The Spring Update then goes on to address that Ethereum Foundation is driven by a policy of Subtraction [figure above], one that sits in contrast to dominant for-profit business models that follow an Addition mindset.

For example, with a Subtractive perspective, the goal is to push out and distribute opportunities instead of capturing them in-house. Similarly, the Ethereum Foundation is focused on creating value for the entire ecosystem, while decreasing reliance on the organization and ‘mattering less,’ while empowering others to ‘matter more.’

The Ethereum Foundation Spring Update also includes a number of updates on the progress towards Ethereum 2.0: “ETH 2.0 is a name given to a set of transformative upgrades for the Ethereum protocol. Last year, this effort moved from a research project to an engineering effort.”

Foundation-supported client teams include Nimbus, Prysm, Sigma Prime, and Substrate Shasper. “Over the last few months the Nimbus, Prysm, and Sigma Prime’s Lighthouse testnets have launched. These teams and others are now stabilizing and optimizing,” while “many resources are shifting into testing, fuzzing, and audits over the coming months. We engaged Runtime Verification to formally verify the deposit contract and to formally specify the Beacon Chain. This is in addition to considerable effort by the research, development, and security teams involved in ETH 2.0 toward reliability and security.”

“ETH 1.x — The ETH 1.x initiative focuses on improving Ethereum’s short term scalability and sustainability with an eye to easing the transition to ETH 2.0.

ZK-rollup — Uses succinct zero-knowledge proofs to enable Ethereum to reach hundreds of transactions per second.

ETHGlobal — ETHGlobal hosts Ethereum hackathons around the world

Ethereum Academic and Research Collaboration — The Ethereum Foundation hosted three research workshops at Stanford and MIT

Working with prominent organizations to encourage their engagement with the Ethereum ecosystem — We have been working closely with Microsoft in a long-term commitment to support the Ethereum developer experience through Visual Studio Code and the new Azure Blockchain Service.”

Lastly, the report addresses resource allocation by the Ethereum Foundation in the short and medium term to support the development of ETH 2.0.

Over the next 12 months, the EF has earmarked $19 million to be spent towards developing:

ETH 2.0: Client teams, Research, VDF, documentation and communication

Layer 2: State channels & Plasma

Continuing work on eWASM

Smart contract languages

Formal verification, auditing, and specification work

Zero-knowledge R&D, including ZoKrates

Ethereum “Phase 3 and Beyond” R&D

Working directly with academic institutions and attracting exceptional research talent

In supporting the ‘Ethereum of Today,’ the Ethereum Foundation has earmarked $8 million over the next 12 months for:

Initiatives under the banner of “ETH 1.x”

Geth

Solidity

Web3.js and Ethers.js

To progress developer growth and awareness of the Ethereum ecosystem, $3 million has been earmarked over next 12 months:

Developer education & on-boarding

Supporting community event organizations focused on developers, like ETHGlobal

Continuing to run Devcon as a yearly gathering for the Ethereum ecosystem

Supporting regional Ethereum community organizations

Developer experience improvements and developer tooling

Attracting exceptional developer talent

Encouraging browsers and other mass consumer technologies to seamlessly integrate Ethereum into their user experiences

Continued improvements to ethereum.org

Make sure to read the entire Ethereum Foundation Spring Update 2019 for a more granular explanation of what the future holds for the Ethereum ecosystem.