8 senior exits in 5 months. $ETH Foundation now has ZERO Co-EDs left.
Hsiao-Wei Wang just walked. 9 years deep in $ETH, last remaining Co-Executive Director. Her parting shot? "Ethereum is always bigger than any position, any organization, any era." Then ghosted.
She wasn't some mid-level dev. She was core protocol researcher since 2017—shipped Beacon Chain, The Merge, Shapella, Dencun. Vitalik himself called her role "possibly the hardest job at EF" when she took Co-ED in early 2024. Lasted 14 months.
2025 is a bloodbath year for EF talent:
- Tomasz Stańczak (Co-ED) out in Feb
- Tim Beiko, Josh Stark, Trent Van Epps, Carl Beekhuizen, Barnabé Monnot, Julian Ma all bounced
- 5 exits in May alone
Only Bastian Aue left holding the bag as solo ED now.
Meanwhile EF drops "Walkaway Test" doctrine in March—38-page manifesto saying $ETH must survive even if EF vanishes tomorrow. Vitalik echoes this in May: "EF is just one node, not the center." They're still deploying $9.86M in research grants Q1 alone, but the coordination layer is hollowing out fast.
Network runs fine. No tech issues. But who fills the gap when the people who aligned devs and community all leave at once?
Other L1s have active Foundations pushing narrative. $ETH chose radical decentralization and self-sufficiency. Philosophically pure. Tactically? Creates a vacuum.
Two camps forming:
- Worried: This is brain drain during $ETH's worst market cycle
- Zen: Smaller, protocol-focused EF is exactly what decentralization demands
One ED now steering the #2 L1 globally. Direction is clear. Manpower is not.
Your read—lean EF good for long-term resilience, or does $ETH need stronger institutional coordination right now?
Hsiao-Wei Wang just walked. 9 years deep in $ETH, last remaining Co-Executive Director. Her parting shot? "Ethereum is always bigger than any position, any organization, any era." Then ghosted.
She wasn't some mid-level dev. She was core protocol researcher since 2017—shipped Beacon Chain, The Merge, Shapella, Dencun. Vitalik himself called her role "possibly the hardest job at EF" when she took Co-ED in early 2024. Lasted 14 months.
2025 is a bloodbath year for EF talent:
- Tomasz Stańczak (Co-ED) out in Feb
- Tim Beiko, Josh Stark, Trent Van Epps, Carl Beekhuizen, Barnabé Monnot, Julian Ma all bounced
- 5 exits in May alone
Only Bastian Aue left holding the bag as solo ED now.
Meanwhile EF drops "Walkaway Test" doctrine in March—38-page manifesto saying $ETH must survive even if EF vanishes tomorrow. Vitalik echoes this in May: "EF is just one node, not the center." They're still deploying $9.86M in research grants Q1 alone, but the coordination layer is hollowing out fast.
Network runs fine. No tech issues. But who fills the gap when the people who aligned devs and community all leave at once?
Other L1s have active Foundations pushing narrative. $ETH chose radical decentralization and self-sufficiency. Philosophically pure. Tactically? Creates a vacuum.
Two camps forming:
- Worried: This is brain drain during $ETH's worst market cycle
- Zen: Smaller, protocol-focused EF is exactly what decentralization demands
One ED now steering the #2 L1 globally. Direction is clear. Manpower is not.
Your read—lean EF good for long-term resilience, or does $ETH need stronger institutional coordination right now?