The Ethereum Foundation (EF) just announced the Silviculture Society, a new 15-member advisory council, in response to leadership controversy. This diverse collection of Ethereum builders is focused on one goal: defending the project’s core values.

Vitalik Buterin claimed that this Society is an experimental effort to promote community governance. The EF will build separate organs and advisory groups to tackle other problems, but the project’s direction is the first priority.

Can The Silviculture Society Uphold Ethereum Values?

Ethereum is finally starting to resolve leadership issues that have rocked the community. Two days ago, Aya Miyaguchi announced that she would become the Foundation’s next President after serving as Executive Director for seven years.

Today, the EF announced its new advisory organ: the Silviculture Society.

“The EF Silviculture Society: a loose collection of individuals from outside the Foundation who provide informal counsel to the EF … to make sure we sustain the core values of open source, privacy, security and censorship resistance. Ethereum’s success depends on having talented and committed developers building with these values in mind,” it claimed.

The Silviculture Society consists of 15 members from a very diverse range of backgrounds. Some have fairly conventional public-facing careers, like Matthew Green, a cryptography professor at Johns Hopkins University, or Lefteris Karapetsas, founder of Rotki, a privacy protector.

However, the majority of the Silviculture Society’s members appear to be totally pseudonymous, only using handles like “Aleph,” “dystopiabreaker,” or “mashbean.” The whole cohort strongly espouses the old-school crypto community’s values and cypherpunk culture.

Still, as one member noted, the Silviculture Society is not a governance council. Rather, it gives the EF “arm’s length feedback from the PoV of ecosystem participants.”

This same member also reposted a comment from another ecosystem builder, who noted that some EF criticism may not have happened in good faith. Instead, “price down pointless rage” may be to blame.

Ethereum Price in Turmoil, Fueling Criticism

While the EF has been embroiled in its leadership crisis, the price of Ethereum has been in dire straits. For example, a major controversy was related to how the Foundation handled business expenses.

This was resolved thanks to DeFi loan protocols, but discontent remained. Today, Ethereum’s price is at multi-month lows, and the whole crypto market may be turning bearish.

Ultimately, however, it doesn’t really matter if some of the community attacked EF leadership over price frustrations.

The Silviculture Society unequivocally looks like a good-faith effort, gathering a team of veteran builders to approach the same goals from many perspectives. It seems like a net positive for Ethereum’s project and ecosystem.

Vitalik Buterin, founder of Ethereum, has already been actively defending the Silviculture Society from social media criticism. He called it “an experimental effort to create more channels for builders and other community voices to influence the EF,” and this initiative is focused on defending core values.

Onyxcoin (XCN) has seen a significant price decline over the past month, dropping from $0.035 to $0.013 today. This ongoing downtrend mirrors Bitcoin’s price action, as the altcoin appears to be following the broader market’s bearish sentiment. 

The massive downturn has caused uncertainty, especially among futures traders.

Onyxcoin Traders Are Pulling Back

The open interest in Onyxcoin has taken a dramatic hit, falling over 50% in just a week. It dropped from $10.8 million to $4.7 million, reflecting traders pulling their money out due to the altcoin’s lack of recovery. This decline in open interest signals a bearish outlook and fear due to the lack of growth in the asset.

Moreover, the rapid decline in open interest suggests that traders are hesitant to bet on Onyxcoin in the near future. The lack of any recovery momentum has likely prompted many to seek more stable alternatives. This further discourages potential new investors from entering the market, deepening the bearish sentiment. 

Onyxcoin shares a strong correlation with Bitcoin, which currently stands at 0.81. This high correlation means that XCN has been closely following Bitcoin’s market movements. Given Bitcoin’s recent drop below $80,000, the bearish trend in Bitcoin has spilled over to Onyxcoin, dragging its price lower.

The relationship between XCN and Bitcoin emphasizes the broader market’s influence on altcoins. Bitcoin’s bearish performance, marked by sharp declines, is a significant factor in Onyxcoin’s ongoing downtrend. If Bitcoin fails to recover, Onyxcoin’s price may face further pressure, with limited potential for a reversal without broader market improvement.

XCN Price Decline Continues

XCN’s price is down 15% in the last 24 hours, trading at $0.013 after losing the crucial support of $0.015. However, the coin is currently holding above the $0.012 support level. Despite this, the bearish trend continues to dominate, and the altcoin is vulnerable to further declines.

If the downtrend persists, XCN could fall below $0.012, testing the next support at $0.010. This would extend the current month-long downward spiral, potentially deepening losses for investors. A breach of this level would be a major setback, signaling a further bearish outlook.

However, if Bitcoin manages to regain momentum and XCN follows suit, the altcoin could break through the $0.018 barrier. A successful flip of this resistance into support would invalidate the bearish thesis, offering hope for price recovery and signaling the end of the downtrend.

Ethereum (ETH) spent most of February trading within a narrow price range, struggling to gain momentum. However, this week’s market-wide downturn, triggered by Donald Trump’s trade policies, has pushed ETH to multi-month lows. 

With bearish sentiment on the rise and ETH struggling to regain strength, investors are questioning whether March will bring further declines or a potential rebound.

ETH Struggles as Supply Grows and Selling Pressure Mounts

The steady surge in ETH’s circulating supply is a cause for concern for market participants in March. According to Ultra Sound Money, 66,350 ETH coins, valued above $138 million at current market prices, have been added to the altcoin’s circulating supply in the past 30 days.

When more ETH tokens enter circulation, the overall supply available for purchase increases. If demand fails to keep pace, this surge in supply can exert downward pressure on the coin’s price as more tokens become available for selling.

With a lack of strong buying interest to absorb the excess supply, this trend suggests ETH could face sustained weakness through March. 

Moreover, ETH’s rising exchange balance is another reason to worry. After it plummeted to a year-to-date low of 17.27 million ETH on February 21, it has since rocketed. At press time, 17.67 million ETH coins are held on exchange wallet addresses, climbing 2% over the past seven days. 

ETH’s exchange balance tracks the number of coins held on exchange addresses. When this balance spikes, a large amount of ETH is being moved onto exchanges, often signaling that holders are preparing to sell. 

This increase in sell-side liquidity has added to the downward pressure on the coin’s price, especially as selling activity continues to outweigh buying demand. If sustained in the coming days, it will worsen bearish sentiment, as more traders will look to offload holdings rather than accumulate, exacerbating the price decline. 

A Buying Opportunity?

Despite ETH’s performance, some analysts believe this could present a buying opportunity for those looking to book gains in March. In an interview with BeInCrypto, Santiment analyst Brian Quinlivan opined that ETH’s current price levels may offer an attractive entry point for long-term investors.

According to Quinlivan, both short-term and long-term ETH holders are deeply in the red, a condition rarely seen among the top 50 cryptocurrencies. Historically, such moments of capitulation have preceded major price rebounds, as accumulation from large investors tends to follow periods of heavy selling.

“The asset (ETH) can be one of the better performers in 2025 due to its underwhelming performance in 2023 and 2024 relative to other alts and top caps. Both the short-term and long-term holders for Ethereum are well into the negatives, which isn’t the case for most top 50 tokens. So adding on to your position is doing so during a de-risked time compared to the average moment in ETH’s history,” Quinlivan noted.