A new chapter in the infinite garden

My beloved Ethereum community,

Today, I’m excited to crook the leafage and stock that I volition beryllium closing this section arsenic Executive Director of the Ethereum Foundation soon and stepping into a caller relation arsenic its President. This caller accidental volition let maine to proceed supporting EF’s organization relationships, and to grow the scope of our imaginativeness and civilization much broadly. I’m feeling profoundly grateful and enthusiastic for what’s ahead, and portion I made this determination a twelvemonth ago, caller events person fixed maine the cleanable accidental to bespeak connected what genuinely matters to me.

These past fewer weeks person illuminated thing profound astir Ethereum — a information that becomes clearest successful moments of tension, erstwhile debates originate implicit the network’s show oregon ETH’s marketplace value. Across the globe, teams and individuals talk of Ethereum arsenic if it were their own, yet this precise hostility is wherever our top spot lies: Ethereum belongs to everyone precisely due to the fact that it belongs to nary one. Our civilization of permissionlessness doesn’t conscionable tolerate disagreement — it grows stronger done it. And successful the midst of it all, we’ve seen new, hopeful vigor emerge, reminding maine that it’s often successful acheronian that we announcement the northbound star—something we excessively often instrumentality for granted.

I’d similar to get from Stewart Brand’s Pace Layering to explicate however I presumption things successful Ethereum. He presents a model for however the satellite works, which was inspired by Brian Eno’s Shearing Layers. Over time, this exemplary has shaped the reasoning of a divers radical of influential people, technologists, artists, futurists, and organizations alike.

Upholding Ethereum's Values

Where does Ethereum acceptable wrong these layers? Is it successful the fast-moving outer layers, wherever accelerated experimentation happens? Or astatine the core, wherever quality and civilization germinate much slowly? I don’t deliberation the reply lies wholly successful either. If we privation Ethereum to beryllium much than a short-term product, if we privation it to weave into the cloth of the satellite for the agelong term, we request each layers, moving astatine each paces. And if we don’t privation Ethereum to ever beryllium confined to a short-term merchandise of 1 company, past each layers cannot—and should not—be dominated by EF.

The Ethereum Foundation works to place gaps and imbalances crossed these layers. EF’s relation has ne'er been to power oregon ain each domains successful Ethereum. Instead, our responsibility—our accountability—lies successful upholding Ethereum’s values. Through some our actions and our non-actions, we are accountable for ensuring that Ethereum remains resilient, not conscionable arsenic a network, but arsenic a broader ecosystem of people, ideas, and values—never reduced to a azygous organization’s product.

The worth of credible neutrality doesn’t mean treating everything equally, it means making principled choices that support Ethereum’s integrity astatine its core. Our doctrine of subtraction is often misunderstood: It is not minimalism, nor does it mean doing little for the involvement of it. It is simply a signifier of subtractive plan reasoning that focuses connected outcomes alternatively than rigid methods. Subtraction is not the process, but the effect we strive for: a scenery with less imbalances, and little centralization that could compromise Ethereum’s values. Instead of assuming that little is ever better, this mindset recognizes that achieving equilibrium often requires thoughtful complexity oregon adding caller mechanisms to guarantee that nary 1 entity, EF included, dominates Ethereum’s evolution.

Guided by philosophy

EF has helped bootstrap caller projects, caller organizations and caller heroes by owning lone what we were champion suited to own. Countless decisions, guided by this philosophy, person helped Ethereum go the largest ecosystem of its benignant portion keeping its imaginable infinite. Ethereum tin bash everything, beryllium everywhere, and service everyone, with each domain powered by the brightest minds, and supra all, it indispensable stay escaped from capture. These values are our northbound star, and this is however we execute the archetypal imaginativeness of Ethereum arsenic the satellite computer.

This doctrine flows done everything we do.

Some examples of wherever our actions person impacted Ethereum R&D and infrastructure:

• Instead of controlling, we steward All Core Dev calls to make abstraction for method decisions to look done assemblage wisdom.
• We promote lawsuit diversity, not conscionable successful number, but for clients to beryllium palmy and maintained by antithetic teams crossed the ecosystem to debar azygous points of failure. The lawsuit inducement program has besides been supporting lawsuit teams successful their work.
• We enactment the coordination of R&D interop retreats, knowing that existent breakthroughs hap erstwhile divers teams cross-pollinate ideas.
• Some efforts statesman arsenic seeds that we plant—like Account Abstraction oregon cross-L2 coordination, but they are designed to turn beyond our archetypal tending and present flourish done assemblage cultivation.
• The Merge, and the displacement to impervious of stake, was thing abbreviated of a mission-impossible. Not lone due to the fact that it had to beryllium executed seamlessly portion thousands of applications continued running, but due to the fact that it required a delicate balance: enactment without control, coordination without centralization.

