Tomasz Stańczak has decided to step down from his role as co-Executive Director of the Ethereum Foundation (EF). Bastian Aue has temporarily assumed the position.
An Executive Leadership Update from the Ethereum Foundation Board:
Tomasz Stańczak steps down from the co-ED role, Bastian Aue named interim co-Executive Director at EF.https://t.co/9IJlZlDY0a
— Ethereum Foundation (@ethereumfndn) February 13, 2026
Stańczak took the helm of the organization alongside Xiao-Wei Wang in March 2025 following changes in the management structure.
The manager is the founder of the Ethereum client Nethermind and one of the early members of the Flashbots team.
A month after their appointment, the new EF leadership announced a shift in focus towards user experience (UX) and first-layer blockchain scaling issues. At that time, the team introduced a simplified Ethereum roadmap emphasizing network performance.
On the Path of Change
In June, the organization reduced its staff of researchers and developers. According to a statement, the renamed Protocol division, formerly PR&D, focused on three main areas:
- base layer scaling;
- expansion of BLOB space;
- improvement of user experience (UX).
Former lead developer of the Geth client, Péter Szilágyi, linked his departure from EF to the leadership’s attempt to spin off the project into a separate commercial entity. The organization allegedly offered the team $5 million to transform into a private company. According to the programmer, this was part of plans to cease funding Geth, allowing Nethermind to capture its market share over several years.
Tomasz has always impressed me with his work ethic, his unique personality, and the kind of organization that he built at Nethermind. He brought a perspective on Ethereum, what blockchains fundamentally are, and how they fit into the future of the world as a whole, that was… https://t.co/puOO3ULubV
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) February 13, 2026
“In his year at EF, Tomasz significantly enhanced the efficiency of many departments and transformed the foundation into an organization much more attuned to the outside world. He brought new energy, and thanks to his support and encouragement, EF regularly achieves success beyond its previous comfort zone,” wrote Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.
According to Stańczak, he plans to complete his departure from EF by the end of the month and start developing his own Ethereum project from March 1. He also denied that his decision was related to Buterin’s recent statements regarding the relevance of the L2 concept, which was challenged by several community members.
“Stańczak is a unique talent and leader who achieved more in a year than most could ever hope for. His exceptionally open mind also inspired us all […] He will continue to participate in many successful projects within the ecosystem, and we eagerly anticipate his further contributions to Ethereum!” stated former EF CEO and President Aya Miyaguchi.
Buterin separately noted that Stańczak “pushed everyone” towards a new perspective on Ethereum’s potential in the field of artificial intelligence.
Earlier in February, the blockchain platform’s co-founder described its potential alliance with AI.