The Ethereum Foundation holds less than 1% of all ETH in circulation while other protocol foundations typically hold 10-50% of their native token's supply, the founder said. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin responded to growing criticisms of the Ethereum Foundation’s role in the Ethereum ecosystem, pushing back against critics who want the organization to take a more active role in supporting token prices and marketing. Buterin said the Foundation will continue to focus on promoting censorship-resistance, open source software code, long-range research, cybersecurity, and decentralization of the Ethereum Protocol, as outlined in its mandate. He said: The Ethereum Foundation's mandate was published in March 2026. Ethereum Foundation “Now, we are taking action to ensure that we will be the latter,” he continued, adding that the Ethereum Foundation seeks to strengthen Ethereum’s cybersecurity and code base but not necessarily compete with high-throughput chains or scale to 1 million transactions per second. The comments follow several large ETH holders selling their entire ETH position and high-profile departures from the Ethereum Foundation, as the current price of the cryptocurrency, about $2,094, sits more than 50% below its all-time high of nearly $5,000 reached in August 2025. “The EF has only about 0.16% of all ETH,” he said, noting that it is common for other foundations to hold 10-50% of their native tokens. Related: Blockchain researcher defends Ethereum Foundation, says it’s doing ‘exactly’ its job