Tomasz has announced his departure from his role as Co-Executive Director (Co-ED) of the Ethereum Foundation (EF), a significant transition set to take effect at the end of February 2026. This leadership change marks a pivotal moment for the Ethereum ecosystem, signaling a new chapter for the foundation and its ongoing commitment to fostering innovation and development within the decentralized web. Bastian Aue is slated to assume the Co-ED position, joining Hsiao-Wei, to steer the EF’s strategic direction. This announcement comes amidst a period of accelerated growth and increasing institutional adoption for Ethereum, with the departing Co-ED expressing optimism about the future trajectory of builders, the Ethereum network, the EF, and his own personal endeavors.
The Evolving Landscape of Ethereum
The world of decentralized technologies, particularly Ethereum, has consistently been characterized by dynamic evolution rather than static certainty. As competing ideas emerge and the market experiences fluctuations, the core conviction driving Ethereum’s progress stems from a profound understanding of its underlying technology, its governance mechanisms, its long-term vision, and the shared values of its community. This underlying cohesion allows participants to converge periodically, even as individual curiosities lead explorations down diverse and sometimes unconventional paths.
For an extended period, Tomasz has been deeply engaged in envisioning and shaping the future of Ethereum. The past few years have witnessed a marked transition of traditional financial infrastructure onto the Ethereum blockchain, alongside the burgeoning emergence of automated, agentic interactions. Projections indicate that in the near future, the network will underpin advancements such as robotic systems, novel forms of decentralized governance, and the integration of artificial intelligence into critical sectors like healthcare and education. The prevailing belief is that Ethereum will continue to serve as a fundamental infrastructure layer for the coordination of these increasingly interconnected technologies.
The advancement of open-source Large Language Models (LLMs) has been notably robust, with expectations for further improvements. Similarly, open-source agentic workers are emerging as a highly engaging frontier for developers and creators, reminiscent of the early days of Ethereum innovation. This paradigm shift brings with it critical questions concerning privacy and security, underscoring the rapid pace of global change. Within this transformative environment, Ethereum is solidifying its position as the foundational infrastructure for verification and financial transactions. The enduring cypherpunk ethos of Ethereum remains intact, with leading privacy advocates and security experts diligently working to ensure the network empowers individuals to safeguard their privacy and access essential digital infrastructure.
By 2025, Ethereum had demonstrably emerged as the preferred institutional choice within the blockchain space. Data from various dashboards consistently indicate Ethereum’s expanding market share in stablecoin transactions and the rapidly growing sector of Real-World Asset (RWA) tokenization. Ethereum is increasingly recognized as the chain with the lowest inherent risk. Its attributes of credible neutrality, robust decentralization, and an unbroken uptime record since its inception provide institutions with an infrastructure that offers uniquely minimized counterparty, technological, and jurisdictional risks. The anticipation is high for Ethereum’s increased presence within global financial centers, further amplified by the forthcoming major institutional Ethereum conference scheduled to take place in New York this year. In synergy with the advancements in artificial intelligence and its deepening integration into global financial systems, the current moment represents an exceptionally opportune period for innovation and development on the Ethereum platform.
The Ethereum Foundation’s Strategic Evolution
Over the past year, Tomasz has prioritized solidifying the role of the EF’s Co-ED as both impactful and desirable. This position has been instrumental in empowering individuals of exceptional talent and dedication, not only within the Ethereum Foundation itself but also across the broader Ethereum ecosystem. The EF has demonstrated a remarkable capacity for swift adaptation and change. It boasts a team of highly skilled professionals who learn with exceptional speed and are guided by a clear and forward-looking strategic roadmap for 2026. The Co-ED role has been a source of profound personal reward, strategic challenge, and immense inspiration. The support received from the Ethereum community has been nothing short of tremendous.
The current state of affairs within the EF is viewed positively, with a more defined roadmap and clearly established objectives. The leadership within the EF has grown in confidence, demonstrating increased autonomy in decision-making and a greater sense of ownership. Key objectives have included accelerating decision-making processes, engaging effectively with younger generations, revitalizing excitement within the builder community, enhancing transparency in social media and podcast communications, fostering greater openness towards institutional engagement, providing robust support for founders, establishing comprehensive treasury policies, strengthening local hubs and communities, introducing a formal compensation policy, clarifying the relationship between Layer 1 (L1) and Layer 2 (L2) scaling solutions, and increasing both internal and external transparency regarding budgets and organizational structure. These initiatives have either been successfully completed or are under continuous improvement. The individuals who spearheaded these transformative changes remain actively engaged in advancing the Ethereum ecosystem.
