San Francisco, CA – In a significant leadership transition for the Ethereum ecosystem, Tomasz, the current Co-Executive Director (Co-ED) of the Ethereum Foundation (EF), announced his intention to step down from his role at the end of February 2026. He revealed that Bastian Aue will assume the Co-ED position, working alongside Hsiao-Wei, to guide the foundation’s strategic direction. This announcement marks the culmination of a period of substantial growth and transformation for both the Ethereum network and the EF itself, as the ecosystem increasingly solidifies its position as a foundational layer for future technological and financial innovation.
The transition comes at a pivotal moment for Ethereum, which has seen unprecedented institutional adoption and is poised to become a critical infrastructure for emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), decentralized finance (DeFi), and advanced agentic systems. Tomasz’s tenure as Co-ED has been characterized by a strategic focus on accelerating decision-making, enhancing community engagement, and fostering greater transparency within the foundation and the broader Ethereum network.
The Evolving Landscape of Ethereum: From Vision to Institutional Reality
The narrative surrounding Ethereum has shifted dramatically over the past few years. Once primarily viewed as a speculative cryptocurrency venture, it has matured into a robust, decentralized computing platform increasingly recognized for its potential to underpin global financial infrastructure and facilitate complex digital interactions. This evolution is underpinned by a deepening understanding of its core technological strengths, its sophisticated governance mechanisms, and the shared values that unite its diverse community.
"As competing ideas emerge and fail and the markets jump up and down, we have never been given too much certainty," Tomasz reflected in his announcement. "The conviction about Ethereum that comes from a deep understanding of its technology, its governance, its meaning for the future, and the values we share will always make us converge intermittently, even when our curiosities drive our explorations very far from the canonical paths."
The past year has witnessed a significant acceleration in Ethereum’s integration into traditional financial systems. Data indicates a growing market share for Ethereum in key areas such as stablecoins and the burgeoning Real-World Asset (RWA) tokenization sector. Reports from analytics firms like CoinMetrics and Messari have consistently highlighted Ethereum’s dominance, with stablecoin volume on Ethereum often surpassing that of other major blockchains combined. The platform’s perceived status as the "lowest-risk chain," attributed to its credible neutrality, robust decentralization, and an unbroken history of uptime since its genesis, has made it an attractive infrastructure for institutions seeking to mitigate counterparty, technological, and jurisdictional risks. The upcoming major institutional Ethereum conference in New York further underscores this trend, signaling a growing presence in global financial centers.
Beyond finance, Ethereum is emerging as a critical coordination layer for a host of advanced technologies. The proliferation of open-source Large Language Models (LLMs) and the rapid development of agentic workers are creating new frontiers for developers and creators. These advancements are accompanied by critical discussions around privacy and security, areas where Ethereum’s cypherpunk ethos remains paramount. The network is increasingly seen as the underlying infrastructure for verification and financial transactions, with a dedicated focus on privacy-preserving solutions and access to essential infrastructure.
The convergence of AI advancements and the integration into global financial systems presents an exceptionally fertile ground for innovation on Ethereum. The potential for automated, agentic interactions, the development of AI-driven governance models, and applications in fields like AI healthcare and education are no longer theoretical but are rapidly becoming tangible realities. The EF’s role in facilitating this innovation through research, development, and community support is thus more critical than ever.
The Ethereum Foundation’s Transformation Under New Leadership
Tomasz’s tenure as Co-ED has been marked by a concerted effort to redefine the role of the EF as an impactful and desirable entity, empowering individuals and fostering innovation across the Ethereum ecosystem. Under his leadership, the foundation has strived to achieve rapid change, cultivating a highly talented team with a clear strategic vision for the future.
"The co-ED position was extremely rewarding, strategically challenging, and brought me a lot of joy and inspiration," Tomasz stated. "The support that I received from the community was tremendous." He noted that significant progress has been made in key areas. The roadmap has been clarified, goals have been set, and EF leaders have grown in confidence and autonomy.
Key achievements highlighted include:
- Accelerated Decision-Making: Implementing processes to expedite the foundation’s strategic and operational choices.
- Enhanced Community Engagement: Increased outreach to younger generations and a revitalization of the builder community through open communication channels on social media and podcasts.
- Institutional Outreach: Developing stronger relationships with institutions and governments looking to build on Ethereum.
- Financial Stewardship: Establishing treasury policies and improving internal and external transparency regarding budgets and organizational structure.
- Protocol Clarity: Providing greater clarity on the relationship between Ethereum Layer 1 (L1) and Layer 2 (L2) scaling solutions.
- Ecosystem Support: Strengthening local hubs and communities worldwide, introducing compensation policies, and supporting founders.
The foundation has made substantial strides in preparing for future technological challenges, including quantum computing. A clear "quantum strategy" is in place, with leading researchers finalizing specifications and engineers working on implementations to ensure post-quantum security is integrated into the EF’s protocol roadmap. Furthermore, a dedicated decentralized AI team is actively developing standards, experiments, and solutions for the burgeoning agentic economy.
