#ETHProspects A languishing chain appears to have sparked community outrage and a leadership shake-up at the Ethereum Foundation.
Vitriol and Death Threats Follow Ethereum Foundation Leadership Shakeup Nine years after Ethereum’s most serious disaster, when the Ethereum community decided to hard fork the blockchain to reverse the infamous $50 million DAO hack, the network is facing a different kind of dilemma – a leadership crisis, according to its community.
At the center of the controversy is Ethereum Foundation (EF) Executive Director Aya Miyaguchi, a former Japanese high school teacher who took over the foundation’s top job in 2018. Her focus on “Zen” and building an “infinite garden” where all Ethereum stakeholders live together – while the network continues to lose ground to Solana – has led to increasingly loud calls for her resignation and even death threats.
(Aya Miyaguchi / Unknown)
In a dramatic move on Tuesday, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin revealed that he had taken over the reins of the foundation. He slammed Miyaguchi’s persistent online criticism and quieted disgruntled voices that a leadership restructuring was underway.
“The person who decides on EF’s new leadership team is me,” Buterin posted on X. “One of the goals of the ongoing reforms is to give EF a ‘proper board,’ but until that happens, it’s me.”
(Vitalik Buterin takes full control of the Ethereum Foundation / Vitalik Buterin)
There have been several so-called “Ethereum killers” in the past – EOS, Cardano, Tezos, and others, but the only one that comes close to living up to that promise is Solana.
This proof-of-trade platform is now the fifth largest blockchain and has a market cap of $126 billion, a third of Ethereum's market cap of $394 billion.
At the time of reporting, Solana cryptocurrency SOL was up nearly 30% over the past week largely due to the buzz surrounding Donald Trump’s surprise memecoin launch ($TRUMP) on Friday. In contrast, Ethereum’s Ether ($ETH ) was down 3% over the same period, according to data from Coingecko.
(SOL vs ETH price comparison / Portfolios Lab)
Poor price performance and a lack of significant protocol improvements since Ethereum's transition to proof-of-stake nearly three years ago are two major reasons why members of the network's community are feeling frustrated.
The lack of technical leadership at the Ethereum Foundation appears to be a major complaint, and former protocol researcher Danny Ryan is widely seen as Miyaguchi's logical successor once the leadership restructuring takes place.
“I opened up a dialogue with Vitalik and others at EF about the changes and the possibilities of being involved in this new era,” Ryan said at X. “I am grateful for the incredible support I have received from Twitter and many long-time friends and colleagues.”