In a significant announcement poised to reshape leadership within the Ethereum ecosystem, Tomasz, a key figure in the Ethereum Foundation’s executive team, has declared his intention to step down from his role as Co-Executive Director at the end of February 2026. This transition marks the culmination of a period of intense development and strategic recalibration for the Foundation and the broader Ethereum network. Bastian Aue is slated to assume the Co-Executive Director position, working alongside Hsiao-Wei, signaling a continuity of leadership with a fresh dynamic. Tomasz expressed optimism for the future, stating, "The future is bright for builders, for Ethereum, for the EF, and for me," in a brief summary of his announcement.
The Evolving Landscape of Ethereum: A Foundation for Tomorrow’s Innovations
The trajectory of Ethereum, a decentralized, open-source blockchain system powering a world of decentralized applications, has been marked by constant evolution. As competing ideas emerge and sometimes falter, and as market dynamics fluctuate, a core conviction in Ethereum’s technological underpinnings, governance structures, and shared values has consistently guided its progress. This underlying belief allows for intermittent convergence, even as individual curiosity drives exploration beyond established paths.
Tomasz’s tenure has been characterized by a deep engagement with the potential future of Ethereum. He observes a significant transition of financial infrastructure onto the Ethereum blockchain, a trend that has gained considerable momentum. This shift is not merely theoretical; it is manifesting in concrete applications and the emergence of sophisticated, automated, agentic interactions. Looking ahead, Tomasz anticipates witnessing the integration of robotic systems, novel forms of decentralized governance, and the application of artificial intelligence in critical sectors such as healthcare and education. He firmly believes that Ethereum is uniquely positioned to serve as the foundational infrastructure for the coordination of these increasingly interconnected technologies.
The proliferation of open-source Large Language Models (LLMs) and the rapid advancement of open-source agentic workers are generating unprecedented excitement among builders and creators, echoing the early days of Ethereum’s innovation. This new paradigm brings with it critical questions surrounding privacy and security, underscoring the fast-paced nature of global technological change. Within this evolving landscape, Ethereum is solidifying its role as the essential infrastructure layer for verification and financial transactions. The cypherpunk ethos, central to Ethereum’s inception, remains intact, with a dedicated community of privacy advocates and security experts working to ensure the network upholds user privacy and provides access to critical infrastructure.
Ethereum’s Institutional Ascendancy and the Dawn of a New Era
By 2025, Ethereum had demonstrably emerged as the preferred blockchain for institutional adoption. Data from various dashboards consistently highlight Ethereum’s growing market share in crucial sectors such as stablecoin issuance and the burgeoning field of Real-World Asset (RWA) tokenization. This institutional embrace is underpinned by Ethereum’s reputation as the lowest-risk blockchain available. Its core tenets of credible neutrality, robust decentralization, and an unbroken record of uptime since its genesis provide institutions with an infrastructure characterized by uniquely low counterparty, technological, and jurisdictional risks. The anticipation of Ethereum’s increased visibility in global financial centers is palpable, with major institutional Ethereum conferences, such as the one held in New York this year, underscoring this trend. The concurrent advancements in Artificial Intelligence and its accelerating integration into global financial systems have created an exceptionally opportune moment for development and innovation on the Ethereum platform.
The Ethereum Foundation: A Catalyst for Progress and a Strategic Evolution
Tomasz’s reflections on his time as Co-Executive Director highlight the impactful nature of the role. He has focused on empowering individuals with exceptional talent and dedication, both within the Ethereum Foundation (EF) and across the wider ecosystem. The EF has demonstrated a remarkable capacity for rapid change, driven by highly skilled personnel with a clear strategic vision for 2026 and beyond. The Co-ED position, Tomasz notes, has been profoundly rewarding, strategically challenging, and a source of immense joy and inspiration, bolstered by substantial community support.
Significant progress has been made in key areas. The roadmap is now clearer, goals are well-defined, and EF leadership has grown more confident in making autonomous decisions and assuming greater ownership. Central to these achievements are the successful execution or consistent improvement in several critical objectives: accelerating decision-making processes, engaging with younger generations, re-igniting excitement within the builder community, enhancing open communication across social media and podcasts, fostering greater 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 internal and external transparency regarding budgets and organizational structure. The individuals who spearheaded these changes continue to be instrumental in Ethereum’s development.
