Péter Szilágyi, Former Lead Developer at the Ethereum Foundation, Criticizes Vitalik! Here Are the Details

Péter Szilágyi, a former lead developer at the Ethereum Foundation, has sparked a heated debate in the crypto community by suggesting that Vitalik Buterin’s influence has become overly deterministic in the Ethereum ecosystem.

Former Ethereum Developer Criticizes Buterin: “The Direction of Ethereum Depends on Your Relationship with Vitalik”

In a letter sent to the Ethereum Foundation administration last year but made public on Sunday, Szilágyi claimed that the Ethereum ecosystem is controlled by “a narrow circle of five to ten people and a few venture capital funds.” According to the developer, the success of new projects largely depends on their relationships with this inner circle:

“The direction of Ethereum was always dependent on your relationship with Vitalik,” he said.

Szilágyi also noted that fundraising and project approval mechanisms have become vulnerable to the influence of certain vested interests. Citing his own experience, he said he only received $625,000 from the Ethereum Foundation over six years, while Ethereum’s market capitalization reached hundreds of billions of dollars during the same period.

Following the controversy, Polygon Foundation CEO Sandeep Nailwal stated on the X platform that he was “beginning to question his loyalty” to Ethereum. “We never received direct support from the Ethereum Foundation or the community; instead, we faced obstacles. I still felt a moral commitment to Ethereum, even though it cost me billions of dollars,” Nailwal said.

Similarly, Sonic Labs co-founder Andre Cronje criticized the Ethereum Foundation for its lack of communication, stating that he struggled to get a response from executives.

While the Ethereum Foundation and Buterin did not comment on the matter, Buterin posted a post praising the Polygon team the same day, commending Nailwal and his team for Polygon’s early investment in ZK-EVM technology and infrastructure projects like AggLayer.

The Ethereum Foundation has undergone a significant restructuring in recent months. After laying off several developers in June, the foundation has announced a new strategy for managing its remaining ETH reserves.

*This is not investment advice.

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