The Ethereum Foundation (EF) has published a formal 38-page mandate document, codifying its role as a neutral steward of the Ethereum blockchain. The document, released on March 13, 2026, clarifies the foundation's philosophy and long-term priorities, emphasizing its commitment to preserving Ethereum as a decentralized, user-sovereign, and trust-minimized network.
The mandate centers on the CROPS principles—Censorship resistance, open source and free, privacy, and security—which it declares must remain an indivisible whole and the essential condition for all Ethereum development. The EF positions itself not as an owner or ruler of Ethereum, but as a guardian of its core integrity, with the ultimate goal of reducing its own relative influence over time as the ecosystem matures.
At the protocol layer, the foundation will prioritize work on decentralization, verifiability, and inclusion guarantees. This includes focusing on protocol liveness, privacy, and security first, with scale improvements designed to support user sovereignty. Specific initiatives highlighted include continued research into post-quantum security, mechanisms like FOCIL to ensure transaction inclusion under pressure, and protocol upgrades such as account abstraction and selective aggregation.
For the application layer, the EF sets a standard for user-facing tools that maximize agency while protecting against loss or exploits. It aims to foster a "zero option" experience that safeguards non-expert users without compromising freedom. The foundation distinguishes its core work from broader ecosystem projects, stating it will focus on long-term protocol research, public-goods security, and cross-team coordination—areas other participants are unlikely to undertake.
The document frames Ethereum as part of an "infinite garden" of open technologies and situates the foundation's mission within a broader goal of "uncapturing the individual" and entrenching freedoms of association, independent of commercial or regulatory pressures.
