Ethereum's Leadership Crisis: How Internal Politics Stalled Crypto's Second Coin
In November 2024, a leaked proposal to reshape Ethereum's leadership structure exposed profound divisions within the cryptocurrency's ecosystem, revealing how political tensions and power struggles have contributed to ether's stagnant price performance despite broader industry growth.
The Proposal That Shook Ethereum's Foundation
Danny Ryan, a veteran Ethereum developer with seven years at the Ethereum Foundation (EF), submitted a confidential proposal to Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum's founder and symbolic leader. Ryan suggested that the foundation, which had prioritized technical upgrades and decentralization since its 2014 founding, needed to "exercise a stronger voice" in a maturing cryptocurrency landscape without compromising its core ethos.
Ryan told the Guardian he could see political tides changing "overnight," particularly with Donald Trump positioning himself as the "crypto president" ahead of his potential return to the White House. Ryan's perspective was shaped by personal experience: the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had served him with a lawsuit in March 2024, only to drop the case summarily—a move he suspected was politically motivated to avoid alienating the tech sector during Joe Biden's re-election campaign.
"By November, with Donald Trump poised to return to the White House, I could identify a massive American-shaped opportunity," Ryan explained. Trump's campaign had been heavily bankrolled by crypto companies and advocacy groups, and a second Trump administration was expected to implement policy changes favorable to cryptocurrency expansion into traditional finance.
Ethereum's Dueling Ideological Camps
The Ethereum blockchain, a hub for hundreds of billions of dollars in financial products, hosts two prominent ideological factions. According to Timour Kosters, founder of Ethereum-affiliated Edge City, these represent the "computer" side focused on technological solutions and the "casino" side leaning into finance, including some questionable schemes.
Paul Dylan-Ennis, a scholar studying Ethereum's subcultures, identifies these camps more specifically: traditional "Cypherpunks" who prioritize privacy, decentralized protocols, and freedom from state power, versus a more "pragmatist" and "populist" cadre motivated by ether's price and seeking institutional adoption.
Ryan's proposal initially received positive feedback from Buterin and expanded to include other EF leaders, including Aya Miyaguchi, the organization's longtime executive director and steward of Ethereum's traditional ideological core. However, when news of these discussions leaked, social media erupted with controversy.
Community Pressure and Leadership Resistance
On platform X, some Ethereum users clamored for Ryan's appointment and lobbied for Miyaguchi's ouster. Veteran developer Eric Conner suggested "it's revolt time" if the foundation failed to appoint Ryan as executive director. The situation escalated when some social media users posted death threats against Miyaguchi, which incensed Buterin.
Paul Brody, who leads blockchain initiatives at Ernst & Young and chairs the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, noted that while critiques against Miyaguchi were "tinged with misogyny," calling for leadership change because of Ethereum's static price resembled standard investor discontent. "In some ways, the Ethereum community is behaving a lot like pretty normal shareholders... They want a return on their investment," he observed.
In January 2025, Buterin responded to community pressure, framing threats against Miyaguchi as "pure evil" and stating that such complaints decreased "the chance I have any interest whatsoever in doing 'what you want.'" He emphasized, "The person deciding the new EF leadership team is me."
Internal Dissatisfaction and Reluctant Change
A former EF member, speaking anonymously, described Buterin's social media post as a "turning point" and "uncharacteristic," noting the founder typically "pretended that Ethereum was in the hands of the community." According to this source, EF management organized a foundation-wide retreat to force Buterin into naming a new executive director quickly, as he "couldn't really make up his mind" and Miyaguchi had wanted to step back "for a while."
Another former employee suggested Buterin's close relationship with Miyaguchi informed his reluctance to expedite her replacement. They claimed Buterin "isn't over" the rejection of his U.S. work visa in 2012 and remains "resolutely" against EF staff talking to U.S. politicians—a disfavor that may have counted against Ryan, an American.
Buterin only finalized leadership changes once he realized the extent of dissatisfaction within the EF, not just online, according to these sources.
New Leadership and Shifting Priorities
On March 1, the EF announced the appointment of two co-executive directors representing both strands of Ethereum's culture: Tomasz Stańczak, a former vice-president at Citi, and Hsiao-Wei Wang, a veteran Ethereum-focused engineer.
Stańczak told the Guardian the new leaders were brought on with a "mandate of being more open, communicating more, and responsible to the business world," home to "builders focused on real-world use cases." He added, "Compared to previous years, there is probably much more green light for institutions to adopt Ethereum." The EF now operates a landing page designed for institutions interested in understanding and potentially adopting Ethereum technology.
Two former EF employees said these changes highlight how the foundation had previously adopted a "defensive posture" and "worried about the SEC," using opacity and plausible deniability to avoid legal action. The foundation only published a public-facing organizational chart over the summer, partly anonymizing employees before that shift.
"The surprising twist in recent times is now the EF is seen as very much directing 'Ethereum the protocol' and, to some extent, 'Ethereum the culture,'" Dylan-Ennis observed. "In this sense, the foundation has become more important than ever. It is too early to say whether this is for the better or the worse."
Missed Opportunities and Stagnant Value
Despite strong industry tailwinds, ether's value remains down 20% from one year ago and has stayed almost unchanged since Ryan's November 2024 proposal—the same as its 2022 level. This stagnation occurred as Trump's re-election campaign established lucrative ties to the crypto sector, with major firms like JP Morgan, Fidelity, and BlackRock seeking to offer blockchain-based financial products through "tokenization."
Ryan emphasized he has "the utmost respect for Aya Miyaguchi," noting the public leak of their discussions led to "a lot of toxicity" that "threw off" their dialogue. By January 2025, Buterin and Ryan decided to amicably "close the door" on their discussions, partly due to differences about the EF's next steps, including the "American-shaped opportunity" beyond the foundation's interests.
Connected to other Wall Street-facing Ethereum evangelists by senior EF leadership, Ryan announced in February 2025 that he was co-founding Etherealize, an EF-aligned organization building and marketing Ethereum-based products for traditional financial institutions. Vivek Raman, a co-founder, noted Ethereum-focused sales cycles with large financial institutions are accelerating, a sign Wall Street is warming to cryptocurrency.
However, ether continues to crawl back from a sudden drop in value. "The price of crypto has fallen like 40% in the last six months," Brody noted. "You don't see people talking about the current leadership... the way they did about Aya 18 months ago. You just don't."
