Ethereum Foundation loses 8th senior leader as co-director Wang resigns

Ethereum Foundation co-executive director Hsiao-Wei Wang stepped down effective immediately on Thursday, becoming at least the eighth senior figure to leave the organization in the past five months amid mounting scrutiny of the nonprofit's governance and strategic direction.

Wang, who joined the foundation in 2017 and helped build the Beacon Chain that underpins Ethereum's proof-of-stake system, said in a post on X that a recent sabbatical led her to conclude "this is the right moment for me to step back." Her departure follows the resignation of fellow co-executive director Tomasz Stańczak in February, who left after helping steer a leadership transition at the Switzerland-based organization.

The exodus includes at least eight senior researchers and leaders who have left this year, among them protocol coordinator Tim Beiko, consensus researcher Carl Beekhuizen, operations lead Josh Stark, and ecosystem organizer Trent Van Epps. Wang was the first ethnic Chinese leader with a technical background to serve on the EF board and authored EIP-4844, the proto-danksharding proposal that reduced costs for layer-2 users on Ethereum through blob transactions. She also contributed to The Merge, which cut the network's energy consumption by approximately 99.95 percent, and to the Shapella and Dencun upgrades.

Board member Bastian Aue has taken on a larger role guiding the organization in the interim following the departures of both co-executive directors. The leadership upheaval comes as Ethereum faces intensifying competition from rival blockchains such as Solana, with the foundation's priorities and governance under growing community scrutiny. "Ethereum has always been bigger than any one role, any one organization, or any one moment," Wang wrote, adding that she remains "a proud member of this community" as she figures out her next steps.

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