Ethereum Community Foundation: New Forces Rising, Challenging the Old Order

At the Ethereum community conference held in Cannes, France, a striking "coup" quietly unfolded. Ethereum core developer Zak Cole announced the establishment of the Ethereum Community Foundation (ECF), a new organization aimed directly at the core of the existing ecosystem—promoting institutional-level adoption of infrastructure and ultimately facilitating an increase in ETH prices.

The emergence of ECF marks a public challenge to the "subtraction philosophy" long upheld by the Ethereum Foundation (EF). As the spiritual leader of the ecosystem, EF has always pursued "doing the best for the long-term success of Ethereum" while consciously diminishing its own influence. In contrast, ECF represents a thorough "addition" movement, with the slogan "every dollar will drive up ETH value," which precisely captures the demands of ETH holders.

The Leading Figure of ECF: Zak Cole

Zak Cole's background is crucial for understanding the strategy of ECF. He served in the United States Marine Corps, where he was responsible for building critical network infrastructure in war zones. After retiring, he quickly immersed himself in the crypto world, founding the blockchain performance testing company Whiteblock and co-founding the smart contract security competition platform Code4rena.

Cole's experiences have shaped the image of a leader who combines idealism with pragmatism. The three principles of "immutable, no tokens, promote destruction" upheld by ECF are the crystallization of his career experiences. These principles are not imagined out of thin air but are survival rules distilled from countless system collapses and security vulnerabilities.

The establishment of ECF also reflects Cole's insight into the talent crisis in the industry. By providing funding directly priced in Ether, ECF attracts top talent who truly identify with the Ethereum protocol, rather than developers eager to issue speculative tokens.

The Three Pillars of ECF

ECF has established three core principles aimed at reshaping the value distribution of the Ethereum ecosystem:

1. "Promotion of Destruction": Requires all funded projects to promote the destruction of Ether, directly linking network usage to the value of Ether.

2. "No Tokens": Declare war on "Fat Applications" narratives, ensuring that all economic value created by the project is returned to ETH holders through a destruction mechanism.

3. "Immutable": Pursuing technology that is "trustworthy and neutral", reducing centralized control points, and paving the way to attract institutional capital.

These three principles form a closed loop: by funding eligible projects, encouraging high-quality on-chain economic activities, which in turn drives the destruction of ETH, enhancing its scarcity and value.

The Primary Action of ECF

ECF quickly launched two important initiatives:

1. Establish the Ethereum Validator Association (EVA): Aims to organize independent validators and form a political group that can counterbalance the influence of large protocols.

2. Focus on Real World Assets (RWA): Targeting the RWA market, which is considered the next trillion-dollar opportunity in the crypto industry, by following the ECF principles on the platform to transform the economic energy of traditional finance into the destruction of ETH.

The Fundamental Differences Between EF and ECF

The rise of ECF reflects the differences with EF on multiple levels:

• Mission and Vision: EF regards Ethereum as an "infinite garden" that needs to be nurtured, while ECF sees it as an economy that needs to survive in market competition.

• Operation method: The funds of EF mainly come from Ether reserves, with decisions made by an internal team. ECF introduces direct capitalist accountability through community donations and token voting decisions.

• Ideology: EF adheres to "trustworthy neutrality", focusing on funding public goods. ECF, on the other hand, believes in "ETH-centered capitalism", concentrating on commercial applications that capture value for ETH.

The struggle between the old and new forces will determine whether Ethereum will become a free confederation or a financially powerful empire. Regardless of the outcome, this competition is likely to drive the Ethereum ecosystem to become more resilient and diverse.