Vitalik Buterin said the Ethereum Foundation should not be treated as the center of Ethereum, but as one purpose-built node within a broader ecosystem, while William Mougayar said the nonprofit has fulfilled its role as a protocol steward and should not be judged by ETH’s price. Their comments came amid criticism over the foundation’s strategy, leadership changes, and treasury management after it sold 25,000 ETH and unstaked more than 38,000 ETH since May. Buterin said the foundation will narrow its role to focus on privacy, security, decentralization, censorship resistance, and open source development, and had previously indicated it may become smaller and reduce ETH sales. He also said the foundation holds about 0.16% of ETH. The debate intensified as ETH fell 57% from its all-time high and as internal reforms continued following senior contributor departures.