Compiled by: Golden Finance 0xxz
After a year of transition, on February 25, 2025, Vitalik and the Ethereum Foundation (EF) announced that Aya Miyagotchi, executive director of the Ethereum Foundation, was officially promoted to chairman of the Ethereum Foundation. Aya Miyagotchi then published an article introducing her future plans for the Ethereum Foundation. The following is the full text:
Dear Ethereum Community Members,
Today, I’m excited to turn the page and share that I’m closing my time as Executive Director of the Ethereum Foundation (EF) and moving into a new role as President of the Foundation. This new opportunity will allow me to continue to support EF’s institutional relationships and expand the impact of our vision and culture more broadly. I’m grateful and enthusiastic about the future, and while I made this decision a year ago, recent events have given me the perfect opportunity to reflect on what’s truly important to me.
Over the past few weeks, a deeper meaning has been revealed about Ethereum — a fact that has never been clearer than in moments of tension, when disputes arise about the performance of the network or the market value of ETH. Across the globe, teams and individuals talk about Ethereum as if it were their own, but it’s this tension that is our greatest strength: Ethereum belongs to everyone, precisely because it belongs to no one. Our permissionless culture doesn’t just tolerate disagreement — it becomes stronger through it. In the midst of it all, we’re seeing a new, hopeful energy, which reminds me that we often notice the North Star in the darkness — something we often take for granted.
I would like to borrow Stewart Brand's "Pace Layering" to explain my view on Ethereum. He proposed a framework for how the world works, which was inspired by Brian Eno's "Shearing Layers". Over time, this model has shaped the thinking of a group of influential people, technologists, artists, futurists, and organizations.
Maintaining the values of Ethereum
Where does Ethereum fit in these layers? Is it in the fast-moving outer layers, experimenting quickly? Or is it in the core, evolving more slowly by nature and culture? I think the answer is neither of these two. If we want Ethereum to be more than a short-term product, if we want it to be integrated into the fabric of the world for the long term, we need all layers, evolving at all speeds. If we don’t want Ethereum to be forever confined to the short-term product of one company, then all layers cannot — and should not — be dominated by EF.
The Ethereum Foundation is committed to identifying gaps and imbalances between these layers. The Ethereum Foundation’s role has never been to control or own all domains in Ethereum. Rather, our responsibility — our accountability — lies in upholding the values of Ethereum. Through our actions and inactions, we have a responsibility to ensure that Ethereum remains resilient not only as a network, but as a broader ecosystem of people, ideas, and values — never reduced to the product of a single organization.
The value of credible neutrality does not mean treating everything equally, but rather making principled choices that fundamentally protect the integrity of Ethereum. Our philosophy of subtraction is often misunderstood: it is not minimalism, nor does it mean doing less for the sake of minimalism. It is a subtractive design mindset that focuses on results rather than rigid methods. Subtraction is not a process, but the result we strive for: a less imbalanced, less centralized landscape that could harm the value of Ethereum. This way of thinking is not about thinking less is better, but about recognizing that achieving balance often requires thoughtful complexity or adding new mechanisms to ensure that no single entity (including EF) dominates the development of Ethereum.
Guided by philosophy
By owning only what we are best suited to own, the Ethereum Foundation has helped launch new projects, new organizations, and new heroes. Guided by this philosophy, countless decisions have helped Ethereum become the largest ecosystem of its kind while maintaining its limitless potential. Ethereum can do anything, be everywhere, serve everyone, be supported by the brightest minds in every field, and most importantly, it must remain uncontrolled. These values are our North Star, and this is how we will realize the original vision of Ethereum as the world computer.
This philosophy informs everything we do.
Here are some examples of how EF’s actions have impacted Ethereum R&D and infrastructure:
- We do not control, but rather manage all core development calls, creating space for technical decisions to be made through the wisdom of the community.
- We advocate client diversification, not just in terms of quantity, but in order for clients to be successful and maintained by different teams in the ecosystem to avoid single points of failure. Client incentive programs have also been supporting the work of client teams.
- We support the coordination of R&D interop retreats, knowing that real breakthroughs happen when different teams bounce ideas off each other.
