Former Ethereum Foundation Lead Sues Vitalik Buterin and Organization Over Termination

Former Ethereum Foundation Protocol Support lead Kayleen Fulton has filed a lawsuit against Stiftung Ethereum, co-founder Vitalik Buterin, and other executives, alleging she was terminated after protesting a draft organizational mandate and disclosing a cancer diagnosis ¹. At the time of writing, $ETH traded at $2,250, down 6.9% over the past 24 hours.

According to the complaint, the dispute originated in February when the Ethereum Foundation distributed a draft mandate containing a "Source Seppuku License" ¹. The text required authors, maintainers, and distributors to swear an oath promising to take their own lives with a sword if they breached any pledge or modified the license terms ¹. Fulton alleged that 79 foundation employees voted against keeping the clause, with an employee noting that a colleague had died by suicide the previous year ¹. Despite Buterin allegedly promising that the foundation would make significant revisions, the final version was published on the organization's website and permanently recorded onto the Ethereum blockchain with the pledge included ¹.

Internal Pushback and Dismissal

The complaint states that Ethereum Foundation Co-Executive Director Bastian Aue subsequently demanded that staff formally commit to the mandate, warning that failure to do so would be treated as a resignation ¹. In response, Fulton and colleague Trent Van Epps delivered a letter to the board signed by 53 staff members from the Protocol cluster, stating that they declined to affirm the mandate under coercion while clarifying they were not resigning ¹. The foundation terminated Fulton's employment shortly afterward ¹.

Following her dismissal, Fulton spoke with Buterin, who allegedly stated that he was evaluating the internal operational dynamics the foundation should encourage ¹. According to the filing, Buterin expressed concern that rewarding internal and external resistance would establish a precedent where making a public spectacle became the primary method to force operational changes within the foundation ¹. The Ethereum Foundation did not respond to requests for comment regarding the litigation ¹.