On May 7, Ethereum completed the Pectra network upgrade, opening a new chapter in ecosystem development. Taking this opportunity, the new co-executive directors of the Ethereum Foundation, Tamas Stanczak and Shay Wong, discussed their thoughts and determination to drive change in an interview with Bankless.
In the past, the community has criticized the Ethereum Foundation for its execution speed, communication methods, and ongoing sale of coins. In this interview, both addressed these issues one by one.
The community's questions, including the necessity of 'selling coins,' were directly explained.
A detailed explanation of the three strategic focal points: 'expanding L1, expanding Blobs, and improving user experience.'
Clarification of the technical development path from Pectra to Fusaka (expected in the fall) and then to the Amsterdam upgrade next year.
Plans to increase the hard fork frequency to a six-month cycle and propose long-term scaling goals, such as scaling 100 times in four years.
Here are some excerpts from this interview, compiled by the Blockchain Plain Language team:
Q1: Please introduce your background and how you came to hold this position at the Ethereum Foundation.
Shay Wong: My background is in computer science. I joined the Foundation in 2017. At that time, I was a core protocol researcher working on the first version of proof of concept (PoC) for sharding. Since then, I have been closely involved in the work of the Ethereum protocol, which at that time was just called the consensus protocol. With the emergence of Can chain, I focused more on the consensus layer of the Ethereum protocol and contributed to the transition to proof of stake (i.e., the merge). My role is somewhat like the co-lead of the Foundation's consensus R&D team, mainly responsible for the specification of the consensus layer and coordinating between research and clients (CL).
Before joining the leadership team, I believed that the role of a Foundation researcher was very special, not just a research functionality. We also care about how these functionalities will impact users. I joined the leadership team last December. This experience helped me to serve as co-executive director alongside Tomasz.
Tomasz Stanczak: I first encountered Ethereum at a small gathering in London at the end of 2015 or early 2016. At that time, I was working in traditional finance. In August 2017, I founded Nethermind, a core development infrastructure company. I started reading the yellow paper and thought the best way to learn was to implement it, so I began coding in C# and gradually delved into infrastructure.
I envision that Ethereum will eventually need specialized tools, akin to a 'data marketplace.' I joined Flashbots in 2020, participating in MEV solutions, which greatly accelerated my journey. At that time, I was also developing the Oiler project, attempting to build a gas trading solution for block space. Nethermind grew to about 300 people and introduced around 600 to the ecosystem through internship programs. A few months ago, I provided advice to Aya on leadership direction. In February of this year, I reached out again and ultimately decided to join. I believe Ethereum needs help and leadership.
Q2: What does this co-executive director position specifically mean, and what is your vision?
Shay Wong: The executive directors of the Ethereum Foundation need to think long-term because we are a non-profit organization. Our mission is to be the stewards of the ecosystem, stepping up when the ecosystem needs us most, focusing on key areas, and empowering other participants. We need to establish principles for ourselves that should not waver frequently, and also enhance our strength and resilience to flexibly focus on the dynamic topics we deal with daily.
Tomasz Stanczak: I bring the experience and vitality of building organizations and working within the ecosystem. For the past four years, I have been nomadic, encountering many builders. I aim to help improve the internal structure of the Foundation and accelerate processes. There are about 40 leaders in the Foundation leading small teams, and we need to give them space to realize that they are the true leaders of the EF.
There are some small things within the Foundation that can make a big difference, and there are many talented people who can communicate a lot. This was almost the first thing I started to tackle before I officially began working. With my experience building clients, I can examine challenges from a technical perspective. Over the past few weeks, I have opened my schedule to listen to feedback. We hope the Foundation can communicate more proactively and not shy away from difficult issues, even if it makes people uncomfortable at times.
Q3: The era of Aya Miyaguchi was defined as 'subtractive gain.' How do you define the new chapter under your leadership? What achievements do you hope to leave behind?
Tomasz Stanczak: I see my role as an executor rather than a visionary, operating within the vision that Shay and I set together, committed to bringing dynamic, short-term changes in the next year or two. It's like planting a garden; now you need to prune and tidy everything that grows there. I hope Ethereum is seen as a global neutral layer for the global economy and transactions.
This is about winning through influence, bringing about the values we genuinely care about: when we talk about privacy, security, open-source access, and the protocol's anti-censorship, these are crucial to us. If the protocol lacks influence and does not integrate into all future economic, governance, and AI processes, we cannot achieve these. The success of L1 will empower L2, spreading Ethereum's values together. Everything in the future should operate on Ethereum as it does on the Internet.
Shay Wong: I tell myself to 'lead clearly, act purposefully, and build without attachment.' This is about the world we want to live in, not just personal achievements. Ethereum should not just be a product; it is also about culture and the world we want to live in. I hope Ethereum becomes the most decentralized, permissionless, and open blockchain in the world. To achieve this, we need to develop in certain areas, but growth and principles should complement each other. We need to balance principles with resilient growth.
Q4: The community generally believes that the Ethereum Foundation does well in research, values, and client diversity, but lacks in execution speed, communication (like roadmaps), and connecting with actual users (like DeFi users). How do you view this feedback?
