Does the Ethereum Foundation have no future? Within a week, Josh Stark and trent.eth resigned, and the key figures leading the Merge upgrade couldn't be retained.

In the same week, two key figures from the Ethereum Foundation (EF) left consecutively: senior management member Josh Stark announced his departure after a five-year term, and the day before, Trent Van Epps also confirmed he resigned last week. Following Tomasz Stańczak’s departure in February this year, EF’s leadership now almost solely consists of co-CEO Hsiao-Wei Wang.
(Background summary: Afraid of V God making another misstatement? Ethereum Foundation recruits “Social Media Manager” to mend rifts with the community)
(Additional background: Vitalik’s salary disclosed for the first time, revealing detailed EF expenditure)

Table of Contents

Toggle

• Josh Stark: Five years, four major roles, an unplanned exit
• The day before, Trent Van Epps also announced his departure
• A year after reform, management team continues to lose members
• EF leadership: from four people to almost one

Within seven days, the Ethereum Foundation (EF) lost two management figures—this is the most significant personnel shake-up since Vitalik Buterin launched organizational reforms in 2025.

After 5 years on the @ethereumfndn leadership team, I’ve decided to step away and pass the torch. I made this decision in early March, and will wrap up my work at the end of April. I’ve made no plans for the future, other than taking a long break to reset and spending time with…

— Josh Stark (0xstark.eth) (@0xstark) April 16, 2026

Josh Stark: Five years, four major roles, an unplanned exit

On April 17, Josh Stark announced his departure from EF via X, openly stating he has “no plans for the future” and just wants to spend time with family and friends. In his post, he wrote:

“Ethereum’s ecosystem keeps pushing the boundaries of what the world tells us is impossible. It’s easy to forget how many people truly believed that Ethereum would never go live, DeFi would never take off, and Proof of Stake (PoS) would never appear.”

CoinTelegraph pointed out that Stark was one of only four “management” members on EF’s organizational chart, with nearly all staff reporting lines converging under these four names. He joined EF in 2019, starting from a special project team, gradually involved in operations, strategy, and public communication, during which he closely collaborated with Aya Miyaguchi and Buterin. The report mentioned that his decision to leave was made as early as early March, with plans to complete the handover by the end of April.

The day before, Trent Van Epps also announced his departure

Just one day prior to Stark’s announcement, EF member Trent Van Epps posted on X confirming he officially stepped down last Friday.

as of last friday, I no longer work at the EF

nothing but respect for the brilliant people i worked with over the last 5 years on network upgrades + funding efforts

I intend to continue working on @ProtocolGuild and Ethereum political economy as long as funding is available

— trent.eth (@trent_vanepps) April 15, 2026

In his post, Van Epps mentioned that he deeply respects the team he worked with over the past five years on network upgrades and funding efforts. He also stated that as long as funding permits, he will continue working on Protocol Guild, a project he co-founded that funds core Ethereum developers, which will become his full-time focus moving forward.

A year after reform, management team continues to lose members

This wave of personnel changes traces back to early 2025.

CoinTelegraph reported that, amid community criticism of EF’s long-term direction, Buterin proactively announced a major organizational overhaul: bringing in new blood, promoting greater decentralization, accelerating transaction processing, and clearly defining EF’s role boundaries—avoiding ideological disputes, lobbying in the U.S. Congress, or representing “vested interests.” He directly stated in the announcement: “This is not something EF does, and it won’t change. If you want a different path, feel free to establish your own organization.”

In March 2025, EF officially announced a new leadership structure: researcher Hsiao-Wei Wang and Nethermind CEO Tomasz Stańczak would serve as co-CEOs. However, less than a year later, Stańczak resigned in February 2026; the organizational chart shows Wang remains a member of the management committee.

EF leadership: from four people to almost one

Stark’s departure was described by CoinTelegraph as the “most significant resignation” since Buterin initiated reforms. Including Stańczak’s resignation and Van Epps’ departure, EF’s original four-person management team had almost completely emptied out within a few months, leaving Wang as the only publicly visible remaining member.

For a nonprofit organization responsible for the long-term governance of the Ethereum ecosystem, whether this rapid leadership turnover will impact external credibility, internal decision-making coherence, and communication rhythm with core developers remains to be seen.