Ethereum Devs Clash Over $5M Geth Independence Push – Coincu

Key Points:

• Szilágyi claims Ethereum Foundation offered $5M to spin off Geth; team declined every offer.
• Foundation allegedly funded a second Geth fork inside Nethermind without informing original developers.
• Szilágyi rejected EF’s return offer, citing lack of apology and unresolved internal conflicts.

A public dispute has emerged between Ethereum developer Péter Szilágyi and Ethereum Foundation (EF) co-CEO Tomasz Stańczak. Szilágyi, the former team lead of Geth, claimed that the Ethereum Foundation repeatedly offered $5 million to encourage the Geth team to spin off into an independent company. According to him, the Geth team declined the offer each time.

Szilágyi said the foundation made similar offers to other teams. “EF didn’t ask just once — they tried at least three times while I was there,” he stated on X. He also claimed that the EF offered Parity $5 million to reduce reliance on Geth and promote client diversity across the Ethereum ecosystem.

In response to growing concerns, Stańczak posted that the foundation has no plan to remove Geth from the ecosystem. 

“There is no plan to remove Geth. It is a great client software and a talented team contributing to protocol security,” he said. 

Stańczak added that the EF will continue to support and maintain Geth.

Szilágyi rejected that claim, calling it false. He challenged the foundation’s leadership to deny the $5 million offer or the proposal for the Geth team to become a separate company. 

“I DARE you and the entire Ethereum Foundation to say that you didn’t offer $5M for us to spin out,” Szilágyi wrote. 

He also mentioned a February discussion with EF staff and questioned whether others would publicly deny that conversation.

Secret Fork and Alleged Internal Moves

Szilágyi further claimed the foundation secretly created and funded a second Geth team within Nethermind without informing the original Geth developers. He stated that this new team was described by EF leadership as “100% independent” with “no intended collaboration.” Szilágyi said he discovered this initiative in November 2025, months after its formation.

He also alleged that Stańczak approached several Geth developers recently and encouraged them to interview elsewhere. According to Szilágyi, the EF leader raised questions about developer salaries and even asked who would leave if their pay was reduced by half. Szilágyi called for public denial of this claim as well.

Developer Exit and Leadership Dispute

Szilágyi said he was fired from the Ethereum Foundation following a one-on-one meeting with EF staff, where he confronted them about the second Geth team. He said, 

“Threatening to quit is unacceptable and destroys team morale,” quoting the response he received.

He added that the foundation had asked him to return several times between February and June 2025. Szilágyi declined to return, stating that his only condition was an apology. “Not possible,” was the response he said he received from the EF.

Concerns Over Management Independence

When asked by another developer why he didn’t accept the EF’s offer and work independently, Szilágyi responded, 

“The consensus was that we are devs. We would be bad at trying to manage a company.” 

He added that they lacked the infrastructure and support to make a spinout work and believed it would ultimately fail.

This ongoing conflict has raised new concerns around governance, transparency, and developer support within Ethereum’s core teams.

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