Ethereum Foundation Exodus: 8 Senior Staff Exit in 2026

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The departures span protocol engineering, cryptoeconomics research, and executive leadership. They follow the publication of the EF Mandate, a 38-page document released on March 13 that redefines the Foundation’s role and principles.

Core contributor numbers tell a broader story. According to Chainspect data, the EF’s contributor count dropped from roughly 225 in May 2025 to 169 as of mid-May 2026. That is a 25% decline in one year.

Key Ethereum Foundation Departures in 2026

The first major Ethereum Foundation departure came in February, when co-executive director Tomasz K. Stanczak stepped down after roughly 11 months in the role.

April brought two more. Josh Stark left after about seven years, during which he co-chaired the Trillion Dollar Safety Initiative. Trent Van Epps, a key figure in Protocol Guild, also moved on.

May brought the heaviest losses. Barnabe Monnot and Tim Beiko, co-leads of the Protocol Cluster responsible for Ethereum’s L1 design, both departed. Their team was subsequently restructured.

Carl Beekhuizen announced his exit after seven years. He contributed to core Beacon Chain research, consensus mechanisms, and the KZG ceremony. His last day is May 29.

Julian Ma departed after four years of work on cryptoeconomics, mechanism design, and protocol scaling research. Alex Stokes began a sabbatical. Pablo Voorvaart, a senior solutions architect, also left.

Most departing staff posted gracious farewell messages. Several thanked colleagues and noted plans to remain active in the Ethereum ecosystem. None publicly blamed the EF Mandate for their departure.

The EF Mandate and Its Fallout

The departures accelerated after the EF published its Mandate document on March 13, 2026. The board also posted it on-chain. The document functions as a constitution for the Foundation, clarifying its mission and constraints.

Key principles include what the EF calls CROPS: Censorship resistant, Open source, Private, and Secure. The document positions the Foundation as a neutral steward, not Ethereum’s owner or central authority.

The Mandate also introduced a “subtraction” philosophy. The EF explicitly said it measures success by how unnecessary it becomes. This built on Vitalik Buterin’s “Walkaway Test,” introduced in January 2026, which argued Ethereum should thrive even if the EF disappeared.

Unconfirmed reports circulated that staff were asked to formally align with the Mandate’s principles. According to some accounts, an early version of this request was reversed after pushback. Stricter conflict-of-interest rules around L2s and projects like EigenLayer were also reportedly introduced. The EF has not confirmed these claims.

Why Are People Leaving?

Community speculation points to several drivers. First, strategic disagreements appear central. Some departing members reportedly favored nearer-term execution, UX improvements, and pragmatic scaling. Because the Mandate emphasizes long-term cypherpunk values, it may have created friction with those priorities.

The 2025 restructuring also played a role. The EF laid off 19 employees to reduce bureaucracy and shift resources toward research and grants. That process continued into 2026 and reshaped teams internally.

Burnout is another factor. Several departing members mentioned personal resets, family time, and shifting professional interests. The crypto talent market remains competitive, and better compensation likely exists elsewhere.

EF insiders have described the departures as natural differences over “substrategies.” They frame the turnover as a generational shift, with new contributors stepping into vacated roles.

Community Reaction Is Split

Sentiment in the Ethereum community is polarized. On one hand, critics see a crisis. The Protocol Cluster, responsible for coordinating L1 upgrades, lost both its co-leads. As a result, that raises questions about execution capacity for upcoming upgrades like Glamsterdam.

Concerns about brain drain dominate the vocal reaction. Observers point to the loss of institutional knowledge that took years to build. Some have called for new Ethereum-focused organizations that prioritize the asset and tokenomics alongside the protocol.

On the other hand, others take a different view. They argue the protocol itself is decentralized, with multiple independent client teams and an active developer ecosystem. Fusaka and Pectra shipped successfully in 2025. Glamsterdam devnets are live, with Devnet-4 complete and Devnet-5 underway.

This camp argues the EF was never meant to be Ethereum’s permanent driver. The departures, they say, reflect successful decentralization or at least a necessary reset.

Broader Ethereum Headwinds

The Ethereum Foundation departures arrive alongside other confidence-shaking developments. On May 21, Bankless co-founder David Hoffman publicly sold all his remaining ETH holdings. That carries symbolic weight, as Bankless was one of Ethereum’s most prominent media advocates.

Bankless itself is restructuring. Ryan Sean Adams is stepping back from editorial leadership. The company is entering what it calls its “Second Age,” with content direction now under Hoffman.

Prominent trader Ansem has also turned bearish on ETH. According to BeInCrypto, his charts show ETH potentially dropping through key support toward $1,300 to $1,600. Critics like Ryan Berckmans pushed back, citing expanding global liquidity and the CLARITY Act as catalysts.

ETH trades around $2,116 as of May 21, 2026, with a market cap of roughly $233 billion. That is well below its previous cycle highs. ETF outflows, L2 fragmentation debates, and competition from Solana also weigh on sentiment.

This is not financial advice. Price predictions reflect individual analyst views and not established forecasts.

Ethereum Has Survived Worse

Ethereum has a long history of internal drama and talent turnover. The DAO hack and subsequent hard fork in 2016 split the community. Scaling debates between sharding advocates and rollup proponents consumed years of energy. The EF itself has faced recurring criticism as slow, bloated, or too academic.

Yet this 2026 wave stands out for its concentration and seniority. Losing protocol leads and senior researchers in a matter of weeks is unusual. Still, the protocol’s core infrastructure remains intact.

Ethereum runs on multiple independent client implementations. According to Chainspect, roughly 9,744 developers still show activity across the ecosystem. That base extends far beyond the Foundation itself.

What Comes Next for the Ethereum Foundation

So far, the EF has not released a detailed public response to the Ethereum Foundation departures. Official commentary has been limited. Plans for new leadership hires, team restructuring, or strategic shifts remain unclear.

Several departing members plan to stay active in the ecosystem. Barnabe Monnot and Josh Stark framed their exits positively in public posts. Whether their institutional knowledge can transfer smoothly is an open question.

The Glamsterdam upgrade, targeting H1 2026, will serve as a near-term test. It introduces Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation and Block-Level Access Lists. With the Protocol Cluster restructured, delivering on that timeline will signal whether the EF can absorb this level of disruption.

For Ethereum, the next few months will clarify whether this is a crisis or growing pains. The protocol’s resilience has been tested before. Whether the Foundation’s resilience matches it is the question that matters now.