Tomasz Stańczak Steps Down as EF Co-ED, Bastian Aue Steps In

In a leadership update that had been recently shared, Tomasz K. Stańczak confirmed he will step down as Co-Executive Director of the Ethereum Foundation at the end of February 2026. Bastian Aue will move into the co-ED role alongside Hsiao-Wei Wang, continuing the Foundation’s leadership structure without disruption.

The announcement did not land as abrupt or dramatic. It read more like a planned handover. Tomasz presented the move as a change in responsibility, not a departure.

He intends to spend more time building directly again, getting closer to experimentation and product work. Much of that effort, he suggested, will revolve around agentic governance and AI-driven development, fields he sees becoming increasingly important for Ethereum’s next stage.

• Vitalik’s Public Endorsement
• Bastian Aue Steps In
• What Changed at the EF Under Tomasz
• What’s Next for Tomasz

In his statement, Tomasz made it clear that he is not stepping away from Ethereum itself. He plans to move closer to hands-on work, returning to building and experimentation. His focus will include agentic governance models and AI-integrated development, areas he believes will shape Ethereum’s next cycle of innovation.

Vitalik’s Public Endorsement

Vitalik Buterin responded with visible support for Tomasz’s tenure. He pointed to Tomasz’s work ethic and the organizational discipline he carried over from building Nethermind. According to Vitalik, Tomasz helped improve efficiency inside the Foundation and encouraged it to engage more openly with the broader world.

Tomasz has always impressed me with his work ethic, his unique personality, and the kind of organization that he built at Nethermind. He brought a perspective on Ethereum, what blockchains fundamentally are, and how they fit into the future of the world as a whole, that was… https://t.co/puOO3ULubV

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) February 13, 2026

He also noted Tomasz’s role in pushing deeper conversations around artificial intelligence and how AI could intersect with Ethereum’s infrastructure. That alignment around AI is increasingly visible in broader roadmap discussions.

Bastian Aue Steps In

Bastian Aue said he will step into the interim co-ED role and carry forward the work that has been underway over the past year. His message was straightforward. He spoke about protecting what makes Ethereum what it is, i.e., censorship resistance, open-source culture, privacy, and security.

He framed the position less as a seat of authority and more as a responsibility to safeguard the network’s core principles for the long term. Danny Ryan also weighed in publicly, thanking Tomasz and welcoming Bastian.

He described Bastian as someone he has consistently trusted on difficult decisions and made it clear that he still turns to him for perspective. His comments underscored that the Foundation’s internal decision-making strength remains steady through the transition.

Thank you @tkstanczak 🙏

And welcome Bastian 🔥

Bastian is the single most thoughtful and wise person I have ever worked with

While at the EF, Bastian was my number one source of counsel on every tough decision I made during that era, and I still regularly seek his perspective… https://t.co/yBRc30Ic86

— dannyryan (@dannyryan) February 13, 2026

What Changed at the EF Under Tomasz

Over the past year, Tomasz’s focus at the Foundation leaned heavily toward operational clarity and speed. Decision-making processes were tightened. Communication around roadmaps became more structured. Treasury policies and compensation frameworks were refined.

Institutional engagement also expanded. The Foundation increasingly positioned Ethereum as neutral, low-risk infrastructure for stablecoins and real-world assets. At the same time, outreach to younger builders and new communities accelerated.

Another area that drew attention was the relationship between Layer 1 and Layer 2 ecosystems. Rather than allowing scaling debates to fragment, structured conversations were held with multiple rollup teams. The goal was not uniformity, but clearer differentiation and coordination.

Tomasz consistently described Ethereum as coordination infrastructure for agentic systems. He has argued that autonomous AI agents, decentralized governance tools, and AI-assisted financial platforms will need a neutral settlement layer. Ethereum, in that framing, becomes a trust anchor in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.

This direction does not abandon Ethereum’s roots. Privacy research and censorship resistance efforts have continued in parallel, reinforcing the network’s original principles even as its use cases expand.

What’s Next for Tomasz

Unlike many leadership changes in crypto, this transition has unfolded without visible friction.

Vitalik expressed confidence. Danny Ryan emphasized continuity. Bastian outlined responsibility. Tomasz spoke about building rather than leaving.

I am stepping into the role of interim co-ED @ethereumfndn to continue the progress that Tomasz has made over the last year.

Tomasz brought an energy and urgency that the EF needed at a critical time, and I join the community in thanking him for his work on behalf of the…

— Aerugo (@aerugoettinea) February 13, 2026

Tomasz plans to return to more direct experimentation. He has spoken about working on agentic governance systems and AI-assisted core development. He compared the moment to 2017, when he founded Nethermind during Ethereum’s early expansion, sensing a broader technological shift underway.

Today, he sees a similar shift emerging at the intersection of blockchain and AI.

For the Ethereum Foundation, the transition appears measured and steady. For Tomasz, it marks a move back toward the builder’s seat. For the ecosystem, it signals continuity more than change.

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