Ethereum Foundation Faces Turmoil as Second Co-Director Departs in Four Months Amid $30M Funding Concerns

Hsiao-Wei Wang stepped down as co-executive director and board member of the Ethereum Foundation on June 18, effective immediately. Her resignation marks the second co-ED exit in about four months, reinforcing concerns that the Foundation’s leadership structure remains unstable as it heads into a critical protocol upgrade phase.

Her departure coincided with a warning published by former Ethereum Foundation contributor Trent Van Epps, who highlighted a potential funding shortfall in Ethereum’s core development ecosystem. He cautioned that within three to nine months, the system could face a structural gap of roughly $30 million annually, with no clear replacement funding mechanism currently in place.

Wang acknowledged and thanked Bastian Aue for overseeing the transition during her earlier sabbatical period. Aue had previously served as interim co-executive director after Tomasz Stańczak stepped down in February and is now effectively the Foundation’s sole executive director. A formal successor arrangement has not been announced.

At the time of publication, ETH was trading near $1,690, down around 3.3% on the day—largely in line with broader market weakness rather than any reaction specific to Wang’s resignation. The key issue is less the short-term price movement and more whether the Ethereum Foundation can stabilize both its leadership and funding model before existing gaps widen further.

Van Epps, who worked at the Ethereum Foundation from May 2021 to April 2026, focused on core development coordination and Protocol Guild funding. His perspective is therefore grounded in direct involvement rather than external speculation, making his three-to-nine-month warning more consequential.

The $30 million annual funding gap he identifies relates to support for client teams, researchers, and coordination groups responsible for Ethereum’s protocol upgrades and network reliability. This strain is emerging from two main developments.

First, the Client Incentive Program ended in April 2026 without a replacement framework. Introduced in 2021, it provided structured rewards for teams maintaining key Ethereum execution and consensus clients such as Geth, Erigon, and Lighthouse, with payments tied to ongoing contributions.

With its expiration, one of the few recurring and predictable funding channels outside Ethereum Foundation grants has been removed.

Second, the Foundation has adopted a long-term treasury strategy aimed at reducing annual spending from 15% of its holdings to around 5% by 2030. While this approach supports long-term financial sustainability, it also creates short-term funding pressure until alternative mechanisms are established.

Recent EF grants in Q1 2026 still supported major client teams, validator security tools, cryptography research, and core infrastructure development. However, Van Epps argues that irregular grant cycles cannot fully replace the continuity previously provided by the Client Incentive Program.

Without a replacement funding system in the near term, the most affected groups are likely to be those maintaining execution and consensus clients—core engineers whose work is essential for keeping the upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade timeline on track. He also notes that long-term initiatives like quantum-security research and Layer 1 scaling are often the first to feel pressure when funding becomes uncertain.

Wang and Stańczak were appointed co-executive directors in March 2025 as part of a broader governance restructuring following Aya Miyaguchi’s transition into a president role. Both have since left within roughly 15 months.

Reports suggest the Ethereum Foundation has seen around 19 departures in 2026, including several senior contributors connected to the Protocol Cluster, such as Barnabé Monnot, Tim Beiko, and Alex Stokes. While each exit may have individual reasons, the clustering of departures points to broader structural tensions in governance, funding priorities, and organizational direction.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin publicly responded to Wang’s resignation, describing her as a long-standing contributor and highlighting her work in Ethereum research, consensus development, and community coordination in Taipei.

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