TL;DR
- Tomasz Stanczak will step down as co-executive director at the end of February 2026, with Bastian Aue taking the interim co-ED role alongside Hsiao-Wei Wang.
- The move follows a governance restructuring introduced in April 2025.
- During his tenure, the foundation reinforced its focus on scaling, privacy, AI integration and institutional adoption, while delivering protocol upgrades and improving coordination across Layer 2 teams.
The Ethereum Foundation Leadership Shift marks a new chapter for the organization behind Ethereum, the second-largest blockchain by market capitalization. Tomasz Stanczak confirmed he will leave his role at the end of February 2026, less than one year after the foundation formalized its updated executive structure.
Stanczak said Bastian Aue will assume the interim co-ED position alongside Hsiao-Wei Wang. He added that he plans to remain active in the ecosystem as a hands-on builder, focusing on agentic systems and governance research while continuing to support founders and local hubs.
Ethereum Foundation Leadership Shift And Governance Evolution
The leadership change comes about nine months after the foundation introduced a revised governance framework in April 2025. That update appointed Stanczak and Wang as co-executive directors, while Aya Miyaguchi transitioned to president. Vitalik Buterin remained on the board, reinforcing strategic continuity at a critical stage for protocol development.
The reorganization followed criticism from parts of the ecosystem regarding transparency and long-term coordination. Since then, the foundation reported clearer treasury policies, improved budget communication and faster internal decision-making. It also convened more than 20 Layer 2 teams to address interoperability, scaling standards and ecosystem alignment.
During 2025, Ethereum implemented two protocol upgrades aimed at improving performance and developer experience. Core contributors advanced post-quantum security research and outlined a roadmap that integrates decentralized AI experimentation into protocol development.
Scaling AI And Institutional Adoption Drive Strategy
Stanczak described Ethereum as entering a phase shaped by AI agents, stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets operating onchain. Public dashboards show Ethereum maintaining a leading share in stablecoin settlement value and decentralized finance activity, reinforcing its role as base infrastructure for digital finance.
He argued that institutions increasingly view Ethereum as a low-risk settlement layer due to decentralization, credible neutrality and uninterrupted operation since 2015. Over the past year, major asset managers expanded tokenization pilots on public networks, while rollups gained ground in transaction throughput compared with alternative Layer 1 chains.
The foundation also created a dedicated platform team to coordinate Layer 1 and Layer 2 development, seeking to improve user experience and reduce fragmentation. Aue’s interim leadership coincides with the release of a merged core development roadmap expected to guide coordination through 2026.
