Ethereum Foundation core member Josh Stark will resign, having led major upgrades such as The Merge.

Mars Finance reports that on April 16, according to The Block, Ethereum Foundation (EF) core member Josh Stark announced his departure after five years in the role, officially stepping down at the end of April. Stark joined the Ethereum Foundation in 2019, initially working in the special projects team, and was later promoted to leadership positions. He has worked alongside EF Chair Aya Miyaguchi, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, and co-executive directors Hsiao-Wei Wang, Bastian Aue, and others. He is one of the most prominent members representing the foundation’s public image and has led several major Ethereum developments, including the “The Merge” upgrade that transitioned from proof of work to proof of stake, as well as subsequent upgrades like Dencun, Fusaka, and Pectra. During the foundation’s leadership restructuring last year, he was appointed as co-manager of the EF Board of Directors and recently became co-chair of the “$1 Trillion Security” initiative. Last month, Stark co-authored an Ethereum strategic blog post with Josh Rudolf and Julian Ma, outlining Ethereum’s latest scaling directions and its relationship with Layer 2 ecosystems. Stark stated, “I haven’t planned my future yet; I just want to rest well and spend time with my family and friends.” This departure occurs amid ongoing reforms within the Ethereum Foundation. Last year, the foundation underwent significant leadership changes, refocusing its strategic priorities on Ethereum mainnet scaling and core cypherpunk values; Tomasz K. Stańczak also resigned as co-CEO at the end of February this year, having served less than a year. On the same day, Trent Van Epps announced his departure from EF to fully dedicate himself to Protocol Guild, an independent organization funding core Ethereum developers he founded.