As Ethereum Turns 10, Where Is the Foundation Focused Next? - Ep. 877

18 snips

Jul 31, 2025

Tomasz Stanczak, Co-Executive Director at the Ethereum Foundation and Founder of Nethermind, discusses Ethereum's 10th anniversary and its recent challenges. He reflects on the community's resilience and the Foundation's revamped focus on user experience and developer engagement. Tomasz shares an ambitious secondary roadmap, envisioning Ethereum as a platform for AI and a new open-source society while addressing the need for innovation in a competitive landscape. Prepare for insights on Ethereum’s future amidst a shifting crypto environment!

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INSIGHT

Ethereum as Global Coordination Layer

Ethereum represents a global coordination technology layer enabling permissionless economic and scientific collaboration.
It connects finance, automation, and AI governance, evolving as a platform beyond mere computation.

INSIGHT

Ethereum's Evolution to Maturity

Ethereum matured from an experimental stage to a secure, resilient platform ready for global financial adoption.
The current phase focuses on broad adoption and addressing emerging threats like AI centralization.

INSIGHT

EF's Coordinating and Enabling Role

The Ethereum Foundation mainly acts as a coordinator and supports public goods focused on security, privacy, and censorship resistance.
The foundation avoids controlling builders but strengthens protocol resilience and long-term vision.

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Ethereum turned 10 on Wednesday, capping off a decade of trials and travails — but also triumphs. After years of being the heart of crypto’s onchain economy, Ethereum stalled last year, losing mindshare and market share to Bitcoin and Solana. During that time, some long-time supporters publicly aired frustrations with the Ethereum Foundation.

Now, there’s a palpable shift in energy.

In this episode, Tomasz Stanczak, the co-executive director of the Ethereum Foundation, reflects on the 10-year anniversary and talks about what’s ahead.

From internal strategy overhauls to his plans to tackle Ethereum’s UX and developer experience, Tomasz shares how the Foundation is trying to re-center Ethereum — and why he’s betting on it for the next decade.

He also lays out what he calls a “secondary roadmap,” including bold ambitions like building Ethereum into a platform for AI, machines, and even a new kind of open-source society.

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Guest:

Tomasz K. Stańczak, Co-Executive Director at the Ethereum Foundation and Founder of Nethermind

Links:

Unchained: Ethereum Turns 10 Years Old
Tomasz’s tweet about the roadmap

Timestamps:

🎬 0:00 Intro

🎉 7:46 How Tomasz is reflecting on Ethereum’s 10th birthday and its recent struggles

🧠 10:41 What Ethereum means to Tomasz and how he explains it to the normies

🏗️ 17:28 Why the Ethereum Foundation plays a different kind of role in crypto development

👔 22:59 How Tomasz ended up as co-executive director of the EF

🗣️ 27:25 What he learned from hundreds of conversations about how Ethereum could improve

🎯 29:47 Why the Foundation is now focused on three core goals

💼 36:34 How and why the EF is also embracing business development

🪙 42:40 Why Tomasz wants people minting directly on Ethereum Layer 1

📣 46:14 How the Foundation’s communication strategy has changed and why it matters

📉 52:48 Why the EF isn’t focused on ETH’s price—at least not directly

🧾 57:50 Whether the Foundation is worried about Ether’s shifting asset narrative

🔗 1:03:34 How the EF is working to fix interoperability issues within Ethereum

🏦 1:05:59 Why the Foundation sold ETH to SBET and how its treasury strategy is evolving

🏛️ 1:14:09 How Ethereum became the chain of choice for institutions

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