An Ethereum core developer has sparked drama within the ecosystem after raising concerns about central control within the Ethereum Foundation leadership group, namely Vitalik Buterin.
Péter Szilágyi published a public letter calling out the Ethereum Foundation. In the letter, the Ethereum dev questioned the undue control exercised by the founder, Vitalik Buterin, and a few key people within the project.
Szilágyi characterized the Ethereum
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inner circle as a concentrated power structure that controls most development decisions, referring to it as a “Vitalik-centric interest group.”
Since y'all spammed my timeline full of #Ethereum existential crises, here's a letter I sent to EF leadership in a year and half ago 😬.
(link in next post because Twitter…)
— Péter Szilágyi (@peter_szilagyi) October 19, 2025
Ethereum Core Developer Calls Out Vitalik Buterin and the Ethereum Foundation in Damning Letter
Szilágyi, an OG Ethereum and Geth developer, published the letter on GitHub and posted the link on his X account. In the letter, he expresses deep frustration and disillusionment with the Ethereum Foundation (EF) and ecosystem. Though he reaffirms his respect for Ethereum’s ideals and acknowledges his gratitude, he feels exploited and marginalized.
He believes his supposed “leadership role” is merely symbolic, used by EF to project openness while undermining his credibility. He accuses EF of underpaying committed contributors, driving them toward external financial interests that risk protocol capture.
Peter goes on to criticize a growing elite around Vitalik Buterin, a small circle of influential figures and VCs who dominate Ethereum’s direction and success. Once a project about decentralization and fairness, Ethereum, in his view, has become centralized around wealth, influence, and favoritism.
The Ethereum core dev finishes by saying he feels trapped between his principles and a corrupt system. Peter concludes that Ethereum has “failed” him personally and expresses doubt that it can be fixed.
Frustration Builds Among Key Ecosystem Players
Following Szilágyi’s open letter, Polygon CEO Sandeep Nailwal pressured the Ethereum Foundation, also expressing public frustration with Ethereum’s inner workings. After years of supporting it, he expressed skepticism over his continued allegiance to Ethereum.
In a reply post to Peter’s letter, Nailwal described his own experience within the Ethereum ecosystem in the past few years. He stated that the Polygon ecosystem and its significant contributors often feel overlooked. He pointed out that Polygon
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has received minimal support from the core Ethereum community.
Additionally, he criticized specific social dynamics within Ethereum that tend to marginalize impactful projects like Polygon. He noted that Ethereum-linked projects built on Polygon are frequently credited solely to Ethereum, which diminishes Polygon’s contribution to their development and success.
Nailwal gave Polymarket as an example, saying that “when Polymarket wins big, it’s ‘Ethereum’, but Polygon itself is not Ethereum.”
Read this from Peter and realized that it's time for me to also speak up.
NGL, I’ve started questioning my loyalty toward Ethereum. I did not come into crypto because of Bitcoin but because of Ethereum. I also have a lot of gratitude toward @VitalikButerin — someone I looked up… https://t.co/yrcrGEwXs8
— Sandeep | CEO, Polygon Foundation (※,※) (@sandeepnailwal) October 20, 2025
Vitalik Buterin Responds to the Attacks on Ethereum
Interestingly, Vitalik Buterin has seemingly refused to acknowledge Péter Szilágyi’s letter but has responded with a long-winded letter aimed toward Sandeep Nailwal.
The Ethereum founder states that he “really appreciates Sandeep Nailwal’s personal contributions and @0xPolygon’s immensely valuable role in the Ethereum ecosystem.”
Vitalik Buterin says that Polygon has proven itself as one of the most successful blockchain ecosystems beyond traditional finance, notably by hosting Polymarket, a high-impact prediction platform, and other scalable applications.
The Polygon team invested heavily in ZK-EVM development, bringing in Jordi Baylina’s team and advancing zero-knowledge technology. He praises Polygon for building key infrastructure, such as the AggLayer, for proof aggregation.
Buterin then goes on to praise Nailwal personally, saying that he has made significant philanthropic contributions through CryptoRelief, funding biomedical research and pandemic preparedness in India.
He also returned $190M from SHIB token proceeds to Vitalik Buterin, enabling the Balvi open-source biotech initiative focused on anti-airborne disease research. Additionally, Binance founder CZ receives praise from Vitalik for donating $10M to BNB, while Vitalik added $20 million of his funds to biotech research.
Vitalik Buterin concludes by commending Sandeep and CZ for their rare, genuine altruism, which distinguishes them from most wealthy figures who prioritize profit-driven ventures.
I really appreciate both @sandeepnailwal's personal contributions and @0xPolygon's immensely valuable role in the ethereum ecosystem.
To recap:
* Polygon hosts @Polymarket, which is probably the single most successful example of a "not just boring finance" app that has actually…
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) October 21, 2025
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