Who Is Tomasz Stańczak? Inside the New Leadership of the Ethereum Foundation

Tomasz Stańczak stepped into the role of Ethereum Foundation (EF) co-executive director in March 2025, alongside Hsiao-Wei Wang. His role includes planning initiatives and structuring the organization’s strategy for long-term growth.

In August 2017, Stańczak founded Nethermind, an Ethereum research and software engineering company. The firm is behind the development of an Ethereum execution client called Nethermind, which provides infrastructure for processing transactions and maintaining Ethereum state. Stańczak has been actively involved in efforts to scale Ethereum and improve user experience.

How Tomasz Stańczak Joined EF Leadership

Tomasz Stańczak is one of the key executives at the Ethereum Foundation (EF). He took over the role after Aya Miyaguchi, who served as EF Executive Director from 2018 to 2025. Miyaguchi announced her resignation and transition to the role of EF President in February 2025. Following that, EF introduced management changes and an updated leadership structure.

Soon after, Tomasz Stańczak announced that he had accepted EF’s proposal to join as a Co-Executive Director. He expressed his commitment to making Ethereum stronger and supporting its growth.

Together with fellow Co-Executive Director Hsiao-Wei Wang, Stańczak is set to focus on some of Ethereum’s biggest challenges: scaling the mainnet, improving Layer 2 interoperability, and making the user experience more seamless. As a nonprofit supporting Ethereum development, EF is dedicated to the ecosystem’s growth. 

Tomasz Stańczak's Background

Tomasz Stańczak comes from a strong software engineering background. According to the Ethereum Foundation, his work in building Nethermind, one of the largest Ethereum execution clients, can help further grow the Ethereum ecosystem.

At Nethermind, Tomasz has built up an extremely effective talent recruitment and training pipeline, and a highly functional organization. With Tomasz’s expertise, we can create the same kind of engine at the Ethereum Foundation.

– EF.

Based on LinkedIn, Tomasz Stańczak earned his Master of Science degree in Information Technology from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland, in 2009, graduating with first-class honours. He also studied Business Administration but did not complete the program.

Over the years, Stańczak has held various roles as a software developer, tech lead, and founder. In his early career, he worked at Comarch, CME Group, and Citi. Besides Nethermind, Stańczak is also the founder of the DeFi protocol Oiler Network and the early-stage venture capital firm Lantern Capital. He also serves as a board member at the StarkNet Foundation and as President of Flashbots.

Tomasz Stańczak's Perspective on EF’s Communication Shift 

Stańczak has often highlighted Ethereum's core values, such as decentralization and open communication, through interviews, public speeches, and social media posts. In one of his posts on X, he stated that major institutions like BlackRock, DeFi protocols such as Uniswap, Layer 2s like Polygon, early projects like Privacy Pools, apps, users, and other parts of the ecosystem will all play a role in Ethereum’s future.

During an interview with Defiant, Stańczak discussed the criticism and pressure the Ethereum Foundation previously faced for a lack of communication about the blockchain’s strategy and direction. Discussions were especially active in January 2025, when Ether underperformed Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies in a bull market. The community questioned EF’s decisions and started a movement against former director Aya Miyaguchi, demanding her resignation.

One of the key issues, according to Stańczak, was confusion around the Foundation’s stance on Layer 2 networks. At times, EF seemed to focus heavily on the mainnet without clearly signaling its commitment to L2s. That ambiguity caused hesitation among projects. Stańczak said the ecosystem needed a clear and confident message: Layer 2s are a critical part of Ethereum’s infrastructure, providing an application layer, improving privacy, and enhancing user experience.

Another challenge, he noted, was the perception that the Ethereum Foundation avoids engaging with policymakers and enterprises, a gap that, in his view, must be addressed.

Since then, the Foundation has started taking steps to improve. It has restructured protocol teams to make its development priorities more transparent. Stańczak also highlighted the Trillion Dollar Security initiative (1TS), which aims to boost awareness, reinforce Ethereum’s security, and drive mainstream adoption. The long-term vision? A world where billions of people feel secure holding over $1,000 onchain—and where institutions and governments can confidently trust a single app or contract with $1 trillion.

In another interview, Stańczak said that the Ethereum Foundation receives many requests from the community to create spaces, communities, and team-like structures that support new builders and founders in launching applications. He noted that such initiatives are coming, although the process requires coordination between the Foundation and the projects involved.

Engagement With the Community 

Tomasz Stańczak actively engages with financial institutions, builders, and the Ethereum community, showing that the Ethereum Foundation is open to collaboration and dialogue. He often uses social media and public events to share updates and invite feedback.

In April 2025, he announced a European tour to meet with institutions and, potentially, policymakers, aiming to strengthen Ethereum’s ties with traditional sectors and encourage long-term partnerships.

Stańczak also speaks at global events, such as ETHKyiv in Ukraine.

Through these efforts, he’s working to strengthen the Ethereum Foundation’s connection with the global ecosystem.

A Fresh Chapter for Ethereum With a New Leadership Structure

The Ethereum Foundation has gone through internal shifts since February 2025. Stańczak’s engineering expertise and leadership style add clarity and direction, especially after criticism earlier this year, when Ether was lagging behind Bitcoin and other cryptos during the bull run.

While mentioning the need for changes, Stańczak said in an X post that EF continues to be committed to its values and future vision.

Ethereum remains central to this vision. Its foundational principles, like credible neutrality, censorship resistance, and open development, foster an environment where sustainable, long-term innovation aligned with these values can thrive, especially for application builders.

– Tomasz Stańczak. 

According to DefiLlama, Ethereum is the largest blockchain, with more than $61 billion total value locked (TVL) at the time of writing. Ether continues to be the second-largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin by market cap.

This new leadership structure takes the helm at a critical time for Ethereum's technical roadmap. Stańczak and Wang will oversee the ecosystem's transition following the recent Pectra upgrade, which introduced key enhancements in Ethereum’s:

• scalability, 
• staking flexibility, 
• simplified wallet management, 
• gas sponsorships. 

Their guidance will be crucial as core developers now shift focus to Fusaka, the next major upgrade, with an initial focus on PeerDAS (Data Availability Sampling). While no exact date is set, the shift to Fusaka planning suggests a deployment in late 2025 or early 2026.

Technical upgrades and leadership changes mark a new stage for Ethereum. Tomasz Stańczak brings both deep engineering experience and a thoughtful leadership style, which could prove vital as EF works to rebuild trust and strengthen its connection with developers, institutions, and the wider community.

Despite Ethereum’s strong position, it faces increasing competition from faster-moving or more specialized chains. Stańczak now faces the challenge of aligning EF’s internal coordination, public communication, and technical priorities to ensure Ethereum not only keeps pace but continues to lead on values like credible neutrality, open innovation, and decentralization. The months ahead will be a crucial test for this new chapter.