Ethereum Foundation to Cut Budget by 40% and Slash 20% of Workforce | CoinDesk Daily

**Uyen Truong** (0:00)
The Ethereum Foundation slashes its budget by 40% and Meta is building a prediction market app. This is CoinDesk Daily.
Vitalik Buterin says the Ethereum Foundation will cut its budget by roughly 40% this year, shifting to a leaner endowment style model. The foundation has also confirmed it's cutting about 20% of its staff. Buterin says the goal is to bring annual spending down to about 5% of the treasury. Senate Democrats are calling for hearings into a $500 million UAE investment in President Trump's family crypto venture World Liberty Financial. In a letter led by Senator Elizabeth Warren, five senators raised questions about a deal in which lieutenants to an Abu Dhabi royal bought a 49% stake just four days before Trump's inauguration. The senators demanded that the Trump administration explain, under oath, what they knew and when about payments to the families of the president and his lead diplomat for the region. And Metta is developing a new app called Arena that works like a prediction market. Users would forecast everything from politics to sports to entertainment by using a video game style point system, not cash, at least for now.
Insiders describe it as both experimental and a top priority. Get more updates on coindesk.com.