Hsiao-Wei Wang resigns as Ethereum Foundation co-exec director

Hsiao-Wei Wang stepped down as co-executive director and board member of the Ethereum Foundation, effective today. She announced the resignation after returning from a sabbatical.

Wang had served as co-executive director since March 2025. She joined the Foundation’s research team in mid-2017 as a core Layer 1 researcher, working on sharding proofs-of-concept, consensus mechanisms and on the Beacon Chain that supported Ethereum’s shift to proof-of-stake. She was promoted during a 2025 organizational reshuffle and later took on primary executive duties alongside interim co-executive director Bastian Aue before taking a sabbatical.

In her announcement Wang wrote, “After my sabbatical, I have decided to step down as co-executive director and board member of the Ethereum Foundation, effective today.” She added that the role gave her a broader view of how the community collaborates and expressed pride in the work of builders, researchers, educators, node operators, validators and users who support the protocol and applications.

Wang’s departure follows several other senior exits at the Foundation over the past year. Co-executive director Tomasz Stańczak stepped down in February. Two heads of the Protocol cluster, Barnabé Monnot and Tim Beiko, have left and the remaining Protocol co-lead, Alex Stokes, announced a sabbatical. Josh Stark resigned in March after seven years with the organization.

Earlier this year the Foundation published a mandate focusing on censorship resistance, open source, privacy and security, abbreviated as CROPs. The Foundation requested staff to sign a loyalty pledge tied to that mandate, a request that drew criticism from some employees and community members.

Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin outlined plans to reorganize parts of the Foundation into separate groups focused on core protocol work, usability and scalability, and institutional outreach, with the Foundation concentrating on the CROPs elements. Vitalik Buterin wrote on social media that Wang had been “a steadfast contributor to the Ethereum ecosystem for a decade” and praised her handling of the role.

The Foundation has not announced a permanent successor to Wang or detailed changes to its executive lineup. The resignation occurs amid ongoing protocol development and network maintenance work by developers and stakeholders.