New Chairman of the Ethereum Foundation: Ethereum Values ​​and EF’s Actions

Written by: Golden Finance 0xxz

After a year of transition, on February 25, 2025, Vitalik and the Ethereum Foundation (EF) announced that Aya Miyagotchi, executive director of the Ethereum Foundation, was officially promoted to chairman of the Ethereum Foundation. Aya Miyagotchi then published an article introducing her future plans for the Ethereum Foundation. The following is the full text:

Dear Ethereum community members,

Today, I am very happy to turn a new page and tell you that I am about to end my chapter as executive director of the Ethereum Foundation (EF) and take on the new role of chairman of the foundation. This new opportunity will enable me to continue to support EF's institutional relationships and expand the influence of our vision and culture more broadly. I am grateful and enthusiastic about the future, and although I made this decision a year ago, recent events have given me an excellent opportunity to reflect on what is really important to me.

In the past few weeks, the deeper meaning of Ethereum has been revealed-a fact that becomes clearest in tense moments when network performance or the market value of ETH is controversial. Across the globe, teams and individuals talk about Ethereum as if it were their own, but it’s this tension that is our greatest strength: Ethereum belongs to everyone, precisely because it belongs to no one. Our permissionless culture doesn’t just tolerate disagreement — it grows stronger through it. In the midst of all this, we’re seeing a new, hopeful energy, which reminds me that we often notice the North Star in the darkness — something we often take for granted.

I’d like to borrow Stewart Brand’s Pace Layering to explain my thoughts on Ethereum. He proposed a framework for how the world works, inspired by Brian Eno’s Shearing Layers. Over time, this model has shaped the thinking of a group of influencers, technologists, artists, futurists, and organizations.

Preserving Ethereum’s Values

Where does Ethereum sit in these layers? Is it in the fast-moving outer layers, experimenting quickly? Or is it in the core, evolving more slowly in nature and culture? I don’t think the answer lies entirely in either of these two aspects. If we want Ethereum to be more than just a short-term product, if we want it to be integrated into the fabric of the world for the long term, we need all layers, evolving at all speeds. If we don’t want Ethereum to be forever limited to the short-term product of one company, then all layers cannot—and should not—be dominated by EF.

The Ethereum Foundation works to identify gaps and imbalances between these layers. The Ethereum Foundation’s role has never been to control or own all domains in Ethereum. Rather, our responsibility — our accountability — lies in preserving the values ​​of Ethereum. Through our actions and inactions, we have a responsibility to ensure that Ethereum remains resilient not only as a network, but as a broader ecosystem of people, ideas, and values ​​— never reduced to the product of a single organization.

The value of credible neutrality does not mean treating everything equally, but rather it means making principled choices that fundamentally protect the integrity of Ethereum. Our philosophy of subtraction is often misunderstood: it is not minimalism, nor does it mean doing less for the sake of minimalism. It is a subtractive design thinking that focuses on outcomes rather than rigid methods. Subtraction is not a process, but the outcome we strive for: a less imbalanced, less centralized landscape that could undermine the values ​​of Ethereum. Rather than thinking less is more, this way of thinking recognizes that achieving balance often requires thoughtful complexity or adding new mechanisms to ensure that no single entity (including EF) dominates Ethereum's development.

Guided by a Philosophical Vision

By owning only what we are best suited to own, the Ethereum Foundation has helped launch new projects, new organizations, and new heroes. Guided by this philosophy, countless decisions have helped Ethereum become the largest ecosystem of its kind while maintaining its limitless potential. Ethereum can do anything, be everywhere, serve everyone, be supported by the brightest minds in every field, and most importantly, it must remain uncontrolled. These values ​​are our North Star, and this is how we will achieve the original vision of Ethereum as the world's computer.

This philosophical vision permeates everything we do.

Here are some examples of how EF’s actions are impacting Ethereum R&D and infrastructure:

• We do not control, but rather manage all core development calls, creating space for technical decisions to be made through community wisdom.

• We advocate for client diversity, not just in terms of number, but for clients to be successful and maintained by different teams in the ecosystem to avoid single points of failure. Client incentive programs have also been supporting the work of client teams.

