Coin price first, what is the origin of the Ethereum Community Foundation (ECF)?

Cannes’ “Abdication”: A new king challenges the old order

In the world of Ethereum, power changes are often silent, hidden in difficult technical proposals and lengthy community meetings. However, in the summer of 2024, at the Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC) in Cannes, France, an undisguised "forced palace" drama was openly staged. Ethereum core developer Zak Cole took the stage, and what he brought was not a gentle suggestion on the technical route, but a declaration of the birth of a new power entity called the Ethereum Community Foundation (ECF). Its mission, like a sword drawn from its sheath, points directly to the core of Ethereum's existing order - supporting institutional-level adoption of infrastructure and ultimately driving up the price of ETH.

This is not just the establishment of a new organization, but also an open challenge to the "philosophy of subtraction" that the "old king" - the Ethereum Foundation (EF) - has long pursued. As the spiritual leader of the ecosystem, EF has a lofty and vague vision, pursuing "doing the best for the long-term success of Ethereum" and consciously weakening its own influence. But the emergence of ECF is a thorough "additive" movement. When Zak Cole declared in a resounding voice: "We hoped that EF would correct itself, but they didn't. So we stood up", it was tantamount to declaring that the old governance model could no longer meet the needs of an increasingly financialized empire.

ECF's slogan "Every dollar will drive up the value of ETH" is like a battle cry prepared for the new king to ascend the throne. It accurately captures the anxiety and desire of every ETH holder, and condenses a complex strategy into a highly inspiring promise. So, what is the origin of ECF, which dares to raise the flag of rebellion in the heart of Ethereum and intends to "change the dynasty"? Where does its confidence come from?

The man behind ECF: Zak Cole

Let's first talk about the man behind ECF - Zak Cole. He is not a developer or community leader in the traditional sense, but a "war engineer" who has been tempered into steel in real-world conflicts and digital offensive and defensive battles. His resume is the key to understanding why ECF is so pragmatic, tough and goal-oriented.

Cole began his career in the US Marine Corps, where his duty during the Iraq War was to build and protect mission-critical network infrastructure in war zones. This experience gave him a deep understanding that the reliability and security of a system under extreme pressure are above all else. After retiring, he quickly plunged into the crypto world, founded Whiteblock, which focuses on blockchain performance testing, and co-founded Code4rena, the industry's top smart contract security competition platform. Through auditing countless projects, he witnessed the disastrous consequences of poorly designed token economics and centralized backdoors.

Putting these experiences together, a clear image emerges: Zak Cole is a leader who combines idealism with cold pragmatism. He does not conduct theoretical research in an ivory tower, but builds and reinforces systems in the battlefield and trenches of code audits. The three principles of "immutability, no tokens, and promotion and destruction" pursued by ECF are the crystallization of all the lessons learned in his career over the past decade. It is not a philosophy that comes out of thin air, but a survival rule extracted from countless system crashes and security vulnerabilities.

The creation of ECF also reflects Cole's deep insight into the talent crisis in the crypto industry. He once publicly complained about how difficult it is to find and verify truly talented developers in the industry. The current mainstream financing model forces technical teams to devote a lot of energy to complex token economics and marketing. ECF offers a completely different path: focusing on building token-free infrastructure that strengthens the core value of Ethereum, and directly obtaining funding denominated in ETH. This allows ECF to act like a magnet, attracting top talents who truly identify with the Ethereum protocol rather than being keen on issuing speculative application coins. This is a precise and powerful strategic attack in the fierce battle for talent.

Three axes: centralization, reduction of vassal states, and coinage

The establishment of any new order begins with the promulgation of new laws. The three pillars of ECF - "promotion and destruction", "no tokens" and "immutability" - are the core laws formulated by this "new king" for the Ethereum Empire. This set of laws aims to reverse the trend of value dilution and differentiation in the crypto ecosystem and refocus all economic energy on ETH, the core asset.

The first law: "Promote destruction" - weaponize monetary policy. EIP-1559 gives Ethereum the ability to destroy transaction fees, creating the narrative of "super sound money". ECF's "promote destruction" principle is to accelerate this theoretical possibility into reality through active intervention. It explicitly requires that all funded projects "must promote the destruction of ETH", which is a clear signal: ECF will directly link the network's usage rate with the value of ETH, and every successful application will become a fuel to strengthen its monetary properties.

The second law: "No tokens" - end economic feudalism. The "no tokens" requirement is the most revolutionary part of the ECF philosophy. It directly declares war on the "fat application" narrative and aims to enforce the "fat protocol" theory. By funding projects that do not issue their own tokens, ECF ensures that all economic value created by these projects will be 100% returned to ETH holders through the destruction mechanism. This is a radical value unification strategy that aims to end economic feudalism within the ecosystem and make all construction activities serve the prosperity of central assets.

The third law: "Immutability" - Casting the cornerstone of eternity. The "immutability" principle means that smart contracts funded by ECF should eliminate the ability to be upgraded or modified by a few people as much as possible. This does not deny all upgradeability, but is wary of centralized control points. ECF pursues "trusted neutral" technology, whose rules are predictable, reliable, and not influenced by any single entity. This attribute is crucial to attracting institutional capital that requires long-term stability and the protection of the rule of law, and is a necessary condition to pave the way for large-scale institutional adoption.

