CoinDesk
Ethereum Foundation co-executive director Hsiao-Wei Wang is stepping down from her leadership role, returning to a research-focused position. The move makes her the ninth senior departure from the Switzerland-based nonprofit in roughly five months and has reignited an unusually sharp public fight over whether the Foundation is deliberately shrinking or simply losing control of its own bench.
The split is now openly drawn. Former Ethereum researcher Dankrad Feist wrote on X that the people leaving the EF are CROPS believers, arguing the problem is management, not strategy. He called the exodus of talent bearish for Ethereum. Coinbase head of engineering Yuga Cohler echoed the diagnosis, writing that the dysfunction at the Foundation makes him sad. Other community voices, including BMNR Bullz, pushed the opposite read, framing the transition as stewardship and funding responsibility moving outward into the broader ecosystem rather than collapsing inward.
Why it matters
The Foundation unveiled CROPS, standing for cypherpunk values, resilience, open-source development, permissionlessness and security, as a strategic framework to clarify its mission. Feist's critique is the politically uncomfortable one: he agrees with CROPS, he just does not think the people running it can execute it. That distinction matters because strategy can be debated and rewritten, but a steady drumbeat of senior exits during a restructuring signals an organization losing institutional memory at exactly the moment Ethereum faces more credible competition from rival smart-contract chains.
Prominent community member DCinvestor added a structural proposal, suggesting the EF's research and development functions should eventually be separated from its ecosystem development work and overseen through something closer to an industry consortium. The argument: co-locating the two has created conflicts of interest and protocol work misaligned with what the market is actually demanding.
Market impact
The fallout is governance and sentiment, not price action today.
Frequently asked questions
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Who is Hsiao-Wei Wang and what role did she hold at the Ethereum Foundation?
Wang was one of two co-executive directors at the Ethereum Foundation, appointed earlier in 2025 as part of a leadership restructuring. She is stepping down to return to a research-focused role.
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How many senior staff have left the Ethereum Foundation recently?
At least nine senior departures, including Wang, have left the Foundation in roughly the past five months, making Wang the latest high-profile exit in a growing wave.
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What is the CROPS framework the Ethereum Foundation unveiled?
CROPS is an acronym for cypherpunk values, resilience, open-source development, permissionlessness and security. The Foundation presented it as a strategic framework to clarify its mission and reinforce Ethereum's core values.
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What did Dankrad Feist say about the EF departures?
Feist wrote on X that the people leaving the Ethereum Foundation are CROPS believers, arguing the problem is management rather than strategy. He added that the exodus of talent is bearish for Ethereum.
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What structural change is DCinvestor proposing for the Ethereum Foundation?
DCinvestor has suggested separating the EF's research and development functions from its ecosystem development activities and overseeing them through something closer to an industry consortium, arguing the current setup has created conflicts of interest.
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