• We support coordination of R&D interop retreats, knowing that real breakthroughs happen when different teams bounce ideas off of each other.

• Some efforts started with seeds we planted - such as account abstraction or cross-L2 coordination, but they were designed to grow beyond our initial inclinations and flourish through community nurturing.

• Merging and moving to PoS is simply impossible. Not only because it must execute seamlessly while thousands of applications continue to run, but also because it requires a delicate balance: leading without controlling, coordinating without centralizing.

Devcon has become something truly unique in the Ethereum ecosystem. It is not an ordinary conference, it provides a space where community hubs and field-specific events are led by those who are driving progress in all corners of the ecosystem. We focus on fostering leadership in different communities, enabling them to shape their own visions and connect with their people. While this approach makes coordination more complex, requires more time and resources, and requires us to accept a degree of unpredictability, we believe it is the best way to reflect the true nature of Ethereum - a network of independent but interconnected communities, each contributing to the whole. Devconnect, which we have been hosting since 2021, is a natural extension of this philosophy: creating space for deep, focused collaboration while allowing different communities to lead in their own ways.

As we work with this philosophy in mind, I encourage our team to keep in mind a key principle: EF must continue to evolve, just as Ethereum itself is a dynamic entity. However, we must avoid evolving like a traditional company because the goal of EF is not for EF to “win” — it’s for Ethereum to win in the long term while adhering to its core values. As the needs of the ecosystem evolve, our focus shifts from simply asking “how does EF do this?” to “how does Ethereum enable this, and what role should EF play?” This does not mean stepping back; rather, we move forward with purpose, strategy, and intention, always guided by our mission to preserve the integrity and values ​​of Ethereum.

Subtraction, not minimalism

Long-term sustainability, not short-term gains

Thoughtful complexity, not oversimplification Management, not control

Adaptive growth, not rigid structure

Purposeful evolution, not corporate expansion

Community leadership, not domination

Irreplaceable uniqueness

It’s been amazing to witness this growth in the ecosystem. When I joined EF seven years ago, Ethereum had fewer voices. Participation (both in the building and protection of the network) was concentrated in fewer people and regions. Back then, as an Eclectic Dreamer (a title I prefer to Executive Director), I often asked myself: What makes Ethereum not only different, but unique? The answer was always clear and profound: true resilience, rooted in Ethereum’s values. Ethereum doesn’t grow like a machine; it grows like a garden, made stronger by its biodiversity, and flourishing because the whole game is infinite. The vision — the Infinite Garden — was born from this realization. Today, Ethereum thrives as a community of voices: core developers and researchers perfecting the protocol, L2 teams achieving scalability, application builders connecting Ethereum to the real world, and local communities shaping its future in their own ways. This richness — the interweaving of technical and social innovations that influence each other — is not just a feature of Ethereum, it’s the reason for its enduring popularity.

When we hear someone somewhere where democracy is undermined say “decentralization is the only way to build my country,” it reminds us that Ethereum’s technical choices have profound consequences for humanity. While the Ethereum Foundation cannot play this infinite game alone, we remain committed to ensuring that Ethereum’s technical and social innovations continue to serve human values.

Gratitude

When I first discussed the possibility of transitioning to Chair with Vitalik a year ago, the intention was to continue to foster Ethereum’s unique culture and serve as a voice that bridges the gap between Ethereum and the broader global community. As in Pace Layering, culture is what develops slowest, but it provides a solid foundation for everything that comes next (“If the slow parts aren’t occasionally frustrating, they’re not working – Stewart Brand”). Culture transcends market cycles, sustaining us through winter and pushing us through spring.

Thank you to everyone who has been with me for the past seven years, and to those who have encouraged me to stay true to myself. Growing EF and supporting Ethereum often requires unconventional approaches and decisions that challenge conventional organizational wisdom. I am deeply grateful to those who have inspired me to remain courageous and believe that pursuing our values ​​will light the way forward. This journey has never been easy, and I could not have done it without you. I sincerely thank everyone at the Ethereum Foundation, past and present, who has patiently and courageously participated in this extraordinary and extraordinary journey together.

Thank you all for constantly reminding me why we are put on this earth.

Let’s keep building in the garden.