These three laws together form a closed loop: by funding "immutable" "tokenless" projects, ECF encourages the construction of high-quality on-chain economic activities; the large number of transactions generated by these activities will drive the "destruction" of ETH, thereby directly increasing the scarcity and value of ETH. This is a value flywheel that consolidates power for the new king.

First Sword: Seizing Pledge Hegemony and Colonizing the Real World

When a new king ascends the throne, he must take drastic measures. When ECF was announced, it quickly revealed two sharp swords: first, the establishment of the Ethereum Validator Association (EVA), directly targeting the core of staking politics; second, focusing on real world assets (RWA), intending to incorporate the vast territory of traditional finance into the territory of Ethereum.

The establishment of EVA is a precise power grab for the current Ethereum staking ecosystem. The liquidity staking protocol Lido once controlled more than 32% of the ETH staked in the entire network, and its centralization risk has become the sword of Damocles hanging over Ethereum. EVA aims to organize decentralized independent validators to form a political group that can counter the influence of large protocols, and use their collective voice to advocate proposals that can enhance the monetary properties of ETH. This is not only technical support, but also a carefully designed political mobilization aimed at transforming the maintainers of network security into a powerful lobbying force serving ETH's monetary policy.

If EVA is a political power grab, then the focus on RWA is economic expansion. The tokenization of RWA is considered to be the next trillion-dollar outlet in the crypto industry. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) predicts that by 2030, the RWA market will reach $16 trillion. In this unprecedented wave of asset migration, Ethereum has taken an absolute leading position.

ECF's RWA strategy is perfectly aligned with the three laws. Imagine that when trillions of dollars of assets are settled on a platform that follows the "tokenless" and "immutable" principles, the huge economic energy from the traditional financial world will be continuously converted into the destruction of ETH through the EIP-1559 mechanism. This is the most powerful weapon for ECF to realize its promise of "making every dollar drive the value of ETH up", and it is also an "economic colonization" of real-world assets.

Fundamental differences between EF and ECF

The rise of ECF did not occur in a vacuum, but was a direct response to the long-standing dominance of the Ethereum Foundation (EF). To understand the profound meaning of this "change of dynasty", it is necessary to examine the two organizations side by side. They have fundamental differences in their mission, operation methods, ideology and even their understanding of the role of Ethereum itself. This is not just a difference between the two foundations, but also a showdown between two future paths for Ethereum.

EF's vision is poetic and abstract. It sees Ethereum as an "infinite garden", a decentralized ecosystem that needs to be carefully nurtured and can eventually grow on its own. Its "subtraction philosophy" aims to gradually fade out the foundation itself and avoid becoming a centralized single point of failure. Its success criteria are the prosperity of the ecosystem and the advancement of technology, not the price of ETH. In contrast, ECF's mission is utilitarian and specific. It sees Ethereum as an economy that survives in fierce market competition. Its "addition philosophy" aims to take the initiative to "add bricks and tiles" to Ethereum and directly strengthen its economic moat. It has only one success criterion, which is clearly quantified - the price increase of ETH.

In terms of governance and funding operations, the two also represent different models. EF's funds mainly come from its ETH reserves, and its funding decisions are made by internal teams and committees, a process that is sometimes criticized by the community as not transparent enough. It is more like a traditional non-profit foundation, and its accountability mechanism is indirect and oriented towards the long-term health of the entire ecosystem. ECF attempts to introduce a more direct capitalist accountability system. Its funds come directly from community donations, and funding decisions will be made by fund contributors through "coin voting". This model puts power and responsibility directly in the hands of capital, and each funding is like an investment decision, and its return is directly reflected in the value of ETH.

The difference in ideology is the core disagreement between the two. EF is a staunch defender of "trusted neutrality" and its funding focuses on "public goods" - infrastructure that is vital to everyone but difficult to commercialize, such as core protocol research, developer tools, and academic collaboration. It tries to play an impartial arbitrator and cultivator. ECF believes in "ETH-centric capitalism". It believes that the most fundamental "public good" is a strong and valuable ETH. Therefore, its funding focuses on "private goods" or commercial applications that can directly capture value for ETH, such as the RWA platform. It is not an arbitrator, but an athlete who personally fights for the economic interests of ETH.

In short, EF is like an idealistic gardener, taking good care of every plant in the garden, looking forward to spring flowers and autumn fruits. ECF is like a pragmatic empire builder, focusing on strengthening the walls, expanding the treasury, and ensuring that the empire is invincible in the fierce competition. This battle between the old and new kings will ultimately determine whether Ethereum, the vast digital territory, will become a free confederation with a hundred flowers blooming, or a centralized and economically powerful financial empire.

The years ahead will be defined by the dynamics between these two factions. This competition may bring chaos and controversy, but in the long run, it may force all parties to hone their arguments, making Ethereum itself more resilient and anti-fragile. The battle for Ethereum’s soul has expanded from technical conference calls among core developers to the public political and economic arena. And ECF is the challenger who holds high the flag and intends to dominate the world in this new era.