Tomasz Stanczak: Everything people complain about is very real. Over the past two months, I have had about 200 conversations and heard similar feedback. We need to clarify our North Star goals and increase speed. We need to optimize the developer onboarding process, communicate with DeFi builders, clarify roadmaps (such as L1/L2 relationships, staking futures), and improve communication to avoid an 'ivory tower' image.
We cannot get stuck in endless research; we need to adapt to market changes. Many people are willing to help, and some will say, 'I have been dormant for the past three or four years, but I am ready to come back and help.' Even within the Ethereum Foundation, people are extremely impatient for change and want to participate.
Q5: Can these issues—slow speed, insufficient communication, disconnect from reality—be resolved?
Tomasz Stanczak: Absolutely. Many issues can be resolved through small communication adjustments and process optimizations. The key is to activate the decision-makers within the community and internally, empower them to accelerate action, and not wait.
We need to involve application developers earlier in the planning phase. We should also proactively seek out those who are most likely to oppose a feature and listen to their opinions at the start, thinking about how to build something so important that it can persuade even the opponents by overwhelming consensus. The product-centered mindset is central to solving these issues.
Q6: You mentioned a 'product-centered Ethereum.' Does this mean placing more emphasis on actual applications and user needs?
Tomasz Stanczak: The product-centered mindset is the foundation for achieving our three goals (scaling L1, scaling Blobs, improving UX). It means we must constantly think: Why are we making this change? Who is it for? And involve users in co-design. At the same time, we must adhere to core values and quality standards.
For example, if you consider EOF or L1 scaling, you must ask: What is the impact on decentralization? Which users will be affected? What are their opinions? We need to restructure the ACD meetings to include product discussions. Developer experience (DevX) is also part of user experience. We need to provide builders with a clear roadmap and support. For example, what happens after a hackathon? What will happen the next day on Monday? Will they start building on Ethereum? Do they see Ethereum as a product that provides them with answers, clear instructions on how to build, which technology to choose, who can help, and how to obtain funding?
Q7: What specific ideas do you have regarding metrics for measuring success?
Tomasz Stanczak: Not all metrics have been finalized. We need to translate goals into teams and create internal dashboards. For L1 scaling, we have preliminary goals: triple this year, a total of tenfold next year. Dankrad proposed a four-year plan for a hundredfold exponential roadmap.
This process involves: first reviewing all clients, then making changes to the execution and consensus layers through EIPs, and finally achieving acceleration mainly through ZK technology over the next three to four years. This 100-fold goal will serve as an anchor for our organization's research and development. We will go to each research team and ask: How does your work serve this 100-fold goal? Is it for the first year, the second year, the third year, or the fourth year?
Q8: The community sometimes has unrealistic expectations of the Ethereum Foundation. What are some things that the Ethereum Foundation does not actually do or goes beyond its scope?
Shay Wong: One controversial issue is selling ETH. The community expects us to hold, but for operations and funding, we must sell. Secondly, for the most core tasks that only the EF can do, we will be more hands-on and allocate internal resources. For other levels of tasks, such as certain business developments, we prefer to support through funding. The role of the EF is more of a coordinator, helping people find the right resources within the ecosystem.
Tomasz Stanczak: The Ethereum Foundation should intervene when something is missing in the ecosystem, but generally help the corresponding organizations emerge and grow. We do not play the role of coordinator or owner. For example, in communication with Wall Street or the government, the Foundation certainly does not want to coordinate this work, but we hope to answer questions and provide expertise rather than avoiding interaction as we may have in the past. We are not the owners of the Ethereum protocol, nor do we act as owners.
In terms of engineering, we have the Geth team, which is important for research, but we do not build consensus clients directly. We avoid building applications or infrastructure directly because the ecosystem can do better. In business development, we want to play a more active role as 'helpers': connecting applications, clients, talent, and research outcomes. The Foundation is often the first point of contact for many participants. Instead of just providing funding each time, we prefer to actively help founders solve specific problems they face in their early stages. A significant part of Ethereum is about creating networks; building a network of social layers is something the Foundation can do very well. In marketing, we focus on communication and clarity rather than advertising.
Q9: Regarding the specific roadmap and pace, what are the upcoming hard fork plans?
Tomasz Stanczak: We plan to increase the rhythm of hard forks to about once every six months. The next is Pectra, which will include not only changes related to staking's Max Effective Balance but also significant improvements in account abstraction and user experience brought by proposals like EIP-3074 (SFS 102). We are currently testing to ensure safety.
After the deployment of Pectra, we will immediately kick off the development network for the next hard fork, Fusaka, aiming for a release in September or October this year, with the key being to ensure there are no delays. There will also be a large gathering of core developers and researchers to accelerate the goal.
The next hard fork is Amsterdam, planned to be completed by the end of next year, which will include acceleration of L1 scaling. Some L1 scaling work has already begun, with some not requiring a hard fork and others needing an EIP. At the same time, the ecosystem development department, led by Jane Smith, is restructuring processes to better serve builders' needs in areas such as tokenization and RWA. The ACD meetings are also being adjusted to accommodate a faster delivery pace and involve application developers earlier.
