TL;DR
The Ethereum Foundation published a 38-page illustrated governance document on March 13, 2026. It features anime girls, lingerie-clad archers, and a cartoon pledge with a death-by-suicide penalty. All three of the Foundation’s protocol leads have since left. Over half a dozen other senior contributors have resigned too. Token Metrics flagged this story in its Daily Pulse main items coverage, and smart money is currently net selling ETH.
Context
The Ethereum Foundation is the nonprofit that funds core Ethereum research and development. It doesn’t run the network directly, but it employs many of the researchers and developers who shape Ethereum’s technical direction. When senior people leave, it matters.
The Foundation has faced governance questions before. It has repeatedly declined to disclose how much voting power Vitalik Buterin holds over the organization. That opacity has frustrated some community members for years. The Mandate document, published in March, added a new layer of controversy on top of existing tension.
The document’s visual style borrows heavily from Milady Maker, a controversial NFT collection that Buterin publicly supports. He uses a Milady NFT as his profile photo on X. Milady’s floor price once traded above 7.3 ETH in December 2024. It now trades below 1.2 ETH, an 84% drop in ETH terms and about 91% in dollar terms. according to reporting on the resignations.
Milady’s history is darker than a price chart. Its founder, Charlotte Fang (real name Krishna Okhandiar), resigned as Milady Maker CEO in May 2022. Investigators had exposed him as the operator of a 4chan-connected account called Miya. Which spread antisemitic and anti-Black content and promoted what critics describe as a suicide cult. Okhandiar later admitted to running the account. Milady floor prices halved during his resignation. Eight days before the Ethereum Foundation Mandate dropped, someone asked Buterin on X directly. “why milady?” The question referenced the Miya account, the seppuku license. The broader Kali Yuga Accelerationism movement that the Miya account had promoted.
The Foundation’s board signed the Mandate and credited two artists for its visual design. No one at the Foundation has publicly explained the document’s aesthetic choices in detail.
What Token Metrics Data Shows
Data as of May 20, 2026.
Token Metrics Daily Pulse flagged this story in its main items section. That classification means it crossed the threshold for meaningful market relevance, not just community noise.
ETH is trading near $2,126, up less than 1% on the day but down about 8% over the past week. The picture is mixed. Token Metrics technicals on ETH read mostly bullish. The trend has flipped bullish and momentum sits in neutral territory, neither stretched nor weak. Volatility is moderate, so the market isn’t pricing in a dramatic near-term move. ETH is trading inside its recent range, not breaking out in either direction. First support sits near $2,000. Next resistance sits near $2,334.
The smart-money signal is a different story. Smart-money wallets tracked by Token Metrics via Nansen are net selling ETH right now. That’s a divergence worth watching: the technical picture reads constructive, but the bigger players are moving out.
Polymarket gives nearly zero probability to ETH reaching the $2,300 to $2,400 range by May 20. The market on ETH staying above $1,800 by May 22 sits near 99%. Which tells you the market isn’t worried about a collapse, just not expecting a rally either.
Put it together: ETH isn’t in freefall, but it’s not being bought aggressively either. The governance drama is playing out against a backdrop of quiet, steady selling from large holders.
What’s New
The Ethereum Foundation published its Mandate document on March 13, 2026. The 38-page PDF is illustrated in the style of Milady Maker NFTs. Its cover features an anime girl asking “Ever dream this girl?” Text bubbles read “My heart glitches for you” and “divinely guided and protected.” The headline across the top reads. “HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL IN THE HUMAN BREAST.”
Page 11 contains an illustration of seppuku, the Japanese ritual suicide by sword. The accompanying text reads. “May the Foundation fall on its own sword if it fails to uphold its solemn promise to Ethereum.” The license shown inside that illustration is the Source Seppuku License. A satirical software license hosted on the Remilia wiki. Remilia is the collective that created Milady Maker. The second clause of that license requires the signer to take their own life with a sword upon failure to uphold any pledge in the document.
Page 34 features a bikini-clad archer declaring: “I can’t believe we all won forever.”
According to reporting on the staff departures. Foundation staff were reportedly asked to sign the Mandate or face termination. The Foundation has not publicly confirmed or denied that claim.
The departures that followed are not in dispute. Tomasz Stańczak resigned as co-executive director in February 2026, less than a year into the role. The Mandate dropped weeks later. Then came a wave of exits. Josh Stark, Tim Beiko, Barnabé Monnot, and Trent van Epps all stepped back from Foundation roles. Van Epps departed to the Ethereum Protocol Guild. Researchers Carl Beekhuizen and Julian Ma resigned in mid-May. Alex Stokes began an open-ended sabbatical.
None of the departing contributors publicly named the document as the reason for their exit. But the timing drew immediate attention. EthereumDaily, an X account with over 100,000 followers, blamed the Mandate for “intentionally shrinking” the workforce. DeFi analyst DefiIgnas wrote: “Forgot about the ‘sign or leave’ the new EF mandate. Seems to be the real reason behind departures?” A fund manager also publicly blamed the document for the departures. Developer banteg summarized it simply on X: “situation: all three ef protocol leads have left.”
The Ethereum Foundation has not issued a public statement addressing the resignations or the criticism of the Mandate’s content.
What to Watch
- A Foundation response: Watch for any official statement from the Ethereum Foundation explaining the Mandate’s content or the sign-or-leave policy. Silence has so far amplified community concern.
- Further departures: The current count is all three protocol leads plus over half a dozen contributors. Watch whether any remaining core researchers follow, particularly those working on the next major protocol upgrade.
- Smart-money netflow: Token Metrics data shows smart-money wallets are net selling ETH now. Watch whether that selling accelerates or reverses on a 7-day basis as the governance story develops.
- ETH price at the $2,000 support level: First support sits near $2,000. If ETH breaks below that level during a period of continued negative news flow, watch for a shift in the Polymarket consensus on near-term price floors.
- Community governance proposals: Watch for any formal proposals from the Ethereum community to change Foundation governance, including calls to disclose Buterin’s voting power or restructure leadership after the departures.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice.
