Ethereum Foundation sued after firing employee over mandatory suicide pact

A former Ethereum Foundation employee has sued the nonprofit and related entities in Colorado, alleging disability discrimination, retaliation, and unfair employment practices. The dispute centers on a 38-page document circulated to roughly 250 staff in early 2026, setting out the organization’s vision for the next millennium. One illustrated page asked contributors to keep Ethereum’s software and related materials freely available and included a pledge to die by sword if they violated its terms or altered the pledge. Employees were offered a choice: support the mandate or seek a settlement and leave. About 80 employees opposed the pledge in a draft circulated in February. It remained in the final version in illustrated form, which the Foundation characterized as artwork; founder Vitalik Buterin said it was not meant literally.

Kayleen Fulton, a protocol-support team lead, helped organize a letter signed by 53 employees. The signers supported the document’s general direction but declined to select either option or resign. Fulton and one colleague who helped organize the letter were fired; Buterin reportedly argued that the organization should not “reward making a stink with outcomes.” By September, eight senior employees had left, and most signers had either resigned or been dismissed. Fulton, who earned $195,000 annually, seeks unspecified damages. Her suit also alleges interference with Family and Medical Leave Act rights: she says she disclosed an ovarian cancer diagnosis on March 24, about two weeks before her termination.