Ethereum Foundation, Vitalik Buterin sued over firing after 'suicide pledge' dispute

A former Ethereum Foundation employee is suing the organization and members of its leadership, alleging she was unlawfully terminated after challenging an employee mandate.

Kayleen Fulton, known by the moniker "Nixo," filed the complaint on Nov. 4 in Colorado. The defendants include the Ethereum Foundation, its Singapore affiliate, executive Bastian Aue and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

The basis of the lawsuit stems from Fulton's dismissal on April 6 and a dispute over the Foundation's "EF Mandate" that outlines its updated mission and principles. Fulton's suit also alleges disability discrimination and interference with medical leave rights coinciding with a cancer diagnosis she disclosed to the EF around the same time.

The Block reached out to Fulton and the Ethereum Foundation, but did not receive a reply from either before publication.

The mandate, published March 13, codified Ethereum's core "CROPS" principles — censorship resistance, open source, privacy and security — and outlined the Foundation's role in upholding them. However, many of the issues in the lawsuit center around a "Source Seppuku License" section of the pledge that said employees would "take his or her own life with a sword" for failing to "uphold its solemn promise to Ethereum."

According to the complaint, employees were given the choice to affirm their commitment to the mandate's direction or leave. However, the filing acknowledges that Aue said the seppuku reference was "not meant to be taken literally" and later clarified that the commitment had "nothing to do with literal seppuku."

Fulton and another colleague, Trent Van Epps, organized a letter endorsing the EF's direction while objecting to some of the conditions of the mandate, which ultimately garnered 53 signatures. The complaint alleges that because of this pushback, Fulton and Van Epps were unlawfully terminated.

Dispute with Buterin

The filing also quotes a May 1 conversation with Buterin that Fulton partially recorded. It does not state whether Buterin knew or consented to the conversation being recorded, but notes that it took place in Norway, where one-party consent to recording is legal.

The complaint quotes Buterin as saying that "if you reward making a stink with outcomes," employees could use that as a way to influence the Foundation.

Fulton said she was offered a year's salary under a separation agreement, but alleges she signed the release under duress, received no payments, and later rescinded it.

She is seeking an unspecified amount in damages and lost pay.