Ethereum Foundation in turmoil: Former researcher claims to have received a $5 million split proposal.

According to Gate News bot, in a series of posts on the X platform this week, former Ethereum Foundation researcher and Geth chief developer Péter Szilágyi stated that he rejected a $5 million proposal to split the Ethereum core client into a private company. He also accused the foundation of secretly funding the competing Geth development team.

“Do you remember my vacation? Yes, I had a one-on-one meeting with @0xstark (Ethereum developer Josh Stark) to discuss the ‘secret second Geth team’ I discovered,” Szilágyi (online name Karalabe) posted on X website on Wednesday, “Less than 24 hours later, I was fired by the foundation :).”

Geth (Go Ethereum) is the most widely used Ethereum execution client, supporting nearly 63% of active nodes according to data from Ethernodes, and was originally developed by the Ethereum Foundation.

Szilágyi stated that the Ethereum Foundation threatened to cut funding for Geth and offered developers, including Szilágyi, $5 million, demanding that they split off into a private company. Szilágyi’s response was directed at Tomasz K. Stańczak, who was recently appointed as the co-lead of the Ethereum Foundation and developed Ethereum’s second largest client, Nethermind.

Szilágyi stated that he had received similar proposals multiple times. He announced his departure from the foundation last November.

Stańczak stated that the foundation “has no plans to remove Geth” in response to Szilágyi, who claimed that the goal of the Ethereum Foundation is “to remove Geth in the coming years, leaving EF solely for research/education.”

Source: The Block