller EF perceived as weakened leadership. Buterin closed by describing the EF as a smaller ship than in prior years: more focused, more ideological, and built to last. ETH holders who have long pushed for a bigger ship, he wrote, are being asked to accept a different vessel—one that bets Ethereum can outsource growth without outsourcing urgency. The post "Vitalik’s smaller Ethereum Foundation tests ETH holders’ demand for execution" appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Huo Xing Finance cited Blockaid monitoring as saying SquidRouterModule on Ethereum and Base is facing a sustained attack. About two hours after the exploit began, 86 Gnosis Safe wallets had been emptied, with estimated losses of roughly $3 million. The attacker then swapped the stolen tokens via a Uniswap V3 liquidity pool under their control into DAI and consolidated the funds into a single address, which currently holds about $3.07 million in DAI.

MARKETS: $HYPE ETFs attracted $72M of inflows in their first week, as investors rotated away from $BTC and $ETH products. $BTC funds recorded $1B in outflows, while $ETH products saw $215M leave.

Odaily Planet Daily cited Blockaid monitoring data showing an ongoing exploit targeting the SquidRouter module on the Ethereum and Base networks. About 86 Gnosis Safe wallets were compromised in roughly two hours, with losses estimated at around $3 million. The stolen tokens were swapped into DAI via Uniswap V3 pools under the attacker's control.

Onchain Lens data shows a major whale wallet (0xdf7...8fea) bought 58,300 HYPE about two hours ago at $63.36 per token, spending roughly $3.69 million. Separately, another whale (0x714...9d1) sold 38 BTC over the past 24 hours for about $2.9 million, then purchased 46,300 HYPE at $62.86 each.

Ripple Labs shares are changing hands at $136.90 on private secondary markets, implying a 376% increase in valuation from earlier levels. Market data points to Ripple remaining among the most liquid names in private trading, as institutional investors build positions ahead of a potential IPO as early as 2026.

A Hyperliquid whale who shorted HYPE before the token's latest rally is now unwinding the trade, with more than $14 million worth already sold and additional supply still heading to market. Onchain data shows the wallet unstaked 443,180 HYPE, valued at about $27 million, and began distributing the tokens. So far, 231,899 HYPE (around $14.15 million) have been sold. Another 211,281 HYPE, worth roughly $13 million, remains in the process of being offloaded. The move comes after HYPE printed a new all-time high of $64.21 on May 24, pressuring short sellers across the decentralized perpetuals exchange. Despite the sales, the trader still holds a 141,500 HYPE short valued at about $8.67 million, indicating the position has not been fully closed. Short positions become increasingly difficult to maintain in a rising market as unrealized losses expand and margin requirements climb, raising the risk of forced liquidation. On Hyperliquid, those dynamics play out openly, with positioning visible onchain. The latest unwind adds to a series of short-side stress events seen on Hyperliquid this month. Bitcoin.com News recently reported that a trader known as Loracle has been defending a much larger $103 million HYPE short, selling 616,675 HYPE worth $36.76 million as prices moved toward a $69.90 liquidation level. HYPE's run has been supported by institutional demand and platform metrics. A Bitwise spot HYPE exchange-traded fund (ETF) launched on May 12 drew $58.73 million in initial inflows. Wallets linked to venture capital firm a16z have accumulated more than $90 million in HYPE, making them the sixth-largest holder on the network. Hyperliquid reported more than $896 million in revenue over the past 12 months, processed over $176 billion in 30-day trading volume, and recorded open interest above $8 billion. As the token continues to pressure shorts, Hyperliquid's transparent order books are turning whale activity into a public market spectacle.