The development of Ethereum encounters problems because a former team member warns that work on EVM has stopped due to conflicting voices combined with a lack of clear goals. On Friday March 14 Harikrishnan Mulackal a former Solidity expert and compiler engineer at the Ethereum Foundation showed his displeasure about the platform’s current direction through his X post.
According to Mulackal Ethereum’s decentralized leadership hinders the smooth passage of important updates. He warned that ETH must change its update process because network improvement will cease for good. He wanted ETH to become faster with updates while making research take a backseat by only implementing one major network upgrade every three months.
This is why I left the Ethereum Foundation.
There is a lack of a clear and cohesive vision for Ethereum and EVM, making progress in EVM impossible.
I've seen EVM changes repeatedly shut down because they don't check a certain box. The issue is that everyone has a different… https://t.co/TkAngYnycX
— Hari (@_hrkrshnn) March 14, 2025
Ethereum Faces Development Challenges
The engineer predicts Ethereum needs to evolve or its current development path will deliver identical performance as the past five years. People worry that ETH faces growing challenges in staying ahead of blockchain technology because its development speed and decision-making process need improvement.
“The issue is that everyone has a different opinion on what these checkboxes should be, each contradicting the other. So nobody can agree on any changes. There was a single change in the EVM in the last five years (transient storage), and it almost got shut down at the last minute and did not make it!”
Harikrishnan Mulackal
Current business changes show ETH experiences difficulties. Even though Bitcoin hit new highs many times recently Ethereum’s market behavior stays low. The Ethereum Foundation continues selling its ETH supply to explain why the token performs poorly according to market analysts. Numerous sales by Ethereum Foundation members and governance issues make many investors doubt what ETH will become.
People see ETH as the top platform for smart contracts because it supports various decentralized applications plus layer-2 solutions and institutions adopt its technology. Organizational growth issues combined with expensive transactions and weak governance make people doubt whether ETH will stay the top blockchain product.
Ethereum’s Future Sparks Debate
The article by Mulackal creates debate among Ethereum users about slower development but defenders uphold the careful approach to platform improvements. The debate about Ethereum centers on whether its scientific research protocols protect security and future development versus if slower development allows competitors to pass it by.
The next Dencun hard fork upgrades aim to solve Ethereum’s problems about operational costs and layer-2 scaling methods. The community still needs to see if these updates will get deployed before their critics judge them.
As cryptocurrency develops quickly ETH needs to combine new features with established operations. Whether ETH solves its platform management and technical development problems will decide its success in the blockchain world.
