Ethereum Foundation's Aya Miyaguchi 'stepping up' as president as Vitalik Buterin promises leadership changes

Ethereum Foundation Executive Director Aya Miyaguchi is “stepping up” as president of the non-profit organization, according to a blog post on Tuesday. The move comes amid a period of public scrutiny of her leadership among some Ethereum community members and widespread criticism of the foundation. 

“These past few weeks have illuminated something profound about Ethereum — a truth that becomes clearest in moments of tension, when debates arise over the network’s performance or ETH’s market value,” Miyaguchi wrote . “Across the globe, teams and individuals speak of Ethereum as if it were their own, yet this very tension is where our greatest strength lies: Ethereum belongs to everyone precisely because it belongs to no one.”

According to the blog post, this decision has been in the works for about a year. The new role will allow Miyaguchi to “continue supporting EF’s institutional relationships” and continue to support community development. She joined as executive director in 2018 after a previous stint in a managerial role at Kraken Japan.

"[Miyaguchi] has accomplished much in her seven years as executive director of the EF," Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said on X. "As I see it, the role of an ED is to create an environment where others can shine and do their best work, and so every success of the EF - the steady execution of Ethereum hard forks, client interop workshops, Devcon, Ethereum's culture and steadfast commitment to its mission and values, and more - is in part a result of Aya's stewardship."

Buterin added the EF is also working to revamp the foundation's leadership structure. Many have called to nominate former EF researcher Danny Ryan, who led Ethereum's switch to proof-of-stake, as the new lead director. 

While the Ethereum Foundation has drawn community criticism in part due to the lack of transparency and the convoluted nature of its structure, Buterin has taken steps to direct the organization to be more engaging. 

For instance, the foundation deployed 50,000 ETH (worth about $80 million) on Aave, Compound and Spark following criticism it typically only interacts onchain when selling ETH to support its funding. 

Miyaguchi, in particular, drew ire from the Ethereum community and some EF insiders after an interview with WIRED surfaced where she seemed to reject a “culture of competing and winning” and has failed to move fast enough on Ethereum’s scaling solutions. Buterin responded to this backlash by noting that he had sole discretion in determining who runs the EF.