Ethereum Foundation Co-Executive Director Tomasz has announced his upcoming departure from the role at the end of February 2026, marking a significant leadership transition for the organization. Bastian Aue will assume the co-Executive Director position, working alongside Hsiao-Wei. This transition comes as the Ethereum ecosystem matures, with a strong emphasis on technological advancement, institutional adoption, and the burgeoning field of agentic artificial intelligence.
Ethereum’s Ascendance: A Foundation for the Future
The current landscape of Ethereum is characterized by a robust technological evolution and increasing integration into global financial systems. Despite market fluctuations and the emergence of competing ideas, a core conviction in Ethereum’s long-term vision, rooted in its technology, governance, and shared values, continues to drive its development. Tomasz highlighted this enduring strength, stating, "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."
This foundational belief is being tested and validated by the rapid integration of Ethereum into critical infrastructure. The transition of financial infrastructure to Ethereum, a trend observed throughout 2025, is accelerating. This evolution is poised to usher in an era of automated, agentic interactions, with forecasts pointing towards the emergence of sophisticated robotic systems, novel governance models, and advancements in AI-driven healthcare and education. The Ethereum Foundation views Ethereum as the natural coordination layer for these interconnected technologies.
Technological Frontiers: LLMs, Agents, and Privacy
The development of open-source Large Language Models (LLMs) continues to show promising progress, with expectations for further improvements. Concurrently, open-source agentic workers are emerging as a significant innovation for developers and creators, reminiscent of the early days of Ethereum. This surge in agentic technology brings with it critical questions surrounding privacy and security. The world is undergoing rapid change, and within this transformation, Ethereum is solidifying its position as the underlying infrastructure for verification and financial transactions. The cypherpunk ethos, central to Ethereum’s inception, remains intact, with dedicated privacy builders and security experts ensuring the network upholds principles of privacy and access to essential infrastructure.
Institutional Embrace and Market Dominance
By 2025, Ethereum had emerged as the preferred institutional choice within the blockchain space. Data from various dashboards indicates a growing market share for Ethereum in stablecoins and Real World Asset (RWA) activity. Its reputation as the lowest-risk chain is a significant factor. Credible neutrality, robust decentralization, and an unbroken track record of zero downtime since its genesis offer institutions an infrastructure with exceptionally low counterparty, technology, and jurisdiction risk. This institutional confidence is further underscored by the anticipation of major institutional Ethereum conferences, such as the one scheduled for New York in the current year, signaling Ethereum’s increasing presence in global financial centers. The confluence of AI advancements and the deepening integration into global financial systems creates an unprecedentedly exciting period for innovation on the Ethereum platform.
Ethereum Foundation: A Catalyst for Ecosystem Growth
Tomasz’s tenure as co-Executive Director has been marked by a strategic focus on empowering individuals and fostering impactful change within the Ethereum ecosystem. He emphasized the desirability and impact of the co-ED role, stating, "It has been important for me, over the last year, to present the role of the EF co-ED as impactful and desirable, a position where one can make a meaningful difference by empowering people of extraordinary talent and dedication, both at the EF and more broadly in the Ethereum ecosystem."
Under his co-leadership, the Ethereum Foundation has demonstrated agility in driving change. The organization boasts a highly talented team with a clear strategic direction for 2026. The co-ED position has been described as profoundly rewarding, strategically challenging, and a source of inspiration. The support received from the broader Ethereum community has been instrumental.
Key objectives that have been either completed or are seeing consistent improvement include:
- Accelerating Decision-Making: Streamlining processes for faster and more effective governance.
- Engaging Younger Generations: Introducing Ethereum to a new demographic of builders and innovators.
- Rekindling Builder Excitement: Reigniting enthusiasm within the developer community.
- Enhanced Open Communication: Increasing transparency through social media and podcasts.
- Institutional Outreach: Fostering stronger relationships with established institutions.
- Founder Support: Providing resources and guidance to emerging projects.
- Treasury Policy Development: Establishing clear guidelines for financial management.
