Author: Hristina Vasileva
Compiled by: DeepChain TechFlow
DeepChaohao summary: Between April and May 2026, at least six core members of the Ethereum Foundation (EF) departed in rapid succession, spanning protocol engineering, cryptoeconomics research, and management. The EF officially frames this as an intentional downsizing under its "Mandate" framework, but the community sees a decline in core developers from 225 to 169, a reduction in ETH holdings, and delays in the Glamsterdam upgrade. This Cryptopolitan report outlines the list of departures, EF’s restructuring logic, and the current state of ecosystem developers.
The Ethereum Foundation (EF) has lost several key contributors, fueling growing questions about the organization’s direction and the future of Ethereum. This wave of departures follows Tomasz Stańczak’s resignation after just one year as co-executive director of the EF.
In April and May, a total of six contributors left or went on extended leave. Departures were primarily concentrated in the foundation’s core engineering team and research department.
Some of the engineers came from the Protocol Cluster, which was responsible for Ethereum L1 design. The department underwent restructuring, and engineers Barnabé Monnot and Tim Beiko left in succession.
Previously, Josh Stark left EF after seven years, during which he co-chaired the Trillion Dollar Security Initiative. Trent Van Epps departed EF after five years, having been involved in organizing Protocol Guild, and will continue contributing to the broader ecosystem on a part-time basis.
The May exodus intensified
The most recent departure from EF is Carl Beek, who worked at the foundation for seven years and was a key figure during the Beacon Chain’s launch phase.
Julian Ma also resigned recently, having spent four years at EF conducting research in cryptoeconomics with a focus on mechanism design.
These two departures have drawn greater attention within the Ethereum community, escalating discussions about EF’s future direction. The foundation’s public statements have consistently emphasized “support for the ecosystem as a whole,” deliberately downplaying its role as a central authority.
The departure of core members does not directly indicate that Ethereum itself is having problems. However, these departures have sparked discussions about leadership, coordination mechanisms, and what the goal of “decentralization” truly means.
Developer activity still has a base level
Despite高层人事动荡, Ethereum's developer activity remains resilient. Token Terminal data shows the project currently has 169 core developers, a 63% increase over the past month. However, over a longer timeframe, core developer numbers have declined from 225 in May 2025 to 169 as of May 19, 2026.
Caption: Ethereum core developers have slightly increased over the past month, but have declined to 169 from 225 in May 2025.
Source: Token Terminal
The total number of developers in the ecosystem has fallen behind Solana. However, according to Chainspect data, the Ethereum ecosystem still has 9,744 active developers.
EF is advancing its restructuring and adjusting its direction in accordance with its newly released Mandate document. One of the core objectives of the Mandate is to reduce the foundation’s direct influence, which inherently involves parting ways with certain key contributors.
Another practical issue EF faces is the steadily declining ETH reserve in its organizational wallet. The foundation currently holds 103,660 ETH, having previously allocated some tokens for staking and sold a portion of its reserve to BitMine.
This wave of layoffs is occurring at an inopportune time: Ethereum is expected to become a critical infrastructure layer for global finance. The team restructuring coincides with the peak of intense attacks on decentralized projects, with the Ethereum ecosystem being hit hardest.
Following these reports, ETH prices have also been trading in a bottom range, down 40% over the past year. As of writing, ETH is trading at $2,117.02, despite 31% of the circulating supply being staked in the Beacon Chain contract.