Former Ethereum Foundation researcher and lead developer of the Geth Ethereum client, Péter Szilágyi, stated that he rejected a $5 million offer to spin off the Geth Ethereum core client into a private company. He also accused the Ethereum Foundation of secretly funding a competing Geth development team. Szilágyi revealed on the X platform that after discovering the "secret second Geth team," he had a one-on-one meeting with Ethereum liaison Josh Stark and was subsequently fired by the Foundation within 24 hours. Geth is the most widely used Ethereum execution client, accounting for about 63% of active nodes. Szilágyi claimed the Foundation threatened to cut Geth's funding and repeatedly made similar offers for an independent private company. Tomasz K. Stańczak, recently appointed co-director of the Ethereum Foundation, responded that there are no plans to remove Geth. The Ethereum Foundation has recently undergone significant changes, including developer layoffs and the release of a new strategic focus.

Péter Szilágyi, a former Ethereum Foundation researcher and lead developer of Geth, claims he turned down a $5 million offer to spin out the Ethereum core client as a private company, according to a series of posts on X this week. He also alleged the foundation secretly funded a rival Geth development team.“Remember my sabbatical? Yeah, that was me having a one-to-one meeting with@0xstark about that ‘secret second Geth team’ I found out about,” Szilágyi, known online as Karalabe, posted on X on Wednesday, referring to Ethereum communicator Josh Stark. “Within 24 hours I was fired from the foundation :).”Geth — short for Go Ethereum — is the most widely used Ethereum execution client, powering nearly 63% of active nodes, according to Ethernodes. It was originally developed by the Ethereum Foundation.According to Szilágyi, the Ethereum Foundation threatened to cut funding for Geth and offered developers, including Szilágyi, $5 million to spin off into a private company. Szilágyi was responding to Tomasz K. Stańczak,who was recentlynamed co-director of the EF and haddeveloped the second-largest Ethereum client, Nethermind.Szilágyi claims he was approached multiple times with similar offers. He announced his sabbatical from the foundation in November.Stańczak’s post that provoked the response claimed that “there is no plan to remove Geth.” Stańczak was responding to a claim by Szilágyi that EF’s goal “is to also remove Geth in a couple years to allow EF to be research/education only.”The Ethereum Foundation has undergone significant changes in recent months. Last week, it announced developer layoffs and published a blog post outlining a new strategic focus for deploying its remaining ETH holdings.

Former Ethereum Foundation Researcher Rejects $5 Million Offer, Reveals Foundation's Secret Funding of Rival Teams