By 2026, at least nine researchers have left the Ethereum Foundation.
Written by: Aakash Girimath
Translated by: Saoirse, Foresight News
This week, the Ethereum Foundation (EF) has lost three key personnel, raising further public concerns about the internal stability of the organization. Protocol researchers Carl Beekhuizen and Julian Ma announced their departures on Monday, followed closely by Senior Solutions Architect Pablo Voorvaart, who officially left on Tuesday.
This year has seen a total of nine personnel departures, causing significant alarm across the crypto industry. Insiders are questioning the Ethereum Foundation's internal consensus and coordination abilities, while worrying that this wave of core talent loss could hinder the rollout of Ethereum’s new network upgrade projects, like Glamsterdam.
DeFi researcher Ignas openly voiced the community's concerns on social platform X, criticizing the Foundation's lack of transparency: 'What’s really happening inside the Ethereum Foundation? How many more unannounced departures are there? What are the real reasons behind it? Is it that industry professionals are losing faith in the Ethereum ecosystem, or is it the stark salary disparities in the industry, or perhaps the team is just burnt out? The public wants to know the truth.'
The industry's community attitude is polarized: panic and worry coexist with a rational outlook.
Many Ethereum community professionals are deeply concerned about the negative impacts of core personnel departures. Notably, community figure Banteg bluntly stated that all three heads of major protocols at the Ethereum Foundation have left, backing this up with an internal organizational chart showing the list of departed personnel.
However, there are also many professionals who view this personnel shift with indifference, even suggesting that the Ethereum ecosystem should reduce its reliance on the Ethereum Foundation. Community investor Ryan Berckmans believes it's normal for internal teams to have differing opinions on development strategies and institutional planning. The Ethereum Foundation remains focused on the long-term ecosystem layout, emphasizing post-quantum security technologies and on-chain scalability tracks. This personnel transition is simply a healthy replacement of old players with fresh blood, and there's no need for excessive panic.
Coincidentally, Ryan Sean Adams from Bankless also stated that the Ethereum community cannot solely depend on the Ethereum Foundation. He believes the market needs an organization that actively promotes the value of ETH assets, is willing to speak out, and has strong execution capabilities, something the Ethereum Foundation has consistently failed to achieve and will likely not change in the future.
In response, David Phelps offered a different perspective, arguing that this mindset is unreasonable: much like a head of state ignoring national economic issues, the Ethereum Foundation, as a core entity of the industry ecosystem, should prioritize the overall economic health and market development of the ecosystem.
The large-scale talent exodus has become an established trend.
This wave of concentrated departures had been foreshadowed. Back in February, former co-Executive Director Tomasz Stańczak officially stepped down from the Ethereum Foundation. In 2024, the Foundation has been mired in internal turmoil, with many core industry professionals dissatisfied with the Foundation's management model and filled with doubts about the future direction of the Ethereum public chain. During his tenure, Tomasz Stańczak managed to stabilize the situation and reverse the Foundation's decline.
Back in March, the Ethereum Foundation asked all employees to sign the Cypherpunk Manifesto, which sparked strong discontent across the community. Faced with immense public pressure, the Foundation ultimately rescinded this unreasonable demand.
Besides the recent departures, several veteran core members left earlier this year, including peer-to-peer network head Raúl Kripalani, operations head Josh Stark, protocol guild founder Trent Van Epps, and protocol cluster heads Barnabé Monnot and Tim Beiko. Another executive, Alex Stokes, remains with the Foundation but is currently on planned leave.
These departing members have been deeply involved in the Ethereum ecosystem for years, holding a wealth of core industry experience and technical resources. Carl Beekhuizen served at the Foundation for seven years, deeply involved in the early construction of the Beacon Chain and KZG ceremony design; Julian Ma worked for four years, leading the development of the censorship-resistant protocol FOCIL (EIP-7805) and spearheading the implementation of a 13-second block confirmation rule; Pablo Voorvaart also dedicated four years, fully responsible for the operations of the Ethereum Developer Conference Devcon and the application scenario laboratory.
The Ethereum Foundation has confirmed in its latest protocol update that the Glamsterdam testnet is officially up and running, and preparations for the next-generation Hegotà network upgrade project are steadily underway.