The Ethereum Foundation and Vitalik Face Lawsuit: The Termination of a Cancer Patient and a "Harakiri Pledge"

On November 4, 2026, a civil complaint filed in Colorado federal court placed the Ethereum Foundation into the position it least wanted to be in—the defendant's dock.

Plaintiff Kayleen Fulton was previously the head of EF's Protocol Support Team.

Her allegations are highly incisive: she claims she was terminated after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and the real reason was that she led opposition to the "EF Mandate" document that sent shockwaves through the crypto circle, along with its infamous "Source Seppuku License."

The complaint lists Vitalik Buterin as one of the defendants and quotes his own words from a recording.

Thus, one of the most clandestine episodes of the Ethereum Foundation's turbulent transformation in 2026 has been brought to public attention.

From "Greatly Exceeding Expectations" to Being Shown the Door

Court documents outline an uncomfortable timeline.

In September 2025, Fulton received the highest performance rating of her tenure at EF, "greatly exceeding expectations," and earned a 21.9% salary increase.

The Protocol Support Team she managed served as a hub for the Ethereum core development process: organizing core developer meetings, tracking network upgrade progress, and running the Ethereum Protocol Fellowship program.

Then, on March 13, 2026, everything changed.

EF released a 38-page "Mandate" document.

If you thought this was a standard organizational mission statement, you would be mistaken.

It was filled with visual elements in the style of the Milady NFT collection, including illustrations of archers in lingerie, and embedded a "Source Seppuku License" copied from the Remilia wiki on page 11.

The text required signatories to pledge to "voluntarily withdraw" if they violated the principles outlined in the document, using phrasing that directly referenced the Japanese concept of "seppuku" (ritual suicide). Just a year prior, a colleague had committed suicide within the organization, causing such wording to immediately spark panic.

The complaint states that 79 employees voted to remove this clause. At this time, Vitalik Buterin reportedly promised to make "significant revisions."

But the revisions never came. Instead, this Mandate containing a "suicide pact" was permanently recorded on the Ethereum blockchain.

The Last Ten Days of March

On March 19, Fulton was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

On March 20, EF Co-executive Director Bastian Aue issued an ultimatum: All employees must sign a loyalty oath to the Mandate, or they will be deemed to have automatically resigned.

On March 24, Fulton disclosed her cancer diagnosis to EF.

On March 25, Fulton and colleague Trent Van Epps co-authored a joint letter signed by 53 members of the "Protocol Cluster" and submitted it to the EF Board.

The letter indicated their "refusal to sign under duress" regarding the Mandate, while simultaneously stating that they had not resigned.

Fifty-three signatures meant that the vast majority of protocol team members stood opposite management.

On April 6, Fulton was fired. Within the same day, and less than 30 minutes later, co-author Trent Van Epps was also fired. EF provided no reason for the terminations.

Vitalik's Recording

The most damning section of the entire complaint comes directly from Vitalik Buterin himself.

According to Fulton, on May 1, 2026, she had a phone call with Vitalik. The call was recorded. During the call, Buterin said the question he had been pondering was, "What kind of behavioral patterns do you want to reward internally at EF?"

The implication was clear: those who "stir up trouble" in front of management should not receive positive outcomes. Giving protesters favorable treatment would encourage others to follow suit.

If admitted as evidence in court, this recording would directly establish causation between Fulton's termination and her organizing of protests, constituting retaliatory discharge.

Buterin is listed as an individual defendant, accused in the complaint of "aiding and abetting" discriminatory and retaliatory acts. For someone who repeatedly emphasizes decentralization in public and claims his power will "continuously decrease," this defendant status is deeply ironic.

The complaint files a total of 11 legal claims, covering discrimination and retaliation under the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), interference and retaliation under the FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act), various allegations under Colorado anti-discrimination law, as well as unlawful confidentiality clauses, wrongful termination, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The separation agreement aspect is equally noteworthy.

The complaint states that Fulton signed a separation agreement on April 9, but she was under extreme psychological stress due to her cancer diagnosis and facing the direct threat of losing health insurance. She rescinded the agreement on April 17.

Fulton is demanding a jury trial and seeks damages including back pay, front pay, punitive damages, statutory penalties of $5,000 per violation, and attorney's fees.

Talent Drain Amid the "Smaller Boat" Voyage

Fulton's experience is not an isolated case; the Ethereum Foundation in 2026 is undergoing the most severe personnel upheaval since its inception.

Following the release of the Mandate, EF carried out large-scale layoffs and restructuring, cutting approximately 20% of its staff, totaling a reduction of about 54 people.

All three heads of the Protocol Cluster have departed: Tim Beiko and Barnabé Monnot resigned in succession, and Alex Stokes went on extended leave.

Co-executive Director Tomasz Stańczak has also stepped down.

In July 2026, the Protocol Support Team formerly led by Fulton was completely dissolved, ending five years of work organizing core developer meetings, coordinating network upgrades, and supporting EIPs.

In a public statement in May, Vitalik framed all of this as a deliberate choice: EF is becoming a "smaller boat," focusing on Censorship Resistance, Open Source, Privacy, and Security (the CROPS framework). He emphasized that EF is merely "one node" in the Ethereum ecosystem, not the center.

From the outside, this looks like an organization undergoing painful but necessary downsizing. But from the perspective presented in the complaint, at least one core employee who had just been diagnosed with cancer was treated as a troublemaker and eliminated during the execution of this "downsizing."

The legal fate of this complaint awaits ruling by the Colorado federal court, but the questions it raises go beyond the courtroom itself.

The Ethereum Foundation has long enjoyed a certain special status: it is neither a company nor a DAO, but a Swiss foundation that uses Employer of Record (EOR) firms to hire employees globally, while simultaneously claiming it is moving toward its own "demise."

This ambiguous organizational structure allows it to reap the benefits of decentralized narratives, but also leaves employees struggling to find a clear avenue for recourse when facing injustice.

Fulton's lawsuit is testing the legal boundaries of this gray area.

An organization that claims it is "not an employer" demands employees sign a loyalty oath, where refusal constitutes automatic resignation, and a cancer patient was shown the door within 30 days of disclosing her illness and organizing protests.

The question the Colorado federal court needs to answer is: Do traditional labor law protection mechanisms still apply in the face of this organizational structure?

Regardless of the court's final judgment, this case serves as a wake-up call for organizational governance in the crypto industry. The ideal of decentralization should not serve as a shield for evading basic labor protections. An organization that permanently records a "suicide pact" on the blockchain has questions to answer that extend far beyond the legal realm.

Join the official Coincamps community:

X: https://x.com/coincamps

Telegram: https://t.me/coin_camps