Main Points:
- Launch of the Ethereum Community Foundation (ECF) by Zack Cole to aggressively pursue ETH price appreciation to $10,000
- ECF’s unique mandate: fund only “tokenless” projects with built-in ETH burning, eschewing new token issuance
- Focus on mainnet deployments and rejection of projects relying on third-party data availability layers
- Strategic push into Real World Assets (RWAs), leveraging tokenization for institutional adoption
- RWA market explosion: over $24 billion in tokenized assets in H1 2025, up 380% since 2022
- Implications for investors: new revenue sources in DeFi, RWA yield products, and ETH price momentum
1. Introduction: A New Price-First Paradigm for Ethereum
On July 1, 2025, at the Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC), veteran developer and Number Group managing partner Zack Cole unveiled the Ethereum Community Foundation (ECF), a novel organization explicitly dedicated to driving ETH’s market price to $10,000. Unlike traditional foundations that prioritize research grants and open-source development, the ECF positions itself as a price-driven entity with an aggressive mandate to turbocharge ETH value by funding projects that directly contribute to supply contraction and network adoption. This move marks a significant shift in ecosystem dynamics, emphasizing tokenomics and market psychology alongside technical progress.
The ECF launch arrives at a time when Ethereum’s price has consolidated near $2,450, following a bullish rally earlier in 2025. By outlining a clear $10,000 target—equivalent to approximately ¥1.43 million—the foundation sets a benchmark that aligns stakeholder incentives and could redefine how Ethereum projects seek funding and measure success.
2. Genesis of the Ethereum Community Foundation
Zack Cole, fluent in DeFi and Web3 ecosystems, tapped into a perceived gap left by the Ethereum Foundation (EF) itself: the lack of a dedicated arm to strategically influence price and macro-economic factors. During his EthCC keynote, Cole emphasized that while the EF rightly focuses on protocol upgrades and decentralization, “our ecosystem needs a complementary body that pursues price appreciation as an explicit objective”.
The ECF’s inaugural treasury already holds “millions of dollars’ worth of ETH” donated by individual supporters, institutional backers, and early adopters who share the vision of turning Ethereum into a premier store of value and productive asset. By crowd-sourcing the initial capital, the foundation ensures community alignment and transparency—key tenets highlighted on its newly launched official website, which pledges neutrality, immutability, and refusal to issue its own token.
3. Mandate: Price Appreciation Through ETH-Burning Projects
Central to ECF’s strategy is a strict “tokenless” funding policy: only projects that integrate ETH-burning mechanisms or contribute directly to reducing circulating supply will qualify for grants. This approach mirrors corporate share buybacks, aiming to create a deflationary pressure on ETH’s monetary base. By channeling resources into protocols that retire ETH—for example, through on-chain fees, periodic auctions, or staking derivatives that lock ETH permanently—the ECF seeks to create a sustainable supply contraction model.
Moreover, the foundation commits to 100% transparency: funding decisions, grant sizes, and vesting schedules will be published on-chain or in audited reports. Cole stresses that “nothing moves forward without complete visibility,” a principle designed to build trust among stakeholders and to showcase the tangible impact of ECF initiatives on ETH’s price trajectory.
4. Mainnet-First and Data Sovereignty
A defining feature of ECF’s grant criteria is its insistence that all funded projects deploy exclusively on Ethereum’s mainnet. By excluding layer-2 solutions that rely heavily on third-party data availability (DA) layers and zk-rollups, the foundation underscores its commitment to bolstering Ethereum’s core settlement layer. The ECF website explicitly states that “any project utilizing external DA ecosystems will not be eligible for funding,” ensuring that value accrues directly to the mainnet itself.
This policy is designed to counter fragmentation risks and to consolidate economic activity on Ethereum’s base layer, potentially fortifying security and network effects. While this stance may limit some cutting-edge scaling experiments, it aligns with the ECF’s overarching goal: maximize ETH demand and network usage where fees are burned and captured by the foundation’s deflationary model.
5. Real World Assets: Bridging Off-Chain Value with On-Chain Innovation
Beyond ETH burning, the ECF has pledged robust support for Real World Asset (RWA) tokenization initiatives on Ethereum. RWAs encompass tokenized equities, bonds, real estate, and commodity positions, offering institutions programmable access to traditionally illiquid or opaque markets.
The move to bolster RWA protocols is strategic: by facilitating on-chain access to assets like U.S. Treasury bills, private credit, or real estate shares, Ethereum stands to attract vast pools of institutional capital seeking yield and transparency. According to RedStone’s H1 2025 RWA Market Overview, tokenized RWAs surged to $24 billion in aggregate value—a 380% increase since 2022—and are on track to surpass $50 billion by year-end.
6. Recent Trends: Tokenized Asset Growth and Institutional Adoption
Institutional demand for Ethereum infrastructure has accelerated in mid-2025. Reports indicate that major asset managers are exploring tokenized funds, with pilot programs ranging from money market instruments to tokenized private credit portfolios. BlackRock’s upcoming tokenized money market fund—though built on Ethereum for stablecoin issuance—signals a watershed moment for mainstream adoption.
Meanwhile, the RWA space continues to diversify. CoinGecko highlights that DeFi protocols integrating RWAs now offer yields tethered to off-chain asset performance, reducing crypto-native volatility for risk-averse investors. The Ethereum Community Foundation plans to allocate a portion of its treasury to support these hybrid protocols, further cementing Ethereum’s role as the infrastructure for programmable finance.
7. Implications for Crypto Investors and Revenue Seekers
For readers hunting new cryptographic assets or revenue sources, the ECF’s establishment presents multiple angles of opportunity:
- Yield Farming with Deflationary Protocols
Projects certified by the ECF will likely offer staking or yield products that not only generate APY but also contribute to ETH burn—magnifying both income and deflationary impact. - RWA-Backed Instruments
As ECF-backed RWA protocols launch, investors can access curated tokenized asset baskets—ranging from tokenized corporate bonds to tokenized real estate—via user-friendly DeFi interfaces. - Speculative Momentum Plays
With the ECF declaring $10,000 ETH as a non-negotiable goal, price momentum narratives will dominate market sentiment. Traders can capitalize on volatility spikes tied to ECF grant announcements or progress milestones. - Decentralized Governance and Voting
ECF pledges to employ “coin voting” among its supporter base for major grant allocations. Active participants in governance will not only influence the ecosystem but also gain early access to high-potential projects.
8. Conclusion: A Defining Moment for Ethereum’s Economic Model
The Ethereum Community Foundation’s launch represents a bold experiment: entwining tokenomics, supply management, and institutional bridging under one price-centric umbrella. By exclusively funding ETH-burning, mainnet-only projects, and accelerating RWA tokenization, the ECF stands to reshape both investor incentives and network fundamentals. As the RWA market surges past $24 billion and major institutions test tokenized offerings, Ethereum’s role as a programmable global settlement layer continues to solidify.
For investors and blockchain practitioners alike, the ECF’s roadmap offers new strategies—ranging from deflationary yield farming to institutional-grade RWA products—to explore and potentially profit from. With a transparent, community-driven treasury and a clear $10,000 ETH vision, the foundation has set a high bar. The coming months will test whether this price-first approach can harmonize with Ethereum’s ethos of decentralization, but one thing is certain: the landscape of on-chain finance is entering a new, more aggressive phase.
