An update from Tomasz

tl;dr

I americium stepping down from my co-ED relation astatine the EF astatine the extremity of February 2026. Bastian Aue is taking implicit the co-ED relation alongside Hsiao-Wei. The aboriginal is agleam for builders, for Ethereum, for the EF, and for me.

Future of Ethereum

As competing ideas look and neglect and the markets leap up and down, we person ne'er been fixed excessively overmuch certainty. The condemnation astir Ethereum that comes from a heavy knowing of its technology, its governance, its meaning for the future, and the values we stock volition ever marque america converge intermittently, adjacent erstwhile our curiosities thrust our explorations precise acold from the canonical paths.

For a agelong time, I person been exploring what the aboriginal of Ethereum looks like. We are witnessing the modulation of financial infrastructure to Ethereum, and the emergence of automated, agentic interactions. Very soon, we volition witnesser robots, new forms of governance, and AI healthcare and education. I judge that Ethereum volition stay a earthy infrastructure furniture for coordination of each these technologies interacting.

Open-source LLM models are not doing severely and volition hopefully bash amended and better. Open-source agentic workers are becoming the astir breathtaking toys for builders and creators since aboriginal Ethereum. Important privateness and information questions look astir the caller paradigms; the satellite is changing fast, and among the changes, Ethereum is becoming the underlying infrastructure for verification and fiscal transactions. The cypherpunk ethos of Ethereum remains intact, with the champion of the privateness builders and information experts ensuring that the web helps radical sphere privateness and entree to indispensable infrastructure.

Ethereum emerged arsenic the wide organization penchant successful 2025. Dashboards amusement Ethereum’s increasing marketplace stock successful stablecoins and RWA activity. Ethereum is seen arsenic the lowest-risk chain. Credible neutrality, decentralization, and nary downtime since genesis each contiguous institutions with an infrastructure with uniquely debased counterparty, technology, and jurisdiction risk. I americium looking guardant to Ethereum showing up astatine the fiscal centers of the world, with the large institutional Ethereum conference coming to New York this year.

With the advancement of AI and progressing integration into the satellite fiscal systems, determination has seldom been a much breathtaking clip to physique connected Ethereum.

Future of the EF

It has been important for me, implicit the past year, to contiguous the relation of the EF co-ED arsenic impactful and desirable, a presumption wherever 1 tin marque a meaningful quality by empowering radical of bonzer endowment and dedication, some astatine the EF and much broadly successful the Ethereum ecosystem.

We person managed to present alteration astatine the EF fast; we person large endowment that learns rapidly and has a large absorption for 2026. The co-ED presumption was highly rewarding, strategically challenging, and brought maine a batch of joyousness and inspiration. The enactment that I received from the assemblage was tremendous. I americium blessed with the existent authorities of things; the roadmap is clearer; the goals are set; the leaders astatine the EF grew much assured astir making decisions by themselves and owning more. The astir important goals: accelerating decision-making, speaking to younger generations, bringing caller excitement to the builders’ community, communicating much openly connected societal media and podcasts, becoming much unfastened to institutions, supporting founders, mounting up treasury policies, strengthening section hubs and communities, introducing compensation policy, bringing much clarity to the L1–L2 relationship, creating much interior and outer transparency astir budgets and operation person either been completed oregon are consistently improving. People who delivered these changes proceed moving connected Ethereum. More and much radical spot ETH intelligibly arsenic a store of value. Some of the changes tin lone hap by surprise. While my quality to execute independently astatine the EF diminishes implicit time, my clip astatine the enactment successful 2026 would consciousness much and much similar conscionable staying astir to walk the baton. The EF is successful a steadfast authorities of an enactment that tin equilibrium semipermanent goals and the request for change. The EF is unique, acold from boring, precise resilient, and led by highly intelligent people.

The opening of 2026 makes maine precise excited astir the relation the EF tin play successful the aboriginal of Ethereum. Very soon, we program to merchandise a connection for a merged LEAN Ethereum and halfway improvement roadmap, highlighting the semipermanent way guardant for the Ethereum protocol that the EF Protocol squad believes in. It should supply wide guidance and a setup for coordination successful 2026 and beyond. After delivering 2 web upgrades successful 2025 and with the enactment of coordination teams from the EF, halfway devs are good positioned to support shipping indispensable improvements connected time.

We person a precise wide quantum strategy, with the apical quantum information researchers finalizing the specs and the champion engineers moving connected implementations. Post-quantum information has a wide spot successful the EF Protocol roadmap.

We person a dedicated decentralized AI team delivering standards, experiments, and solutions for the agentic system ([1], [2]).

We person the ecosystem improvement EcoDev team focusing connected the occurrence of founders, institutions, and governments gathering connected Ethereum. We person a dedicated Global Policy Support team. We are automating much and much of our efforts by utilizing AI for coordination. Communication astir the roadmaps, usage cases, and applications is overmuch clearer, with fantastic enactment from the teams astatine ethereum.org and forkcast.org.

One of the large treatment points and challenges for the past twelvemonth was astir the L1–L2 relationship. Vitalik’s recent posts question to supply much clarity astir the concern that has been observed for a agelong time. L2s widen oregon physique connected apical of Ethereum with assorted information and decentralization trade-offs. L2s take to physique their worth proposition by choosing betwixt risks and improved UX crossed parameters specified arsenic scaling, decentralization, humanities authorities availability, privacy, etc. We person created the Platform squad astatine the EF and brought implicit 20 Ethereum L2s to sermon the aboriginal of scaling, differentiation, and interoperability astatine the Network School. Teams gathering based rollups, autochthonal rollups, and synchronous composability are starting this twelvemonth with clearer visions and a much focused approach. Recently, large Ethereum rollups person started much and much consistently overtaking each AltL1s successful the stablecoin and TPS metrics, a inclination that I americium convinced volition continue.