- Strengthening Local Hubs: Supporting and expanding community presence globally.
- Compensation Policy Introduction: Implementing standardized compensation structures.
- Clarifying L1-L2 Relationship: Defining the interdependencies and roles of Ethereum’s main layer and its Layer 2 solutions.
- Budgetary and Structural Transparency: Increasing openness regarding financial allocations and organizational design.
The individuals responsible for these advancements continue their work within the Ethereum ecosystem. The growing recognition of ETH as a robust store of value is a testament to these efforts. While the capacity for independent execution within the EF may naturally diminish over time, Tomasz’s continued presence in 2026 is envisioned as a seamless handover of responsibilities. The Ethereum Foundation is characterized as a resilient and dynamic organization, capable of balancing long-term objectives with the imperative for adaptation, led by highly intelligent individuals.
Strategic Roadmaps and Future Initiatives
The beginning of 2026 holds significant promise for the EF’s role in Ethereum’s future. A proposal for a merged LEAN Ethereum and core development roadmap is slated for release, 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, with the support of EF coordination teams, core developers are well-positioned to continue delivering essential protocol improvements on schedule.
Quantum Security and Decentralized AI
A clear "quantum strategy" is in place, with leading quantum security researchers finalizing specifications and top engineers working on implementation. Post-quantum security is a key component of the EF Protocol roadmap, addressing potential future threats to cryptographic systems.
Furthermore, a dedicated decentralized AI team is actively developing standards, conducting experiments, and creating solutions for the emerging agentic economy. This includes contributions to areas like [1] and [2], signaling a commitment to integrating AI into the core fabric of decentralized systems.
Ecosystem Development and Global Policy
The Ecosystem Development (EcoDev) team at the Ethereum Foundation is focused on ensuring the success of founders, institutions, and governments building on Ethereum. This includes a dedicated Global Policy Support team. The foundation is increasingly leveraging AI to automate its efforts and enhance coordination. Communication regarding roadmaps, use cases, and applications is being streamlined through the collaborative work of the teams at ethereum.org and forkcast.org.
Navigating the L1-L2 Landscape
A significant point of discussion and challenge over the past year has been the relationship between Ethereum’s Layer 1 (L1) and Layer 2 (L2) solutions. Recent analyses by prominent figures in the Ethereum community aim to provide greater clarity on this evolving dynamic. L2s extend or build upon Ethereum, each with distinct trade-offs in terms of security and decentralization. These L2s define their value proposition by balancing risks against user experience improvements across parameters such as scalability, decentralization, historical state availability, and privacy. The EF has established a Platform team to facilitate discussions among over 20 Ethereum L2s, focusing on the future of scaling, differentiation, and interoperability at events like the Network School. Projects building on rollups (both based and native) and those pursuing synchronous composability are entering the year with refined visions and focused strategies. Notably, major Ethereum rollups have consistently surpassed alternative Layer 1 blockchains in stablecoin and transactions per second (TPS) metrics, a trend anticipated to continue.
Upholding Core Values in an Evolving Ecosystem
While fostering openness towards new applications and the institutional space, the EF remains steadfast in its commitment to cypherpunk values. Groups such as Vitalik Buterin’s Silviculture Society provide crucial guidance to senior leadership on emerging risks, acting as a vital safeguard against potential missteps. Buterin’s early 2026 commentary has set a tone emphasizing the importance of fundamental principles crucial to the EF’s existence. Projects like PSE and Kohaku are actively engaged in applied privacy research, while the Protocol team dedicates substantial effort to security and censorship resistance through initiatives like FOCIL and the Trillion Dollar Security program.
The upcoming Devcon in Mumbai is poised to bring together global blockchain thought leaders and founders to collaborate on Ethereum’s future. The Indian community’s long-standing anticipation for this event makes its arrival in 2026 particularly significant, a development that the EF team is immensely proud to facilitate.
