Ethereum Foundation Faces Internal Conflict Over Geth’s Future

The Ethereum Foundation (EF) is once again showing cracks. Today, on social media, a public dispute erupted between Geth team lead Péter Szilágyi and EF leadership over the future of Ethereum’s most-used execution client. Geth (Go Ethereum) is the original and dominant Ethereum execution client. It is critical for the blockchain’s functioning, as a large portion of the network relies on it to validate and propagate blocks and transactions.Internal Conflicts Continue to Plague Ethereum FoundationTensions escalated following Szilágyi’s claims that the Foundation has repeatedly pushed for the Geth team to spin out as an independent company. He stated that EF offered $5 million to facilitate this separation. This raises concerns about the Foundation’s long-term commitment to supporting Geth internally.Szilágyi, who leads Geth’s development, accused the Foundation of attempting to offload core infrastructure while reshaping its role toward research and education. Also, he alleged that EF funded a separate, parallel Geth team within Nethermind without informing Geth’s existing developers.The controversy began when Szilágyi posted on X that EF had recently dismissed four development teams and intended to sunset Geth within a few years. The comment is concerning for the Ethereum community, as it relies heavily on Geth for network stability.Tomasz Stańczak, co-executive director of the Ethereum Foundation, responded swiftly. He rejected claims that Geth was being phased out.Szilágyi countered with a series of posts disputing Stańczak’s statements. He challenged EF leadership to deny previous discussions about spinning out Geth and funding a separate client team. He claimed these efforts were presented multiple times, including in a February 2025 meeting.Is the Ethereum Foundation Facing an Identity Crisis?These events highlight deeper strategic changes within the Ethereum Foundation. Insiders say EF is repositioning itself as a research-first organization, with less focus on maintaining production-grade clients. Meanwhile, critics argue that the shift risks undermining software reliability if client teams are splintered or defunded.Geth remains Ethereum’s dominant execution client. It’s responsible for a majority of nodes on the network. So, any perceived instability in its development could raise concerns about decentralization.The Ethereum community has long emphasized the importance of having multiple clients. Efforts to reduce reliance on Geth have included grants to other teams, such as Besu, Nethermind, and Erigon. However, funding internal forks without transparency raises concerns about trust and governance.As of now, the Ethereum Foundation has not issued an official statement addressing the spinout discussions or the claims about the Nethermind fork. The outcome of this dispute may shape how Ethereum balances innovation, decentralization, and long-term software stewardship in the years ahead.