For Ethereum Institutional’s founders, becoming an independent nonprofit rather than remaining within the foundation was a deliberate choice.
“The EF has always been quite vocal about its principle of subtraction,” Dawson said, referring to the organization diving up responsibilities for the network to other organizations . “This is an example of that increasing decentralization, and the number of nodes participating in representing Ethereum.”
Operating outside the foundation also gives the organization greater freedom, Walsh said.
“We feel like we have a lot more autonomy and freedom to work as an independent entity,” he said. “We can get a bit more opinionated, and a bit more aggressive, in terms of being able to support these teams.”
For years, the Ethereum Foundation has walked a careful line in how much influence it exerts over the ecosystem. Its mandate has largely been to coordinate protocol development and steward Ethereum’s technical roadmap, rather than act as a central authority driving business development or adoption. But as the network grew, some in the community pushed for the foundation to take on a more active role in areas like institutional outreach and ecosystem coordination, responsibilities it has increasingly chosen to decentralize instead.
Ethereum Institutional joins a growing network of organizations taking on specialized roles within Ethereum. Last month, EthLabs launched to support ecosystem development, while firms such as Etherealize, launched in 2025, have focused on bringing institutions onchain through commercial products and services.