The Ethereum Foundation announced that it has fired some members of its research and development team.

This move is part of a larger restructuring plan designed to address key protocol design challenges.

Reorganization Efforts

According to a Monday blog post, the Foundation has rebranded its Protocol Research and Development division under a new, simplified name, “Protocol.”  The organization is also reorganizing its teams and introducing clear coordination structures focused on three main areas: scaling Ethereum’s base layer, expanding blob space, and improving user experience.

“This also means some members of PR&D won’t be continuing with the Ethereum Foundation. We hope these individuals continue on in the Ethereum ecosystem and encourage others building out their teams to seek them out,” the statement said.

The foundation did not name the people affected by the layoffs. However, it said these changes are needed to place it on a more “responsive and effective path.”

The restructured Protocol team will serve as a central hub for Ethereum’s core development efforts. The goal is to improve transparency around upgrade timelines, strengthen technical documentation, and support ongoing research.

The non-profit said leadership will play an important role in carrying out its plan, with roles being clearly defined to increase accountability and accelerate progress.

Tim Beiko and Ansgar Dietrichs will head efforts to scale Layer 1. Alex Stokes and Francesco D’Amato will be in charge of Layer 2 scaling, while Barnabé Monnot and Josh Rudolf will lead user experience improvements.

Dankrad Feist has also been appointed as strategic advisor across all three focus areas and will support the project leads in executing their responsibilities.

“We’re hopeful that this new structure will empower our internal teams to focus more clearly and drive key initiatives forward,” said Hsiao-Wei Weng, co-executive director at the Ethereum Foundation, in a post on X.

The announcement also emphasized the Ethereum community’s role. The foundation says it does not aim to replace external contributors but instead wants to uphold high working standards. In line with this, new governance forums are being introduced, and feedback channels are being enhanced to ensure more effective input.

Community Criticism

The reorganization comes in response to ongoing criticism over the foundation’s management and strategic direction. Some members of the Ethereum community have warned for over a year that unresolved technical issues such as scalability, transaction speeds, and developer engagement could pose risks to the network’s leadership in the space.

The non-profit has already made leadership changes to help address these concerns. In March, Hsiao-Wei Weng and Tomasz K. Stańczak were named co-executive directors. These appointments aimed to bring balance between operational and technical leadership.

Bitcoin held firm above the $105,000 mark following a weekend dip, as rattled market participants assess whether the pullback signals a temporary breather.

Ongoing shifts in sentiment and trader positioning hint at a broader market recalibration quietly unfolding.

No Panic, No Euphoria

Bitcoin’s derivatives and spot markets are undergoing a structural recalibration. On Binance, long positions continue to be liquidated in significant waves, at times surpassing $40 million per hour, as seen in the Liquidation Delta metric cited by CryptoQuant.

These liquidations highlight heavy pressure on long positions, but notably, there is no corresponding surge in short liquidations. This indicates that while many leveraged long traders are being flushed out, there is little evidence of a counter-move or short squeeze.

Meanwhile, Binance funding rates remain largely neutral as it hovers around zero, which suggests a lack of extreme directional bias in the perpetual futures market. Traders are neither aggressively betting on upside nor downside, indicating caution rather than fear or greed.

“In simpler terms: the derivatives market is not signaling panic, nor euphoria, just cautious recalibration.”

Bitcoin Whales Quietly Accumulate

Whale behavior paints a more optimistic picture. Data from the Whale Screener shows that over $500 million in combined Bitcoin and Ethereum was withdrawn from spot exchanges on June 2nd. Most notably, crypto exchange Bitfinex recorded a single-day outflow of 20,000 BTC, worth over $1.3 billion at current prices. This represented the largest Bitcoin withdrawal from the exchange since August 2019.

Such a significant movement off exchanges often points to long-term holding intentions by large entities, which could ease immediate selling pressure in the market.

Together, these signals – neutral funding, liquidation of overleveraged longs, and strategic accumulation by large holders – depicts a market that is clearing excess leverage and preparing for a potential next leg upward.

Although short-term volatility remains, the broader trend suggests Bitcoin may be in the early stages of a new bullish phase driven by healthier market structure and long-term investor confidence.

Coinbase is under heightened scrutiny following revelations that it may have known as early as January 2025 about a massive breach involving outsourced customer support agents, months before the crypto exchange publicly acknowledged the security lapse.

Sources familiar with the situation disclosed that the breach stemmed from an India-based employee at TaskUs, a US outsourcing firm long contracted by Coinbase.

The individual was reportedly caught covertly photographing her workstation and, along with an alleged accomplice, funneling sensitive customer information to cybercriminals in exchange for bribes. The incident triggered the termination of over 200 TaskUs employees in Indore, in what now appears to be a coordinated criminal infiltration of Coinbase’s support infrastructure.

Delayed Breach Disclosure

Although Coinbase later tied its $400 million loss to “support agents overseas,” the company waited until a May SEC filing, triggered by a ransom demand, to fully acknowledge the scope of the incident.

The breach was not limited to a single rogue actor. According to internal accounts, it was part of a broader campaign that also targeted other BPO firms servicing Coinbase.

The compromised data, which impacted more than 69,000 customers, was reportedly not sufficient to access Coinbase’s internal wallets but did let scammers convincingly impersonate Coinbase agents and socially engineer customers out of their crypto holdings.

While Coinbase says it has reimbursed affected users, questions linger over the company’s timeline and transparency.

TaskUs Accused of Negligence

A class-action lawsuit now accuses TaskUs of negligence, suggesting the BPO provider failed to enforce appropriate data safeguards. TaskUs, however, denied the charge.

Despite their assurances of strong training and security protocols, the incident raises deeper concerns about the vulnerabilities embedded in outsourcing sensitive customer interactions to low-wage, offshore workers. These workers, while cost-efficient, are often underpaid and undertrained. These conditions may have made them vulnerable to external coercion.

Coinbase insists it acted decisively upon discovering the fraud, and cut ties with implicated agents as well as revamping its security measures. Despite this, the timeline points to potential lapses in internal threat detection and risk governance, particularly given that Coinbase’s own filings revealed unauthorized access occurring in “previous months.”