Key Changes:
- New “Protocol” division consolidates research and development teams
- Three strategic initiatives: Layer 1 scaling, blob scaling, UX enhancement
- Some researchers set to leave organization during streamlining
- Less than a month after Pectra Upgrade — acknowledgment of needed changes
- Dankrad Feist as strategic advisor across all tracks
🔧 Major Reorganization Post-Pectra
Less than a month after the Pectra Upgrade, the Ethereum Foundation believes that the world’s second-largest crypto is approaching major breakthroughs with higher stakes for a broader audience.
Yet those stakes could be at risk if the people steering development are entrenched in what it calls a “messy process” of shipping protocol.
“We must rethink our current approach to designing, developing, and stewarding the protocol” — the foundation wrote Monday, announcing the restructuring of its Protocol Research & Development teams.
🎯 Three Strategic Initiatives
The move is set to consolidate development efforts under a new “Protocol” division, focusing on three immediate goals:
1. Scaling Layer 1 (main blockchain)
- Leadership: Tim Beiko and Ansgar Dietrichs
2. Scaling blobs (data storage)
- Leadership: Alex Stokes and Francesco D’Amato
3. Improving user experience
- Leadership: Barnabé Monnot and Josh Rudolf
👨💼 Strategic Advisor
The three teams will be supported by Dankrad Feist — a prominent researcher and cryptographer renowned for “Danksharding” — a blockchain optimization process named after him.
Context: Last year, Feist was involved in a conflict of interest controversy when he, alongside fellow core developer Justin Drake, confirmed receiving tokens for their advisory relationship with EigenLayer.
🚪 Personnel Changes
However, not everyone is staying. Some members “won’t be continuing with the Ethereum Foundation,” while the foundation encourages ecosystem projects to recruit departing talent.
🌉 Bridging Research-Implementation Gap
The Ethereum Foundation’s restructuring efforts with Protocol aim to bridge a perceived gap between research and actual implementation.
Previous Upgrade Challenges:
- Pectra faced several hurdles
- Testnet failures earlier this year delayed rollout by weeks
- Developers scrambled to patch bugs
Now, through Protocol, the foundation is attempting to show “the world is ready for the world computer.”
Bottom Line: Ethereum Foundation’s major restructuring into focused “Protocol” initiatives represents an acknowledgment that current development processes need fundamental changes to meet growing demands, with dedicated leadership for Layer 1 scaling, blob optimization, and user experience improvements while some team members transition out of the organization.