Tomasz Stańczak, co-executive director of the Ethereum Foundation (EF), announced today he will step down from his leadership role at the end of February 2026, marking a notable shift in the organization’s executive team.

Stańczak, who has co-led the foundation alongside Hsiao-Wei Wang since early 2025, said in a blog post that he believes the foundation and the broader Ethereum ecosystem are “in a healthy state” as he prepares to hand over the reins to Bastian Aue, who will take the co-executive director role alongside Wang.

Stańczak’s tenure began at a turbulent time for the EF. He was brought aboard following the transition of long-time executive director Aya Miyaguchi into a new leadership position amid mounting community criticism that the foundation wasn’t doing enough to aggressively push the Ethereum ecosystem forward.

At the time, detractors pointed to a perceived disconnect between the EF and developers, including conflicts of interests, clashes over strategic direction and frustrations about ETH’s price performance. Such criticisms helped spur a broader leadership restructuring.

While Stańczak stressed his confidence in the team’s ability to carry forward the EF’s mission, he also signaled his intention to remain involved in the ecosystem.

“I plan to continue working directly with founders in frontier tech and Ethereum. I want to see and support the realization of the vision that I have talked about over the last years. It is one of the most exciting times to be a builder on Ethereum,” Stańczak wrote.

Read more: Ethereum Foundation’s Aya Miyaguchi Leaving Executive Director Role