The Ethereum Foundation (EF) announced that security researcher pcaversaccio has joined its board of directors. This announcement came on the same day another group, Ethereum Institutional, reported completing the first funding round for its ecosystem.
This year has been quite challenging for the EF: the company previously announced cost-cutting measures and also recently faced a mass exodus of members.
Who is pcaversaccio and which board of directors is he joining?
As the organization stated in its blog, Pcaversaccio, known by the pseudonym 'pc', is a privacy maximalist and has joined a board of directors that now consists of four people. He joinsdent Aya Miyaguchi, the Foundation's founder Vitalik Buterin, and Swiss attorney Patrick Storchenegger.
According to the Foundation, the appointment is for an initial term of one year and is unpaid. pc is a co-founder and leader of SEAL 911, an organization focused on cryptographic system security, and was also a member of the Silviculture Society within the Foundation for Economic Development, an informal advisory group focused on censorship resistance, open source, privacy, and security.
He is also the author of "The Ethereum Cypherpunk Manifesto," a 2024 revised version of Eric Hughes' 1993 cypherpunk text, and a 2025 article titled "Ethereum Privacy: The Path to Self-Sovereignty."
pc responded to the Foundation's announcement on X, writing: "_unconditional_ privacy."
What does this new appointment mean for the Ethereum Foundation's board?
Commenting on pc joining the board, Miyaguchi wrote on X: "Very excited to welcome @pcaversaccio to the EF board! He will bring not only security and privacy expertise.
She added: "He is a living example of what 100% CROPS (Contract-Resilience Open Privacy & Security) alignment looks like in practice. I'm looking forward to the perspective he will bring and how he will make me think much more deeply about security and privacy," seen as a reference to the principles of censorship resistance, open source, privacy, and security that the Foundation has placed at the core of its recent mission.
The Foundation describes its board as the body that sets the vision and oversees leadership's strategic alignment with these principles. It also acts as a security board and ensures the organization's compliance with Swiss foundation regulations.
The board's role has undergone changes this year. In May, Buterin wrote that the board is expanding and his own influence "will continue to diminish," a change he said he wanted.
Ethereum Institutional Completes First Funding Round
A few hours later, Ethereum Institutional reported completing the first funding round for its ecosystem and forming a coalition of supporters. The independentdent organization, established on July 1st as a bridge between financial institutions and Ethereum, did not disclose the funding amount.
According to a blog post, treasury companies BitMine and SharpLink, as well as Ethereum co-founders Joe Lubin and Mihai Alisie, participated in this funding round, which was joined by over 100 ecosystem participants.
The published list of supporters includes Aave, Chainlink, Circle, Consensys, Uniswap Labs, and Robinhood. The group, founded by former EF Enterprise employees David Walsh, Marius Smith, and Matthew Dawson, stated that this support enables it to advance tokenization, stablecoins, and market infrastructure on the blockchain.
Is the Foundation Facing Financial and Staffing Challenges?
Cryptopolitan reported on June 22nd that the EF cut 54 jobs, approximately a fifth of its staff, and that co-executive directors Tomasz Stańczak and Xiao-Wei Wang stepped down from their roles this year.
Former coordinator Trent Van Epps warned that core project funding could be at risk within three to nine months, as the client team's burn rate is about $30 million per year.
Ethereum Institutional is one of several third-party groups filling this niche, alongside Ethlabs, a non-profit research organization staffed by former Foundation researchers and relying on the same core sponsors.
The market remained calm amid the turbulence, as Cryptopolitan reported that at the end of June, ETH traded around $1,655, significantly below its August 2025 peak of around $4,950. It is currently trading around $1,894, down 1.1% over the last 24 hours.
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