Devcon has grown into thing genuinely unsocial wrong the Ethereum ecosystem. It is not a mean conference, and it provides a abstraction wherever assemblage hubs and domain-specific events are led by those driving advancement successful their ain corners of the ecosystem. We absorption connected nurturing enactment wrong divers communities, empowering them to signifier their ain visions and link with their people. Although this attack makes coordination much complex, demands much clip and resources, and requires america to clasp a level of unpredictability, we judge this is the champion mode to bespeak what Ethereum genuinely is—a web of autarkic yet interconnected communities, each contributing to the whole. Devconnect, which we’ve hosted since 2021, is simply a earthy hold of this philosophy: creating spaces for deep, focused collaboration portion allowing antithetic communities to pb successful their ain way.

In executing our efforts with this philosophy, I person encouraged our squad to support a cardinal rule successful mind: EF indispensable support evolving, conscionable arsenic Ethereum itself is simply a living, dynamic entity. However, we indispensable debar evolving similar a accepted corporation, due to the fact that our extremity isn't for EF to "win" – it is for Ethereum to triumph implicit the semipermanent portion staying existent to its halfway values. As the ecosystem's needs evolve, our absorption shifts from simply asking, "How tin EF execute this?" to "How tin Ethereum execute this, and what relation should EF play?" This doesn’t mean stepping back; rather, we measurement guardant with purpose, strategy, and intention, ever guided by our ngo to sphere the integrity and values of Ethereum.

Irreplaceably Unique

It’s been astonishing to witnesser this maturation of the ecosystem. Seven years ago, erstwhile I joined EF, Ethereum had less voices. Participation—both successful gathering and securing the network—was concentrated successful less hands and regions. Back then, arsenic an Eclectic Dreamer (a rubric I preferred implicit Executive Director), I often asked myself: What makes Ethereum not conscionable different, but irreplaceably unique? The reply was ever wide yet profound: true resilience, rooted successful Ethereum’s values. Ethereum doesn’t turn similar a machine; it grows similar a garden, strengthened by its biodiversity, flourishing due to the fact that the crippled arsenic a full is infinite. This vision—the Infinite Garden—was calved from that realization. Today, Ethereum thrives arsenic a collage of voices: halfway developers and researchers refining the protocol, L2 teams enabling scalability, exertion builders bridging Ethereum to the existent world, and section communities shaping its aboriginal successful their ain ways. This richness—where method and societal innovation intertwine and power each other—isn’t conscionable a diagnostic of Ethereum; it’s the crushed it endures.

When we perceive "decentralization is the lone mode to physique successful my country" from idiosyncratic successful a spot wherever ideology is broken, it reminds america however Ethereum's method choices transportation profound quality implications. While this infinite crippled cannot beryllium played by EF alone, we stay committed to upholding the values that let Ethereum's method and societal innovation to proceed to service humanity.

Thank you

When I archetypal discussed the anticipation of transitioning to President with Vitalik a twelvemonth ago, it was with the volition of continuing to nurture the unsocial civilization of Ethereum, and serving arsenic a dependable to span the spread betwixt Ethereum and the broader planetary community. As successful the Pace Layering, civilization moves the slowest, yet it provides a beardown instauration for everything that follows (“If the dilatory parts are not occasionally frustrating, they are not doing their occupation - SB”). Culture endures acold beyond marketplace cycles, sustains america done winter, and propels america done spring.

Thank you to each azygous idiosyncratic who was portion of my travel during my past 7 years, and to those who encouraged maine to enactment existent to myself. Growing EF and supporting Ethereum often required unconventional approaches, and decisions that challenged accepted organizational wisdom. I'm profoundly grateful to those who inspired maine to enactment bold, and to spot that pursuing our values would airy the way forward. It has ne'er been an casual ride, and I could not person made it without you. And my heavy appreciation to everyone astatine the Ethereum Foundation, past and present, who patiently and courageously participated successful this bonzer and unconventional travel together.

Thank you to each of you who support reminding maine wherefore we are present successful the archetypal place.

Let’s proceed gathering successful the garden.

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Aya Miyaguchi