A growing segment of the market now perceives ETH as a secure store of value. While some significant shifts can occur unexpectedly, the diminishing capacity for independent execution by Tomasz within the EF in 2026 suggested that his continued presence would increasingly resemble a handover process. The EF is currently in a robust organizational state, capable of balancing long-term strategic goals with the imperative for continuous change. The foundation is recognized for its unique, dynamic, and resilient nature, guided by exceptionally intelligent leadership.
The commencement of 2026 heralds a period of considerable excitement regarding the EF’s prospective role in shaping the future of Ethereum. A proposal for a merged LEAN Ethereum and core development roadmap is anticipated imminently. This roadmap is designed to articulate a long-term strategic vision for the Ethereum protocol, reflecting the EF Protocol team’s core beliefs. It aims to provide clear guidance and a framework for coordinated efforts throughout 2026 and beyond. Following the successful delivery of two network upgrades in 2025, with the crucial support of coordination teams from the EF, core developers are well-positioned to continue delivering essential protocol improvements on schedule.
A well-defined quantum strategy is in place, with leading quantum security researchers finalizing specifications and top engineers actively engaged in implementation. Post-quantum security has been strategically integrated into the EF Protocol roadmap, addressing critical future threats to cryptographic integrity. Furthermore, a dedicated decentralized AI team within the Ethereum Foundation is actively developing standards, conducting experiments, and creating solutions for the burgeoning agentic economy.
The Ecosystem Development (EcoDev) team is focused on ensuring the success of founders, institutions, and governments building on Ethereum. A specialized Global Policy Support team is also in place. The EF is increasingly leveraging AI to automate operational processes and enhance coordination efforts. Communication surrounding roadmaps, use cases, and applications has become significantly clearer, a testament to the outstanding work undertaken by the teams at ethereum.org and forkcast.org.
A primary area of discussion and challenge over the past year has revolved around the L1-L2 relationship. Recent communications from Vitalik Buterin aim to provide enhanced clarity on this long-observed dynamic. Layer 2 solutions extend or build upon Ethereum, each presenting unique trade-offs in terms of security and decentralization. L2s differentiate their value propositions by strategically balancing risks against improved user experience across parameters such as scalability, decentralization, historical state availability, and privacy. The EF has established a dedicated Platform team, bringing together over 20 Ethereum L2s to collaboratively discuss the future of scaling, differentiation, and interoperability at the Network School. Teams developing based rollups, native rollups, and synchronous composability are embarking on the current year with more focused visions and a refined approach. Notably, major Ethereum rollups have increasingly surpassed all alternative Layer 1 blockchains in stablecoin and transactions per second (TPS) metrics, a trend anticipated to persist.
While the EF has adopted a more open stance towards applications and the institutional space, its core focus remains centered on cypherpunk values. Groups such as Vitalik’s Silviculture Society provide advisory input to senior leadership on emerging risks and offer crucial warnings against potential missteps. Through a series of communications at the beginning of 2026, Vitalik underscored the importance of fundamental principles that underpin the EF’s existence. The work undertaken by PSE (Privacy & Scaling Explorations) and Kohaku is presently concentrated on applied privacy research. The Protocol team is dedicating increased resources to security and censorship resistance through initiatives like FOCIL and the Trillion Dollar Security program.
The upcoming Devcon in Mumbai is poised to convene global blockchain thought leaders and founders to collaborate on Ethereum’s advancement. The Indian community has long deserved such an event, and the team’s effort in bringing Devcon to India in 2026 is a source of significant pride. In 2026, the EF is also demonstrating enhanced capabilities in engaging with the emerging generation of builders. The contributions of new voices within the EF, coupled with the efforts of talented individuals supporting founders and media behind the scenes, reflect a revitalized energy. This renewed dynamism is expected to maintain community excitement throughout 2026, particularly as the movement around agentic AI solidifies Ethereum’s position as its preferred trust infrastructure.