The perception of ETH as a robust store of value has solidified. While some transformative changes occur organically or unexpectedly, Tomasz’s independent execution capacity within the EF has naturally diminished over time, making his remaining tenure in 2026 feel more akin to a handover. The EF is described as being in a healthy state, adept at balancing long-term strategic objectives with the imperative for adaptation. It is characterized as a unique, resilient, and dynamic organization led by highly intelligent individuals.
Charting the Future: Roadmap, Security, and Decentralized AI
The beginning of 2026 promises to be a pivotal period for the EF’s role in Ethereum’s future. A forthcoming proposal for a merged LEAN Ethereum and core development roadmap is anticipated, outlining the long-term trajectory for the Ethereum protocol as envisioned by the EF Protocol team. This initiative aims to provide clear guidance and a framework for coordination in 2026 and beyond. Following the successful delivery of two network upgrades in 2025, and with the support of EF coordination teams, core developers are well-positioned to continue delivering essential protocol improvements on schedule.
A clear "quantum strategy" is in place, with leading quantum security researchers finalizing specifications and top engineers working on implementation. Post-quantum security is identified as a critical component of the EF Protocol roadmap, addressing a significant future threat vector.
Furthermore, a dedicated decentralized AI team within the EF is actively developing standards, conducting experiments, and creating solutions for the burgeoning agentic economy. This work is crucial for enabling autonomous agents and AI-driven systems to interact securely and efficiently within the blockchain ecosystem.
The Ecosystem Development (EcoDev) team at the EF is focused on ensuring the success of founders, institutions, and governments building on Ethereum. This includes dedicated support for global policy initiatives. The automation of many EF processes is being enhanced through the strategic application of AI for coordination. Communication surrounding roadmaps, use cases, and applications has seen significant improvements, thanks to the dedicated efforts of teams at ethereum.org and forkcast.org.
Navigating the L1-L2 Dynamic and Upholding Cypherpunk Values
A significant discussion point and challenge over the past year has revolved around the intricate relationship between Ethereum’s L1 and its various L2 scaling solutions. Recent public statements by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin aim to provide greater clarity on this complex dynamic. L2s serve to extend or build upon Ethereum, each adopting different trade-offs in terms of security and decentralization. Builders of L2 solutions strategically choose their value proposition by balancing risks against enhanced user experience across parameters such as scalability, decentralization, historical state availability, and privacy. The EF has established a dedicated Platform team tasked with fostering collaboration among over 20 Ethereum L2s. This team has been instrumental in facilitating discussions on the future of scaling, differentiation, and interoperability, notably at the Network School event. Teams building with rollups, both optimistic and zero-knowledge, and exploring synchronous composability are entering the year with more focused visions and strategic approaches. Notably, major Ethereum rollups have increasingly surpassed alternative Layer 1 blockchains in metrics such as stablecoin volume and transactions per second (TPS), a trend widely expected to continue.
While the EF has become more receptive to applications and engagement within the institutional space, it has remained steadfast in its commitment to cypherpunk values. Groups like Vitalik’s Silviculture Society provide advisory support to senior leadership on emerging risks, offering crucial warnings against potential missteps. In early 2026, Vitalik’s public communications have reinforced the importance of foundational principles central to the EF’s existence. The work of the Privacy and Scaling Explorations (PSE) group and the Kohaku project is currently focused on applied privacy solutions. The Protocol team is dedicating increased resources to enhancing security and censorship resistance through initiatives like FOCIL and the Trillion Dollar Security program.
Global Reach and Future Focus: Devcon Mumbai and New Generation Builders
The upcoming Devcon in Mumbai is anticipated to convene global blockchain thought leaders and founders to collaborate on Ethereum’s advancement. The Indian community’s long-standing anticipation for this event is now being met, a development that has been a source of pride for the team bringing Devcon to India in 2026.
In 2026, the EF is also significantly enhancing its outreach to the next generation of builders. The emergence of new voices within the EF, coupled with the behind-the-scenes efforts of talented individuals working with founders and media, signifies a renewed energy that will undoubtedly captivate the community. This is particularly relevant as the movement around agentic AI gains momentum, positioning Ethereum as the go-to trust infrastructure for these emerging technologies.
