What the Ethereum Foundation’s new co-directors mean for the blockchain – BitRss

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GM, Tim here.

Ethereum just got some long-awaited positive news: its non-profit foundation has appointed two new co-executive directors.

Foundation researcher Hsiao-Wei Wang and Nethermind founder Tomasz Stańczak will take over as co-executive directors effective March 17, a Saturday blog post from the Ethereum Foundation said.

Both new directors have a ton of practical experience.

Wang, a foundation veteran of eight years, has pushed forward so-called sharding to help scale Ethereum, and contributed to the network’s switch to Proof of Stake in 2022.

Stańczak founded Nethermind, one of several firms that develop the client software Ethereum runs on.

1/ The Ethereum Foundation is thrilled to welcome Hsiao-Wei Wang and Tomasz Stanczak as co-Executive Directors. This new leadership structure marks an exciting new chapter in the Foundation’s evolution as we continue to support a growing Ethereum ecosystem.

🧵

— Ethereum Foundation (@ethereumfndn) March 1, 2025

How the foundation will change under the new leadership isn’t clear yet.

Many Ethereum bulls want the blockchain to be run more like a business, placing a focus on the network’s token economics and ability to capture value.

Anyone hoping the new co-directors will push such an agenda may be disappointed.

In an X post, Stańczak emphasised that the overall vision for Ethereum is still dictated by co-founder Vitalik Buterin and previous director Aya Miyaguchi.

He also said the dual leadership structure has a “slightly more collective feel than what you would expect from a CEO-led organisation.”

Those upset by Buterin’s tongue-in-cheek comments on communism might not like the sound of that.

All else aside, the pressure is now on for Wang and Stańczak to turn Ethereum around as it struggles to hold its ground against rival blockchains like Solana.

More business-minded Ethereum supporters aren’t being ignored, however.

Ahead of the announcement of Wang and Stańczak as co-directors, many had been hopeful that foundation researcher Danny Ryan would take on the role.

Ryan announced on Saturday that he is joining Ethereum marketing arm Etherealize as a co-founder alongside former Wall Street banker Vivek Raman.

This week in DeFi governance

VOTE: Compound DAO ($1.96) votes to deploy protocol on Uniswap’s Unichain

VOTE: Aave proposes framework for using GHO stablecoin as a gas token

VOTE: Arbitrum DAO votes to increase the Stylus Sprint Committee’s budget

Post of the week

LayerZero’s Bryan Pellegrino shares his take on the ETHDenver 2025 conference.

This entire conference is ETH ($2,103.09) doom porn, who scheduled this? @MaxResnick1 on main stage atm describing how cooked eth is and how happy he is he’s gone at Solana now.

The other stage is a speech on Sui Walrus

The main booth I saw walking to my upcoming panel was @Polkadot

— Bryan Pellegrino (臭企鹅) (@PrimordialAA) March 1, 2025

Tim Craig is DL News’ Edinburgh-based DeFi Correspondent. Reach out with tips at tim@dlnews.com.