Ethereum Foundation Restructures and Lays Off Staff to Refocus on Scaling and User Experience

Aiming to speed up upgrades and fix dev engagement, the Foundation shakes things up

The Ethereum Foundation has officially confirmed it’s letting go of some members from its research and development team. This decision is part of a bigger shake-up meant to refocus the organization on the issues that matter most to the network — scalability, user experience, and clearer communication.

Restructuring for Clarity and Speed

In a blog post published Monday, the Foundation announced that its Protocol Research and Development division is getting a new name — simply “Protocol.” But it’s more than just a rebrand. Teams are being realigned around three core goals: scaling Ethereum’s Layer 1, improving blob space, and making the whole experience smoother for everyday users.

Unfortunately, that also means some team members won’t be continuing with the Foundation. While no names were shared, the tone of the announcement was hopeful. The Foundation said it’s confident these developers will find new roles within the Ethereum ecosystem and encouraged other projects to consider bringing them on.

Who’s Leading the Charge

To make all of this happen, leadership roles are being redefined with more structure. Tim Beiko and Ansgar Dietrichs will now lead the charge on Layer 1 scaling. Layer 2 improvements will be overseen by Alex Stokes and Francesco D’Amato. On the user experience front, Barnabé Monnot and Josh Rudolf are taking the reins. Dankrad Feist will be stepping in as a strategic advisor to support all three focus areas.

According to Hsiao-Wei Weng, one of the Foundation’s new co-executive directors, the goal is to give internal teams more focus and momentum while staying accountable. In her words, this structure is about giving people the tools to move things forward, not bog them down in process.

Listening to the Community’s Frustrations

This shift didn’t come out of nowhere. The Ethereum community has been vocal over the past year about delays, slow scaling progress, and a lack of transparency. Some even worried that if things didn’t speed up, Ethereum could start falling behind other chains that are gaining momentum.

The Foundation’s leadership already started evolving earlier this year. In March, both Weng and Tomasz K. Stańczak were brought on as co-executive directors to balance operational and technical priorities. The Foundation also emphasized that it doesn’t want to replace external contributors — instead, it’s aiming to set the bar for excellence. New forums for governance and better feedback loops are part of that commitment.

With this reset, the Ethereum Foundation hopes to bring more clarity to its roadmap, get back to solving tough technical problems, and most importantly, rebuild trust with a community that’s been asking for more transparency and urgency.