The Ethereum Foundation (EF) released a comprehensive new document outlining its philosophy, priorities and long-term role in managing the world’s second-largest blockchain network.
The 38-page “EC mandate” published on Friday frames the blockchain whose ether (ETH) token is beaten only by bitcoin in market value, as a technology designed to protect individual freedom in an increasingly centralized digital world and lays out the principles the nonprofit says should guide its development.
The document comes at a time of transition for the organization, following recent shifts in Ethereum’s technical roadmap and the resignation earlier this year of one of the foundation’s co-executive directors.
“The Ethereum Foundation is the original custodian of the Ethereum project,” the document says. “The Foundation is not the parent, owner or ruler of Ethereum. We are not the ‘system’ itself.”
At the center of the mandate is the concept of self-sovereignty, which the foundation describes as Ethereum’s core purpose.
“The first goal is to ensure that Ethereum becomes and remains a decentralized and resilient tool for self-sovereignty,” the manifesto states. “Our first fundamental principle is that a user has the final say over their identities, assets, actions and agents.”
To preserve this goal, the foundation says four characteristics must remain central to Ethereum’s development: censorship resistance, open source and free (as in freedom), privacy and security, collectively known as CROPS.
“We believe that these properties – CROPS – must remain, as an indivisible whole, a prerequisite for all Ethereum’s development priorities, which cannot be displaced,” the mandate states.
The foundation also said it will measure its own long-term success by how unnecessary it becomes. For now, it will focus on work that no other ecosystem participant is likely to do, including long-term protocol research, public goods security work, and coordination across development teams.
Once the wider ecosystem can take over these functions, it plans to step back.
“Our goal is to reduce the fund’s relative influence over time,” the team wrote. “Rather, subtraction is a process to ensure Ethereum’s maturity: a growth trajectory with decentralization, robust enough to outgrow and outlive us.”
More broadly, the document places blockchain in an ecosystem of open technologies that support free and decentralized systems. The EC describes Ethereum as part of an “infinite garden,” an expanding network of developers, communities, and institutions working to keep the digital infrastructure open and resilient.
“The World Computer is decentralized infrastructure for permission-free data processing, communication and association,” the mandate states.
The manifesto concludes by reiterating the foundation’s long-term goal: to protect Ethereum’s promise as an open system that enables individuals and communities to coordinate without relying on centralized authorities.
“Our work is not about capturing markets, companies or states, nor about helping them extract or capture,” the document says. “We are here to liberate the individual and anchor their freedom of association.”
Read more: Ethereum Foundation management shake-up: Tomasz Stańczak out as co-executive director
