A outstanding historian who wrote the ebook about Ethereum’s creation can not discover a solution to a easy query. Regardless of what number of instances she’s requested — as not too long ago as yesterday — nobody will inform her what number of votes Vitalik Buterin controls over the Ethereum Basis and its $400 million treasury.
It’s a query that impacts hundreds of thousands of ETH tokenholders all over the world, together with tons of of 1000’s of wallets that transact on any given day.
Laura Shin, writer of the ebook The Cryptopians concerning the formation and early years of Ethereum, has requested one query for years. Does Vitalik Buterin have three supervotes, or do the 4 board members vote equally?
There are 4 present administrators on the board of the Ethereum Basis: Vitalik Buterin, Aya Miyaguchi, Hsiao-Wei Wang, and Patrick Storchenegger. With many adjustments in management over time, Buterin is a founding member and well known because the mission’s chief.
Nevertheless, the muse commonly downplays his position, writing at nice size to emphasise its community-focused governance.
In a collection of joint statements yesterday, incoming “co-executive directors” blogged an “update on their focus areas” and “how to achieve the EF’s vision.”
Buterin and Miyaguchi co-wrote a brand new imaginative and prescient assertion for the muse. All 4 board members co-announced govt personnel adjustments.
All of those communications conveyed a way of shared oversight, as if a staff — not one man — held final authority over the Swiss entity.
Nonetheless no reply about Vitalik’s voting energy
Nonetheless, regardless of over a dozen makes an attempt by Shin to make clear how a lot voting energy Buterin possesses, the Ethereum Basis hasn’t disclosed how its voting energy is distributed.
It’s humorous that irrespective of what number of instances you ask this, the response has been radio silence.
— farmer (@internet_farmer) April 28, 2025
In 2020, Storchenegger advised Shin that Buterin held three votes — sufficient to tie any board resolution unilaterally, even when all three different board members disagreed with Buterin.
Nevertheless, Buterin has vacillated on his energy in public statements, sometimes speaking about solely possessing a single vote.
In all, his energy over the Ethereum Basis’s board of administrators is unclear. Regardless of a four-person board, none of them appear all for disclosing what number of votes every member possesses.
Supportive feedback emphasised Shin’s repeated query. “I hope you get an honest response,” wrote one observer. “I hope u get an answer to this question, important for transparency,” commented one other.
Protos has reached out to the Ethereum Basis for remark and can replace if we obtain a response.