Connecting with the Next Generation of Builders
In 2026, the EF is enhancing its ability to engage with the next generation of builders. The emergence of new voices within the EF, coupled with the dedicated efforts of individuals working behind the scenes with founders and media, reflects a renewed energy. This dynamism is expected to maintain community excitement throughout 2026, particularly as the movement around agentic AI solidifies Ethereum’s position as its essential trust infrastructure.
The "Ethereum Everywhere" initiative continues to support established hubs in San Francisco, Lagos, London, Berlin, and Hong Kong. The Academic Secretariat team has ambitious plans for university events, and the pop-up cities concept is gaining momentum, fostering better organization within the community and facilitating connections between new builders and long-term thought leaders worldwide.
DeFi Coordination and Future Leadership
In the coming weeks, the DeFi coordination team at the EF is set to publish a blog post detailing its plans and roadmap. The foundation has attracted significant talent to bolster its DeFi coordination efforts, with the belief that these individuals are exceptionally suited to support the DeFi ecosystem.
Hsiao-Wei will continue in her role, guiding the ongoing trajectory of the EF. Bastian Aue’s assumption of an expanded leadership role alongside Hsiao-Wei signifies a strengthened leadership team, poised to receive the full support of the EF’s talented personnel. James Smith’s pivotal role in the EcoDev transformation, particularly in fostering builder, founder, and institutional engagement, will continue as he pursues 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 ability to drive operational change rapidly and his leadership in social media communications during 2025 are invaluable. The engineers and researchers within the Protocol cluster are collaborating more closely than ever, confidently setting future roadmaps and addressing the most complex technological challenges. The Ethereum Foundation is characterized by its speed of execution, with significant changes capable of being implemented within days or weeks.
Tomasz’s Next Chapter: Frontier Technology and Hands-On Development
Tomasz has affirmed that his direct messages will remain open for those seeking support in connecting with EF personnel or discussing Ethereum’s vision and strategy. He will continue to be available to the EF leadership for advice, acknowledging the valuable insights he has received from them. His stated intention is to consistently advocate for the Ethereum ecosystem to maintain its pace of innovation.
His future endeavors are expected to involve continued travel, engagement with local communities, and support for businesses building on Ethereum. A significant focus will be on acting as a core developer and hands-on product builder, particularly in the areas of agentic core development and agentic governance. This reflects a sentiment similar to his experience when co-founding Nethermind in 2017, a period he described as a significant inflection point where he foresaw Ethereum’s potential to revolutionize financial systems. He now believes that agentic systems and AI-assisted discovery are reshaping the global landscape, embracing the "playful experimentation" that defined early Ethereum innovation, even while acknowledging the potential impermanence of certain agentic ideas.
Tomasz plans to work directly with founders in frontier technology and the Ethereum space, aiming to support the realization of visions he has articulated over recent years. He views this as one of the most exciting periods for builders on Ethereum.
A Grateful Farewell and Acknowledgment of Support
Expressing profound gratitude, Tomasz acknowledged the impossibility of listing everyone who has contributed to his journey, the EF, and Ethereum throughout 2025. His travels, spanning over 20 countries, allowed him to connect with thousands of individuals—builders, financiers, educators, policymakers, creators, and researchers—whose support, critical questions, and critiques have been invaluable.
He extended heartfelt thanks to the EF board for the "bold step" of appointing him as co-ED alongside Hsiao-Wei. He also thanked Hsiao-Wei and the management team for their collaborative and swift progress. Special recognition was given to Bastian Aue, Josh Stark, and Tju Liang for their emotional intelligence and facilitation of critical discussions. Joe Schweitzer was thanked for his contributions to outreach through podcast reviews, helping to disseminate the vision for Ethereum’s future to a broad audience.
Tomasz expressed deep appreciation for the hundreds of Ethereum leaders who reached out in early 2025, sharing vital insights and perspectives that informed the EF’s strategy. He attributed his ability to navigate the "right paths" to their guidance.
Finally, he thanked every individual at the Ethereum Foundation for their dedication and execution, emphasizing their commitment to their beliefs and talents.
