Ethereum Foundation Prioritizes User Experience and Scaling Amid Leadership Changes

According to Cointelegraph, the Ethereum Foundation is redirecting its focus towards enhancing user experience and addressing layer-1 scaling challenges following a recent leadership transition. On April 21, Tomasz Stańczak, co-executive director of the Ethereum Foundation, shared insights on social media about the organization's evolving priorities post-leadership restructuring. The shift aims to allow Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin more time for research and exploration, freeing him from daily operational tasks and crisis management. Stańczak emphasized that Buterin's insights and directional guidance have historically accelerated significant long-term breakthroughs within the Ethereum ecosystem. The leadership changes, announced on March 1, saw Hsiao-Wei Wang and Stańczak, CEO of Nethermind, appointed as co-directors effective March 17. Since then, Buterin has stepped back from daily operations, focusing instead on proposals to enhance the Ethereum network's privacy and performance. On April 11, Buterin introduced a privacy roadmap, suggesting features that anonymize user transactions, ideally activated by default. Additionally, on April 20, he proposed modifications to the Ethereum Virtual Machine's contract language to boost the blockchain's execution layer efficiency and speed. Stańczak noted that while Buterin's proposals are influential, they are intended to spark discussions and foster progress across various research domains, allowing the community to refine or reject these ideas. The Ethereum Foundation is now concentrating its research efforts on "near-term" objectives, including improving user experience and scaling challenges in forthcoming protocol upgrades. Stańczak highlighted the foundation's focus on layer-1 scaling, support for layer-2 scaling, and user experience enhancements such as interoperability in the Pectra, Fusaka, and Glamsterdam upgrades. Despite the emphasis on immediate results, the team is also exploring avenues for long-term projects. Stańczak mentioned that contributions from top researchers could facilitate the realization of initiatives like next-generation execution and consensus layers within one or two years. Cointelegraph reached out to the Ethereum Foundation for comments but did not receive a response by the time of publication.