Ethereum Foundation Leadership Reshuffle: Strategic Game between Idealism and Market Reality

In March 2025, the Ethereum Foundation announced significant personnel changes: Aya Miyagotchi stepped down as Executive Director to take on the role of Chair, Hsiao-Wei Wang and Tomasz Stańczak were appointed as Co-Executive Directors, and former researcher Danny Ryan joined Etherealize.

This transformation is not just a personnel adjustment; it resembles a strategic game concerning the future of Ethereum. For a long time, Aya has been promoting the idealized vision of building an "infinite garden." However, with increasing competition and the emergence of network issues, the community has begun to question her conservative strategy. The EF is attempting to seek a balance between ideals and reality by adjusting its leadership.

Dual Leadership: New Pattern of Responsibilities and Powers

Aya Term Review

Aya Miyaguchi has served as the Executive Director of EF since 2018, coinciding with Ethereum's transition to Proof of Stake. She advocates for a "subtractive philosophy" to prevent EF from becoming a centralized institution, upholding the values of openness, neutrality, and decentralization. She has promoted several new teams and projects, such as the EF Fellowship program and Devconnect conference.

EF architecture and recent changes

The Ethereum Foundation is a "team community" that supports numerous semi-autonomous teams. The organizational structure is divided into four main sections: protocol development, ecological development, operational support, and privacy and scalability exploration.

At the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025, the research team underwent reorganization, dividing into five dedicated groups: applied research, consensus development, cryptography, protocol security, and incentive mechanisms. Alex Stokes and Barnabé Monnot became co-heads of research.

The PSE team has separated from AppliedZKP and is focusing on research in zero-knowledge proofs and privacy technology. In 2024, the team underwent significant reorganization.

Latest management structure: Aya has been appointed as the Chairperson, Hsiao-Wei Wang and Tomasz serve as Co-Executive Directors, Barnabé Monnot and Alex Stokes are Co-Heads of Research, Tju Liang Chua continues as General Counsel, and Bastian and Josh Stark are responsible for management and operations.

Hsiao-Wei Wang and Tomasz: Dual Engines of Technology and Management

Hsiao-Wei Wang has been with EF since 2017, focusing on sharding and beacon chain technology. Tomasz Stańczak has gained extensive experience at Nethermind. The new architecture aims to decentralize decision-making responsibilities and achieve a complementary advantage between technology and management.

Aya appointed as chairman, Vitalik returns to research

Aya focuses on strategic guidance and external communication. Vitalik will invest more in research and exploration, reducing daily coordination work.

Community Response

The community welcomed the new appointment, believing that the joint executive director will help achieve balance at the governance level. Some members were surprised that Danny Ryan did not take on a major leadership role, but ultimately a constructive consensus was reached.

Ecological Reconstruction: The Rise of Etherealize

Danny Ryan returns to the Ethereum ecosystem as a co-founder of Etherealize. Etherealize is a platform focused on business expansion and marketing within the Ethereum ecosystem.

Core Mission

1. Institutional Access and Productization
2. Integration of Technology and Market
3. Policy Advocacy and Regulatory Dialogue
4. Feedback and Transparency

dual-track architecture

Etherealize is divided into the for-profit entity Etherealize Inc. and the non-profit entity Etherealize Foundation.

Etherealize Origin

Originating from the launch of the Ethereum ETF in July 2024, Grant Hummer observed that institutional adoption was lower than expected. The team was formally established in January 2025, quickly expanding from pure BD to implementation delivery.

2025 Strategic Blueprint

• Q2 Launch of Institutional-grade SDK
• Q3 launch of the enterprise wallet pilot based on the Noir zero-knowledge compiler
• Entering the Asia-Pacific and European markets in Q4

Ethereum VS Solana: Institutional Rivalry Under Currents

Ethereum accounts for over 50% of RWA value, with a wealth of collaboration cases with traditional financial institutions. Solana has fewer collaborations with traditional financial institutions, and RWA is mainly concentrated in stablecoins.

Recent Adjustments and Outlook for EF

EF Silviculture Society: Diverse Consultation and Internal Innovation

EF has launched an informal think tank composed of external experts to provide cross-disciplinary advice to the foundation.

Financial Strategy and Budget Management

EF has launched a budget strategy of "spending 15% of remaining funds annually." Treasury assets have decreased from $1.294 billion in March 2022 to $784 million in October 2024.

Entering DeFi and ecological innovation

EF invested 50,000 Ether to participate in DeFi projects, exploring diversified innovative models.

Social Media and Marketing

EF strengthens investment in major platforms to enhance brand image.

EF funding

ESP continues to offer small grants and project funding with the launch of the forward-looking Pectra initiative and 2025 academic funding.

EF Strategic Outlook

The overall route focuses on three core aspects:

1. Improve data processing capacity through Blob-based scaling.
2. Improve L1 throughput through directed protocol upgrades
3. Improve user experience by deepening L2 interoperability and focusing on the application layer.

Vitalik proposed a privacy roadmap that covers on-chain payment privacy, partial anonymization of in-app activities, privacy of chain data reading, and network layer anonymization.

Conclusion

The Ethereum ecosystem is undergoing a paradigm shift from the inside out. The dual leadership structure achieves decentralized decision-making responsibility, and the emergence of Etherealize is an important milestone in the strategic transformation. Although challenges remain, these changes pave the way for Ethereum to explore new possibilities, marking the beginning of a new era oriented towards the future.