Ethereum Foundation leadership shake-up: Tomasz Stańczak out as co-executive director

Tech Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Ethereum Foundation leadership shake-up: Tomasz Stańczak out as co-executive director Stańczak came aboard in 2025 after the exit of longtime chief Aya Miyaguchi amid criticism the foundation wasn’t doing enough to push the Ethereum ecosystem. By Margaux Nijkerk , AI Boost | Edited by Jesse Hamilton Feb 13, 2026, 3:07 p.m. Make us preferred on Google Tomasz K. Stańczak is leaving the Ethereum Foundation, which he had led since last year with Hsiao-Wei Wang. (CoinDesk) What to know : Tomasz Stańczak, co-executive director of the Ethereum Foundation (EF), is stepping down from his leadership role at the end of the month. Stańczak, who shared leadership of the foundation with Hsiao-Wei Wang since early 2025, will be replaced by Bastian Aue, who will continue as co-executive director alongside Wang. Tomasz Stańczak, co-executive director of the Ethereum Foundation (EF), announced today he will step down from his leadership role at the end of February 2026, marking a notable shift in the organization’s executive team. Stańczak, who has co-led the foundation alongside Hsiao-Wei Wang since early 2025, said in a blog post that he believes the foundation and the broader Ethereum ecosystem are “in a healthy state” as he prepares to hand over the reins to Bastian Aue, who will take the co-executive director role alongside Wang. STORY CONTINUES BELOW Don't miss another story. Subscribe to the The Protocol Newsletter today . See all newsletters Sign me up By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms & conditions and privacy policy . Stańczak’s tenure began at a turbulent time for the EF. He was brought aboard following the transition of long-time executive director Aya Miyaguchi into a new leadership position amid mounting community criticism that the foundation wasn’t doing enough to aggressively push the Ethereum ecosystem forward. At the time, detractors pointed to a perceived disconnect between the EF and developers, including conflicts of interests , clashes over strategic direction and frustrations about ETH’s price performance. Such criticisms helped spur a broader leadership restructuring. While Stańczak stressed his confidence in the team’s ability to carry forward the EF’s mission, he also signaled his intention to remain involved in the ecosystem. “I plan to continue working directly with founders in frontier tech and Ethereum. I want to see and support the realization of the vision that I have talked about over the last years. It is one of the most exciting times to be a builder on Ethereum,” Stańczak wrote. Read more: Ethereum Foundation’s Aya Miyaguchi Leaving Executive Director Role Ethereum News Ethereum Foundation AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards . For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy . More For You Accelerating Convergence Between Traditional and On-Chain Finance in 2026? By CoinDesk Jan 30, 2026 Commissioned by Societe Generale-FORGE Read full story More For You AI-powered agents dominate the EasyA x Consensus Hong Kong hackathon By Olivier Acuna | Edited by Nikhilesh De Feb 12, 2026 Winning projects like FoundrAI demonstrate how generative AI is allowing developers to build market-ready products in just 48 hours. What to know : At the EasyA x Consensus Hong Kong 2026 hackathon, nearly 1,000 developers shifted focus from back-end infrastructure to user-facing applications, underscoring what organizers called the "Year of the Application Layer." Winning projects emphasized automation, security and risk management, with tools like FoundrAI's autonomous "startup in a box," SentinelFi's real-time scam detection and PumpStop's non-custodial, risk-focused trading layer. The hackathon's growing prominence on the main show floor and the emphasis on seamless UX, including passkey logins, reflect a broader industry push to attract the next wave of retail users despite a weak macro environment. Read full story Latest Crypto News CoinDesk 20 performance update: Uniswap (UNI) jumps 5.4%, leading index higher 47 minutes ago Crypto market wobbles as investors ignore good news, look for ‘exit ramp’ 2 hours ago Ark Invest buys $18 million of crypto stocks including 10th consecutive Bullish purchase 2 hours ago Bitcoin, ether little changed before U.S. inflation report 3 hours ago PGI Global CEO handed 20-year sentence for $200 million bitcoin, forex Ponzi scheme 4 hours ago Bitcoin’s long-term rally is ‘broken’ until it reclaims $85,000, Deribit executive says 4 hours ago Top Stories Recapping Consensus Hong Kong 6 hours ago Wall Street analysts cut Coinbase price targets following Q4 earnings miss 5 hours ago Crypto execs Armstrong, Garlinghouse among many named to U.S. CFTC advisory group 16 hours ago