The "Ethereum Everywhere" initiative is actively supporting established hubs in San Francisco, Lagos, London, Berlin, and Hong Kong. The Academic Secretariat team has a robust schedule of university events planned for the year, the "pop-up cities" concept continues to gain traction, and the global ecosystem is becoming increasingly organized. New builders and long-term thinkers are actively meeting and collaborating worldwide.
In the coming weeks, the EF’s DeFi coordination team is set to publish a detailed blog post outlining their plans and roadmap. The caliber of talent recruited to support DeFi coordination is exceptionally high, reflecting a commitment to fostering the growth of the DeFi ecosystem.
Leadership Transition and Enduring Commitment
Hsiao-Wei will continue in her established role, carrying forward the existing strategic direction. Bastian Aue’s ascension to the Co-Executive Director position, alongside Hsiao-Wei, signals a robust leadership structure prepared to guide the EF. They will benefit from the support of the most talented individuals in the cryptocurrency space. James Smith, instrumental in driving the EcoDev transformation across builders, founders, and institutions, will continue his mission. Policy support and long-term strategic work will remain under the capable leadership of Bastian Aue and Tju Liang. Josh Stark’s exceptional aptitude for executing operational changes rapidly has also been crucial in leading major communication shifts across social media in 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 EF’s capacity for rapid innovation, with changes often implemented within days or weeks, remains a defining characteristic.
Tomasz’s Future Endeavors: A Continued Push for Innovation and Development
Looking ahead, Tomasz affirms his commitment to remaining accessible. His direct messages will remain open for those seeking support in connecting with individuals at the EF or engaging in discussions about Ethereum’s vision and strategy. He pledges to remain available to EF leadership for advisory purposes, acknowledging the reciprocal flow of valuable guidance he has received. Tomasz intends to consistently advocate for accelerated progress within the Ethereum ecosystem.
His future plans include continued travel and engagement with local communities, alongside efforts to assist businesses in building on Ethereum. He aims to transition into a more direct role as a core developer and hands-on product builder, focusing on agentic core development and governance. This aspiration mirrors the sentiment he experienced upon founding Nethermind in 2017, a time when he foresaw a significant paradigm shift in financial systems and believed his financial industry experience could foster an evolutionary rather than revolutionary transition. He now recognizes the transformative potential of agentic systems and AI-assisted discovery in reshaping the global landscape. While acknowledging the impermanence or potential obsolescence of certain agentic concepts, he emphasizes the value of playful experimentation, a defining characteristic of early Ethereum innovation.
Tomasz intends to continue working directly with founders in frontier technology and within the Ethereum space, eager to witness and support the realization of the vision he has articulated over recent years. He concludes by reiterating that this is an exceptionally exciting time to be a builder on Ethereum.
Gratitude and Recognition: Acknowledging the Collective Effort
Tomasz expresses profound gratitude to all those who have contributed to his journey, the Ethereum Foundation, and the broader Ethereum ecosystem in 2025. His extensive travels, spanning over 20 countries for work, have allowed him to engage with thousands of individuals – builders, financiers, educators, policymakers, creators, and researchers. He values the supportive words, challenging questions, and constructive critique received.
He extends heartfelt thanks to the EF board for their bold decision to appoint him as Co-ED alongside Hsiao-Wei. He also acknowledges Hsiao-Wei and the management team for their swift and collaborative efforts. Special recognition is given to Bastian Aue, Josh Stark, and Tju Liang for their emotional intelligence and facilitation of thoughtful discussions during challenging times. Joe Schweitzer is thanked for his significant contribution to numerous podcasts, helping to disseminate discussions about Ethereum’s future to a wide audience.
Tomasz expresses immense gratitude to the hundreds of Ethereum leaders who reached out in March and April 2025, offering critical insights and strategic perspectives that were instrumental in shaping the EF’s direction. He credits these contributions with guiding him toward the most effective paths forward.
Finally, he thanks every individual at the Ethereum Foundation for their unwavering commitment and talent in executing on their beliefs.
