Aya Miyaguchi is transitioning away from her role as the Ethereum Foundation’s executive director amid an ongoing leadership shakeup at the non-profit organisation.
In a Tuesday blog post Miyaguchi said she is starting a new role as the organisation’s president, a decision she said she made a year ago.
Today, I’m excited to turn the page and share that I will be closing this chapter as Executive Director of the @ethereumfndn soon and stepping into a new role as its President.
Let’s continue building in the garden.
Read my full statement :https://t.co/sn3Rpsatqy https://t.co/4Gz3WdLPLD
— Aya Miyaguchi (@AyaMiyagotchi) February 25, 2025
The announcement comes amid calls for a leadership overhaul as Ethereum struggles to hold its ground against rival blockchains like Solana.
Miyaguchi said she’ll “expand the reach of our vision” in her new post, but what that means is unclear. The non-profit organisation is tasked with funding the development of Ethereum-related technologies and isn’t intended to control or lead Ethereum.
While some congratulated Miyaguchi on her new role, others said the announcement creates more questions than it answers.
Eric Connor, a former Ethereum core developer, said on X: “No one knows what ‘president’ is. No one knows [what] the new leadership structure is. No one knows who the new executive director is. [I] Guess we will eventually see.”
“I read this tweet, Vitalik’s tweet, and the blog post and I am still confused,” Luke Xie, co-founder of restaking protocol SatLayer, said in response to Miyaguchi’s announcement on X. “Will the new executive director report to her or?”
Others said that the communication around Miyaguchi’s move doesn’t adequately explain what the day-to-day difference is between her role as executive director and president.
Calling for change
For weeks, prominent figures in the Ethereum community have called for change at the Ethereum Foundation, accusing Miyaguchi and other leaders of being ineffectual and out of touch with the community.
“We are indeed currently in the process of large changes to EF leadership structure, which has been ongoing for close to a year,” Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said in a January X post.
Over the past year, Ethereum’s Ether token fell some 18%, while Solana’s token gained 37%.
Miyaguchi’s role switch leaves her previous role as executive director open.
“It’s not the kind of move you would do unless you had a new executive director lined up,” Adam Cochran, an Ethereum investor, said on X.
Danny Ryan, a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, is a community favourite to take over as executive director.
In January, Ethereum users holding $159 million worth of Ether informally voted for Ryan to lead the Ethereum Foundation in a poll conducted by Fabrice Cheng, an engineering manager at Coinbase.
However, the decision for who will replace Miyaguchi ultimately rests with Buterin.
“The person deciding the new EF leadership team is me,” the Ethereum co-founder said on X in January. “One of the goals of the ongoing reform is to give the EF a ’proper board,’ but until that happens, it’s me.”
Ryan didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tim Craig is DL News’ Edinburgh-based DeFi Correspondent. Reach out with tips at tim@dlnews.com.
