Ethereum Foundation Loses Another Key Leader as Co-Executive Director Hsiao-Wei Wang Resigns - Unchained

Hsiao-Wei Wang has stepped down as co-executive director and board member of the Ethereum Foundation, effective Thursday, adding to a string of high-profile exits that have unsettled the organization over the past several months.

Her departure follows the earlier resignations, including fellow co-executive director Tomasz Stańczak, who stepped back after helping steer a leadership transition at the Switzerland-based nonprofit that funds Ethereum’s ecosystem development. With both co-executive directors now gone, board member Bastian Aue, who oversaw the transition during Wang’s recent sabbatical, has taken on a larger role guiding the foundation on an interim basis.

This story is an excerpt from the Unchained Daily newsletter.

Subscribe here to get these updates in your email for free

Wang’s exit caps a turbulent stretch for the EF. At least eight senior figures have left the organization over the past five months, fueling community scrutiny of its governance, spending priorities, and strategic direction at a moment when Ethereum faces mounting competition from rival blockchains for developers, capital, and users. The repeated turnover at the top has sharpened questions about who is steering Ethereum’s long-term strategy and how the foundation should be structured.

Wang, who took on the co-executive director role last year alongside Stańczak during what she described as a demanding period for the foundation, said she reached the decision to step down after a sabbatical that gave her time to reflect on her priorities. “I’ve come to feel that this is the right moment for me to step back,” she wrote. Vitalik Buterin credited her with a decade of contributions to the ecosystem, citing her work organizing Ethereum’s research and consensus efforts and building an active developer community in Taipei. Wang framed Ethereum as resting on its broad base of contributors rather than any one role, writing that the network “has always been bigger than any one role, any one organization, or any one moment.”

Related Listen: Why Fable’s Shutdown Is a Warning for Every AI Lab: Uneasy Money