The "Ethereum Everywhere" initiative is actively supporting established hubs in San Francisco, Lagos, London, Berlin, and Hong Kong. The Academic Secretariat team has planned numerous new university events for the current year, and the pop-up cities concept continues to gain momentum, fostering an increasingly organized environment where new builders and long-term thinkers converge and collaborate globally. In the coming weeks, the EF’s DeFi coordination team is scheduled to publish a detailed blog post outlining their strategic plans and roadmap. The influx of exceptional talent recruited by the EF to bolster DeFi coordination efforts is a testament to the commitment to supporting the DeFi ecosystem.
Hsiao-Wei will continue to lead, maintaining the established strategic direction. Bastian Aue will assume an expanded leadership role alongside Hsiao-Wei. Regardless of the specific path they choose, they will benefit from the unwavering support of some of the most talented individuals in the cryptocurrency space. The comprehensive transformation of the EcoDev department, focusing on builders, founders, and institutional engagement, was spearheaded by James Smith, who will continue his impactful work. Policy support and long-term strategic initiatives will remain under the capable leadership of Bastian Aue and Tju Liang. Josh Stark possesses an exceptional aptitude for driving rapid operational changes and has been instrumental in orchestrating the significant communication enhancements across social media platforms during 2025. Engineers and researchers within the Protocol cluster are collaborating more closely than ever, confidently setting future roadmaps and tackling the most formidable technological challenges. The Ethereum Foundation is an environment where progress is swift, and transformative changes can be realized within days or weeks.
Tomasz’s Future Endeavors
Tomasz’s direct messages (DMs) will remain open for individuals seeking support in connecting with EF personnel or engaging in discussions about Ethereum’s vision and strategy. He will continue to be available to the EF leadership for advisory purposes, acknowledging that he has frequently benefited from their insights. His ongoing commitment is to consistently advocate for the Ethereum ecosystem to maintain its rapid pace of development.
His future plans include continued travel and engagement with local communities, as well as assisting businesses in their development on Ethereum. Tomasz intends to focus more intently on core development, acting as a hands-on product builder, and contributing to areas such as agentic core development and agentic governance. This renewed focus mirrors the sentiment he experienced when co-founding Nethermind in 2017, a period marked by a strong conviction that a significant technological shift was imminent. At that time, he recognized Ethereum’s potential to transform financial systems and leveraged his financial industry experience to guide this evolution. Today, he acknowledges the profound impact of agentic systems and AI-assisted discovery in reshaping the global landscape. While aware of the transient or even inconsequential nature of some agentic concepts, he views playful experimentation as a defining characteristic of early Ethereum innovation.
Tomasz plans to continue his direct engagement with founders operating in frontier technologies and within the Ethereum ecosystem. His objective is to witness and actively support the realization of the vision he has articulated over recent years, underscoring that this is an exceptionally exciting time to be a builder on Ethereum.
Acknowledging Contributions and Future Collaboration
The scope of individuals who have provided support to Tomasz, the Ethereum Foundation, and the broader Ethereum ecosystem in 2025 is vast, making a comprehensive list impractical. During his tenure at the EF, Tomasz visited over 20 countries for work-related engagements, spending considerable time interacting with local communities. He met thousands of individuals, including builders, financiers, educators, policymakers, creators, and researchers. He expressed deep appreciation for the supportive words, challenging questions, and constructive critique received from these interactions.
Tomasz extends his heartfelt gratitude to the EF board for their courageous decision to appoint him as Co-ED alongside Hsiao-Wei. He also expresses thanks to Hsiao-Wei and the management team for their swift and collaborative approach. Significant appreciation is directed towards Bastian Aue, Josh Stark, and Tju Liang for their emotional intelligence and their facilitation of thoughtful discussions during critical junctures. Joe Schweitzer is also thanked for his invaluable assistance in reviewing numerous podcasts, enabling broader communication about Ethereum’s future.
A profound debt of gratitude is owed to hundreds of Ethereum leaders who reached out in March and April 2025, highlighting critical areas requiring attention and sharing their strategic perspectives for the EF. These contributions were instrumental in guiding the path forward. Finally, Tomasz thanks every individual at the Ethereum Foundation for their unwavering commitment and execution based on their deeply held beliefs and considerable talents.