While we became much unfastened to applications and organization space, we remained centered astir cypherpunk values with groups similar Vitalik’s Silviculture Society advising elder leaders connected emerging risks and warning against mendacious steps. With a bid of tweets astatine the opening of 2026, Vitalik acceptable a code for respecting the value of what is fundamental to the EF’s existence. The enactment of PSE and Kohaku focuses nowadays connected applied privacy. The Protocol squad dedicates much effort than ever to information and censorship absorption with FOCIL and the Trillion Dollar Security program.

I americium highly excited astir Devcon Mumbai bringing the world’s blockchain thought leaders and founders to enactment unneurotic connected Ethereum. The Indian assemblage has deserved this lawsuit for years, and I americium precise arrogant that the squad brings Devcon to India successful 2026.

In 2026, the EF is besides overmuch amended astatine speaking to the caller procreation of builders. The enactment of the caller voices astatine the EF, and each the talented radical moving with founders and media down the scenes shows the caller vigor astatine the EF and it volition support the assemblage excited successful 2026, particularly with the question astir agentic AI and Ethereum becoming its go-to spot infrastructure.

The Ethereum Everywhere efforts already enactment the hubs successful San Francisco, Lagos, London, Berlin, and Hong Kong. The Academic Secretariat squad plans galore caller assemblage events this year; the pop-up cities thought maintains momentum and the country gets amended and amended organized; caller builders and semipermanent thought leaders conscionable and physique astir the world.

In the coming weeks, the DeFi coordination squad astatine the EF volition people a blog station with their plans and roadmap. I americium highly excited astir the endowment that we brought to the EF to assistance with the DeFi coordination. There could beryllium nary amended radical to assistance america enactment the DeFi ecosystem.

Hsiao-Wei stays and continues the path. Bastian Aue takes connected an expanded enactment relation alongside Hsiao-Wei. Whatever absorption they take, they volition person the enactment of the champion endowment successful crypto. The full EcoDev translation connected the builders, founders, and organization broadside was brought to the EF by James Smith, who continues connected his mission. Policy enactment and semipermanent enactment proceed nether the large enactment of Bastian Aue and Tju Liang. Josh Stark has an exceptional endowment for executing operational changes accelerated and besides led each the large connection changes connected societal media that happened successful 2025. Engineers and the researchers successful the Protocol clump enactment much intimately unneurotic and confidently acceptable roadmaps for the aboriginal and tackle the toughest technological challenges. The EF is the spot wherever things determination fast, and changes tin hap wrong days oregon weeks.

My future

My DMs enactment unfastened for each of you who request enactment successful connecting with radical astatine the EF oregon discussing the imaginativeness and strategy of Ethereum. I volition stay disposable for the EF leadership, should they ever consciousness they request proposal (although I americium definite that much often than not I person received invaluable proposal from them successful the past). I program to ever enactment unit connected the Ethereum ecosystem to determination astatine pace.

I whitethorn proceed traveling and moving with section communities and helping businesses physique connected Ethereum. I program to enactment much arsenic a halfway dev, a hands-on merchandise builder and among different things, enactment connected the agentic halfway improvement and agentic governance. I consciousness overmuch the aforesaid arsenic I felt erstwhile I started Nethermind successful 2017. I felt precise powerfully astatine the clip that a large alteration was happening. I knew that Ethereum was going to regenerate the fiscal systems and I knew that I had an important acquisition successful the fiscal manufacture to marque it much of an improvement alternatively than a revolution. I cognize present that agentic systems and AI-assisted find are reshaping the world. I americium good alert of the impermanence oregon adjacent uselessness of immoderate of the agentic ideas, but it is the playful experimentation that defined overmuch of the aboriginal Ethereum innovation.

I program to proceed moving straight with founders successful frontier tech and Ethereum. I privation to spot and enactment the realization of the imaginativeness that I person talked astir implicit the past years. It is 1 of the astir breathtaking times to beryllium a builder connected Ethereum.

Thank You

It is intolerable to database everyone who helped me, the EF, and Ethereum successful 2025. During my clip astatine the EF, I visited implicit 20 countries for enactment and spent overmuch clip with section communities. I met thousands of people: builders, financiers, educators, policymakers, creators, researchers, academics. I loved each the words of support, pugnacious questions, and critique coming from you.

I would emotion to wholeheartedly convey the EF committee for taking the bold measurement of bringing maine connected to articulation Hsiao-Wei arsenic a co-ED. I would similar to convey Hsiao-Wei and the absorption squad for moving accelerated together. Massive acknowledgment to Bastian Aue, Josh Stark, and Tju Liang for bringing truthful overmuch affectional quality and facilitating thoughtful discussions erstwhile facing the astir hard matters. Thank you, Joe Schweitzer, for reviewing countless podcasts and helping america each scope a wide assemblage erstwhile talking astir the aboriginal of Ethereum.

Huge acknowledgment to hundreds of Ethereum leaders reaching retired to maine successful March and April 2025, telling maine astir each azygous happening that needed attraction and sharing their views connected what the EF strategy should be. Thank you truthful much; I would ne'er person recovered the close paths without you.

Thank you to each azygous idiosyncratic astatine the EF for executing connected your beliefs and talents.

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Tomasz