A long-time Ethereum investor and community figure has pushed back against growing concern about a series of recent departures from the Ethereum Foundation (EF), arguing that the organization’s commitment to the network remains strong.
Ryan Berckmans, who has worked full-time in the Ethereum ecosystem for eight years, provided one of the more detailed community defenses of the EF’s direction since a number of departures began this year.
Departures Driven by Differences in Approach
Berckmans contends that the departures are being misinterpreted.
“The EF departures are not because the people departing feel differently about Ethereum and our trajectory vs. the people staying at EF or vs. community folks like me,” he wrote.
In his view, the departures were driven by a mix of internal disagreements over sub-strategies rather than any widespread loss of faith in Ethereum, along with an intentional generational transition.
“Some folks disagreed. Some tiny number were asked to leave for Reasons. Some few others left immediately due to Reasonable Net Feelings. Some more are leaving because the Wheel is Turning,” he explained.
Berckmans added that new, younger contributors are prepared to take on leadership roles across teams and departments. He also addressed a recurring complaint in the community—that the EF and Vitalik Buterin are indifferent to ETH’s price—calling this a misconception.
He argues that the EF and core contributors care deeply about long-term value, but they operate on a much longer time horizon than many community members follow.
“They want to know, ‘How will Ethereum remain dominant after quantum computers?’ and, ‘How will Ethereum be the world’s economic hub for trillions in assets and thousands of L2s across a hundred countries?’”
His conclusion is that asking these questions presumes the long-term goals are achievable, and he described the EF’s initiatives aimed at those outcomes as “gigabullish.”
Four Prominent Contributors Left in About Four Weeks
The recent wave of exits included contributors such as Carl Beek, Julian Ma, Barnabé Monnot, Tim Beiko, Trent Van Epps, Josh Stark, and former co-Executive Director Tomasz Stańczak.
Stańczak’s departure attracted particular attention because it occurred just 11 months after he took the role. The exits have been concentrated: four of the more prominent departures occurred within roughly four weeks in April and May.
Crypto researcher Nick Sawinyh published a detailed analysis that referenced unconfirmed online claims suggesting staff were asked to formally align with a new Foundation mandate. The EF has not publicly confirmed those claims, and none of the departing contributors publicly cited such a mandate as their reason for leaving.
Community discussion has also focused on the upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade to Ethereum, which remains in testing. The protocol update includes changes related to scaling and validator infrastructure, although some expected features—such as FOCIL and native account abstraction—have been postponed to a later upgrade cycle.
Despite the departures and feature delays, many Ethereum supporters believe the ecosystem can absorb leadership changes without endangering the network. Author William Mougayar described the Foundation’s shrinking visible role as an intentional step to remove a remaining central point of control from Ethereum rather than evidence of institutional decline.