Ethereum Foundation (EF) has officially dissolved its Protocol Support team, the unit responsible for coordinating the development process of the Ethereum protocol. The announcement was made through the official EF Protocol Support account on July 10, 2026, as part of the foundation’s ongoing organizational restructuring and workforce reduction.

The Protocol Support team previously handled several key responsibilities, including coordinating core developer meetings, tracking network upgrades, supporting Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), and managing the Ethereum Protocol Fellowship.

Although the team played a central role in development coordination, its dissolution does not mean Ethereum protocol development or blockchain operations have stopped. However, the move raises questions about how responsibilities will be redistributed and how coordination will function within the Ethereum Foundation going forward.

Protocol Support Served as Ethereum’s Development Coordinator

In its brief announcement, EF Protocol Support stated that the team had been dissolved without providing further details about the reasons behind the decision or any replacement structure.

“The EF Protocol Support team has been dissolved.”

According to its official website, Protocol Support acted as a bridge between Ethereum client development teams, researchers, core developers, and the broader community. The team also organized All Core Developers (AllCoreDevs) meetings, the primary forum for discussing technical changes and Ethereum network upgrades.

Beyond coordinating developer meetings, the team managed Forkcast, a platform used to track network upgrade progress, EIP status, testnet activations, and mainnet readiness.

Protocol Support was also responsible for maintaining the ethereum/pm repository, facilitating cross-team technical discussions, supporting the EIP submission process, running the Ethereum Protocol Fellowship, and organizing study groups that helped new contributors understand Ethereum’s protocol architecture.

The Ethereum Protocol Fellowship was designed to provide developers and researchers with a pathway to contribute directly to Ethereum’s core protocol development. Participants worked alongside client developers and researchers involved in the network’s technical roadmap.

One former Protocol Support contributor stated that they would continue maintaining Forkcast and the ethereum/pm repository independently for three months with support from the Ethereum Foundation. This suggests that some of the team’s responsibilities may continue during the transition period despite the team's dissolution.

Dissolution Follows Major Ethereum Foundation Restructuring

The dissolution of Protocol Support comes less than three weeks after the Ethereum Foundation unveiled its new organizational structure on June 23, 2026.

As part of the restructuring, EF eliminated 54 positions, representing approximately 20% of its workforce. The foundation said the changes followed months of organizational review aimed at aligning its operations and spending with its mission and updated treasury management strategy.

The Ethereum Foundation has reorganized its work into five primary clusters:

• Protocol Layer
• Access Layer
• User Layer
• Community Layer
• Institutional Layer

In addition to these five clusters, EF also established dedicated units for operations, management, and other support functions.

The Protocol Layer cluster is responsible for strengthening and advancing Ethereum’s protocol. Its priorities include safely implementing hard forks, reducing protocol complexity, improving privacy and security, mitigating toxic MEV, and developing long-term technologies such as zkEVM and post-quantum security.

However, as of the publication of this article, the Ethereum Foundation has not clarified whether all Protocol Support responsibilities will be transferred to the Protocol Layer or distributed across multiple teams.

The restructuring also involved leadership changes. According to CoinDesk, approximately nine senior figures have either left or changed roles within the Ethereum Foundation over the past six months. These developments have drawn attention to the organization’s governance and execution capabilities amid growing competition among blockchain ecosystems.

Greater Impact on Coordination Than Network Operations

The primary impact of dissolving Protocol Support is expected to affect development coordination rather than Ethereum’s blockchain operations.

Ethereum is not operated by a single company or organization. The network is maintained by thousands of independent nodes and validators, while protocol development involves multiple client teams, researchers, and contributors from different organizations.

As a result, dissolving a single team within the Ethereum Foundation does not automatically disrupt the network or halt Ethereum’s upgrade roadmap.

Nevertheless, the responsibilities previously handled by Protocol Support remain strategically important. Core developer meetings, hard fork coordination, decision documentation, and cross-client collaboration help ensure protocol upgrades are implemented consistently across the ecosystem.

Without a clearly defined replacement mechanism, coordination efforts could become more decentralized. On the other hand, continued maintenance of Forkcast and the ethereum/pm repository indicates that some coordination infrastructure may remain operational outside the former team structure.

The immediate impact on ETH prices also remains uncertain. So far, there are no indications that the announcement has caused technical issues on the network or led to any direct changes to Ethereum’s protocol roadmap.

Ethereum Foundation Aims to Become Leaner

The dissolution of Protocol Support demonstrates that the Ethereum Foundation’s restructuring extends beyond workforce reductions and includes fundamental changes in how the organization manages technical operations and development coordination.

The foundation previously stated that its new organizational model would be leaner and more focused on work that only the Ethereum Foundation can or should perform. It also plans to provide additional information about operational changes and how the community can engage with its new structure.

In the near term, community attention is likely to focus on who will assume responsibility for coordinating AllCoreDevs, supporting the EIP process, maintaining Forkcast, and overseeing the Ethereum Protocol Fellowship.

While the team's dissolution does not alter Ethereum’s open and decentralized development model, the effectiveness of the new structure will ultimately depend on the Ethereum Foundation’s ability to maintain seamless coordination among developers, researchers, client teams, and the broader community.