- Some efforts started with seeds we planted—such as account abstraction or cross-L2 coordination—but they were designed to grow beyond our initial inclinations and flourish through community nurturing.
- Merging and moving to PoS is a nearly impossible task. Not only because it must be executed seamlessly while thousands of applications continue to run, but also because it requires a delicate balance: leading without controlling, coordinating without centralizing.
Devcon has become something truly unique in the Ethereum ecosystem. Not just any conference, it offers a space with community hubs and domain-specific events led by those driving progress in every corner of the ecosystem. We focus on fostering leadership in diverse communities, empowering them to shape their own visions and connect with their people. While this approach makes coordination more complex, requires more time and resources, and requires us to accept a level of unpredictability, we believe it is the best way to reflect the true nature of Ethereum — a network of independent yet connected communities, each contributing to the whole. Devconnect, which we have been hosting since 2021, is a natural extension of this philosophy: creating space for deep, focused collaboration while allowing diverse communities to lead in their own ways.
As we work with this philosophy in mind, I encourage our team to keep in mind a key principle: EF must evolve, just as Ethereum itself is a dynamic entity. However, we must avoid evolving like a traditional company, as the goal of EF is not for EF to "win" - it is for Ethereum to win in the long term while adhering to its core values. As the needs of the ecosystem evolve, our focus shifts from simply asking "how does EF do this?" to "how does Ethereum enable this, and what role should EF play?" This does not mean retreating; rather, we move forward with purpose, strategy, and intention, always guided by our mission to preserve the integrity and values of Ethereum.
Subtraction, not minimalism
Long-term sustainability, not short-term gains
Thoughtful complexity, not oversimplification Management, not control
Adaptive growth, not rigid structure
Purposeful evolution, not corporate expansion
Communities lead, not dominate
Irreplaceable uniqueness
It’s been amazing to witness this growth in the ecosystem. When I joined EF seven years ago, Ethereum had fewer voices. Participation (both in the building and protection of the network) was concentrated in fewer people and regions. Back then, as an Eclectic Dreamer (a title I prefer to Executive Director), I often asked myself: what makes Ethereum not only different, but unique? The answer was always clear and profound: true resilience, rooted in Ethereum’s values. Ethereum doesn’t grow like a machine; it grows like a garden, made stronger by its biodiversity, and flourishing because the whole game is infinite. This vision — the Infinite Garden — was born from this realization. Today, Ethereum thrives as a community of voices: core developers and researchers perfecting the protocol, L2 teams achieving scalability, application builders connecting Ethereum to the real world, and local communities shaping its future in their own ways. This richness — the interweaving of technical and social innovations that influence each other — is not just a feature of Ethereum, it’s the reason for its enduring popularity.
When we hear someone somewhere whose democracy is undermined say “decentralization is the only way to build my country,” it reminds us that Ethereum’s technical choices have profound consequences for humanity. While the Ethereum Foundation cannot play this infinite game alone, we remain committed to ensuring that Ethereum’s technical and social innovations continue to serve human values.
grateful
When I first discussed the possibility of transitioning to Chairman with Vitalik a year ago, the intention was to continue nurturing Ethereum’s unique culture and to serve as a voice that bridges the gap between Ethereum and the broader global community. As in Pace Layering, culture evolves slowest, but it provides a solid foundation for everything that follows (“If the slow parts aren’t occasionally frustrating, then they’re not working — Stewart Brand”). Culture transcends market cycles, sustaining us through winter and driving us through spring.
Thank you to everyone who has been with me for the past seven years and to those who have encouraged me to stay true to myself. Growing EF and supporting Ethereum often requires unconventional approaches and decisions that challenge conventional organizational wisdom. I am deeply grateful to those who have inspired me to remain courageous and believe that pursuing our values will light the way forward. This journey has never been easy, and I could not have done it without you. My sincere gratitude to everyone at the Ethereum Foundation, past and present, who have patiently and courageously participated in this extraordinary and extraordinary journey together.
Thank you all for constantly reminding me why we are here.
Let’s continue building in the garden.
