Ethereum’s monetary narrative just got a shock to the system.
While the Ethereum Foundation has historically focused on protocol research and technical upgrades, a new player is stepping into the arena with a very different mission: price.
The newly formed Ethereum Community Foundation (ECF), launched by core developer Zak Cole, is putting ETH scarcity, value, and burn mechanics at the top of its priority list, openly aiming to send ETH to $10,000.
Who’s Behind It
Zak Cole, a respected Ethereum core dev, announced the ECF at EthCC in Cannes, France, one of the largest global Ethereum gatherings. The message was simple: “We do what the Ethereum Foundation won’t. We serve ETH holders”.
The ECF is backed by a collective of high-conviction Ethereum stakeholders who believe ETH, not just Ethereum the protocol, should be the main beneficiary of ecosystem growth. No venture capital. No equity. No token launches. Just direct value accrual to ETH itself.
Their model? Raise capital in ETH. Fund infrastructure that burns ETH. Increase ETH scarcity. Watch it climb.
The Mission: Burn ETH, Raise ETH
According to its site and Cole’s posts on X, the ECF has three core principles:
- No new tokens. Projects must be tokenless.
- No mutable contracts. Code must be immutable at deployment.
- ETH burns only. Every integration must generate ETH burn via mainnet usage.
It’s a radical return to Ethereum’s monetary roots, a bet that deflation and utility can work together to create long-term value. Projects funded by ECF must use Ethereum L1 as their settlement layer, meaning every transaction contributes to ETH’s deflationary supply via EIP-1559.
“Our upside is sending ETH to $10,000 by making sure everything we fund strengthens its monetary base”, Cole said.
Ethereum Foundation vs. Ethereum Community Foundation
Let’s make this clear: ECF is not a sister organization to the Ethereum Foundation. It’s a shadow institution born from discontent.
Zak Cole openly criticized the Ethereum Foundation for backing projects like Uniswap, ENS, and Optimism, projects that eventually launched tokens and secured VC funding. In Cole’s words: “Publicly funded projects should remain public.”
The ECF sees this as a betrayal of Ethereum’s public goods ethos. Their answer? Fund projects that:
- Are useful to the ecosystem
- Are non-rent-seeking
- Contribute to ETH burns
- Don’t launch external tokens
- Remain immutable and censorship-resistant
It’s Ethereum maximalism with a monetary twist.
First Grant: Ethereum Validator Association
The ECF’s first grant was awarded to the newly announced Ethereum Validator Association (EVA). EVA aims to give validators a bigger say in shaping Ethereum’s monetary policy and technical priorities.
For the first time, validators could influence EIP roadmaps and client development direction, a governance shift that decentralizes Ethereum even further and gives stake-based actors real influence over network evolution.
Cole emphasized that EVA would also rank and empower Ethereum clients based on performance, not politics. He flagged potential conflicts of interest, such as Offchain Labs (behind Arbitrum) owning a stake in Prysmatic Labs, which develops the Prysm client.
Prysm currently powers a significant chunk of Ethereum’s consensus layer. This grant, then, is as much about decentralization as it is about vigilance.
Transparency and Governance
Unlike many DAOs or foundations, ECF is pledging radical transparency. Treasury movements, grant allocations, project milestones, all of it will be public and on-chain.
Governance will be staked ETH-based, using coin voting mechanisms to align funding with actual Ethereum stakeholders. In this way, ETH holders gain direct influence over how ECF funds are spent.
It’s a governance model meant to reward those who are already economically aligned with Ethereum, while discouraging speculative gamesmanship via external governance tokens.
Fixing Ethereum’s Monetary Narrative
At the heart of ECF is a bold economic thesis: ETH’s price is security.
As blockspace becomes more competitive, higher ETH value means higher network security. If the asset remains undervalued, Ethereum risks becoming vulnerable both from a technical and a narrative standpoint.
By funding usage that reinforces ETH burns, ECF is trying to put Ethereum’s monetary narrative back in the spotlight, turning it into an asset with digital oil scarcity, not just decentralized compute.
And in a world where every chain has its own token, Ethereum must justify ETH’s primacy. ECF wants to make that case in practice, not just in theory.
The Political Undertone
Make no mistake, this is also a political move. The ECF is openly challenging Ethereum’s existing power structures, even accusing the Ethereum Foundation of misaligned incentives.
By calling out favoritism and token launch hypocrisy, ECF positions itself as the voice of ETH holders who feel sidelined in favor of VC-backed token launches. It is the monetary realism wing of Ethereum’s cathedral, stepping out of the shadows.
The timing isn’t accidental either. With L2 wars heating up, validator power in flux, and Ethereum’s cultural identity under debate, ECF is making a calculated power grab. Their message is simple: burn more ETH.
ETH Price Implications
Cole and others believe the ECF’s strategy could catalyze real price movement. ETH is currently trading around $2,600. But the ECF is setting its sights much higher: $10,000 ETH is the target.
Burn-centric funding, L1-centric usage, and validator empowerment could create strong bullish tailwinds. Coupled with spot ETF inflows and the ongoing scarcity narrative, Ethereum may have its clearest monetary roadmap in years.
If Ethereum is going to serve as global financial infrastructure, then ETH has to be priced accordingly. That’s the argument. And the market might be listening.
Final Thought
The Ethereum Community Foundation is rewriting ETH’s mission.
Where Ethereum Foundation focused on technical elegance, ECF is focusing on monetary sovereignty.
Where DAOs launched tokens, ECF is burning ETH.
Where governance was diffuse, ECF is tying it to ETH stake.
This is a new chapter in Ethereum’s evolution. A battle over capital, not just code.
ETH is money. ETH is scarce. ETH is power.