The Ecosystem Development (EcoDev) team has focused on supporting founders, institutions, and governments building on Ethereum, bolstered by a dedicated Global Policy Support team. Automation of efforts through AI is being prioritized, with enhanced communication strategies implemented through collaborations with ethereum.org and forkcast.org.
A significant area of focus has been the L1-L2 relationship. Following extensive discussions and initiatives like the Network School, which brought together over 20 Ethereum L2s, there is a clearer understanding of scaling, differentiation, and interoperability. Major Ethereum rollups are increasingly demonstrating their superiority over alternative Layer 1 (AltL1) chains in key metrics such as stablecoin volume and transactions per second (TPS), a trend anticipated to continue.
Despite embracing openness to institutional applications, the EF has maintained its core cypherpunk values. Groups like Vitalik Buterin’s Silviculture Society provide crucial guidance on emerging risks, while initiatives like those from Privacy and Scaling Explorations (PSE) and Kohaku focus on applied privacy. The Protocol team’s commitment to security and censorship resistance is evident in programs like FOCIL and the Trillion Dollar Security initiative.
The upcoming Devcon in Mumbai is a testament to the EF’s commitment to global engagement, bringing together blockchain thought leaders and founders to collaborate on Ethereum’s future. The Indian community’s long-standing aspiration for hosting this premier event is finally realized, signaling a significant milestone for the ecosystem.
The EF is also demonstrably better equipped to engage with the next generation of builders. The emergence of new voices within the foundation, coupled with dedicated efforts in media and founder relations, injects a fresh energy that is expected to captivate the community in 2026, particularly as agentic AI and Ethereum solidify their symbiotic relationship.
The "Ethereum Everywhere" initiative continues to support global hubs in cities like San Francisco, Lagos, London, Berlin, and Hong Kong. The Academic Secretariat is planning a robust schedule of university events, and the pop-up city concept is gaining momentum, fostering connections between new builders and long-term thinkers worldwide.
The DeFi coordination team is poised to release a comprehensive blog post detailing their plans and roadmap, signaling a renewed focus on supporting the DeFi ecosystem with highly talented individuals now at the helm.
A Smooth Transition of Leadership
The handover of the Co-ED role to Bastian Aue, working alongside Hsiao-Wei, is designed to ensure continuity and strategic momentum. "Hsiao-Wei stays and continues the path. Bastian Aue takes on an expanded leadership role alongside Hsiao-Wei. Whatever direction they take, they will have the support of the best talent in crypto," Tomasz affirmed. He also acknowledged the critical contributions of James Smith in transforming the EcoDev efforts, Josh Stark in driving operational changes and communication strategies, and Tju Liang in policy support and long-term work. The Protocol cluster’s engineers and researchers are noted for their enhanced collaboration and confident roadmap setting.
Tomasz’s Future: A Return to Hands-On Building and Frontier Technologies
Looking ahead, Tomasz expressed his intent to remain an active participant in the Ethereum ecosystem, albeit in a different capacity. He plans to continue offering support and strategic advice to the EF leadership and will remain accessible through direct messages for those seeking connections or guidance.
"My DMs stay open for all of you who need support in connecting with people at the EF or discussing the vision and strategy of Ethereum," he stated. "I will remain available for the EF leadership, should they ever feel they need advice."
His future endeavors will likely involve a return to direct, hands-on product building, with a particular focus on agentic core development and agentic governance. This echoes his foundational experience when he co-founded Nethermind in 2017, a period he described as a time of profound belief in Ethereum’s potential to revolutionize financial systems.
"I feel much the same as I felt when I started Nethermind in 2017. I felt very strongly at the time that a big change was happening. I knew that Ethereum was going to replace the financial systems and I knew that I had an important experience in the financial industry to make it more of an evolution rather than a revolution," he explained. "I know now that agentic systems and AI-assisted discovery are reshaping the world."
Tomasz intends to work directly with founders in frontier tech and Ethereum, aiming to support the realization of visions he has articulated over recent years. He views this as an exceptionally exciting time for builders on the Ethereum platform.
Acknowledging the Collective Effort
In concluding his announcement, Tomasz expressed profound gratitude to the myriad individuals who have contributed to the growth and success of Ethereum and the EF. He extended heartfelt thanks to the EF board for their trust, to Hsiao-Wei and the management team for their collaborative spirit, and to Bastian Aue, Josh Stark, and Tju Liang for their invaluable leadership and emotional intelligence. He also recognized Joe Schweitzer for his contributions to public communication and acknowledged the vast network of Ethereum leaders who provided crucial strategic input.
"Thank you to every single person at the EF for executing on your beliefs and talents," he concluded.
The transition marks not an end, but a new chapter for both Tomasz and the Ethereum Foundation, poised to navigate the increasingly complex and innovative future of decentralized technology.
