Ethereum Foundation Shifts Focus to Near-Term Scaling, User Experience Following Leadership Restructure

Recent comments from Ethereum Foundation co-executive director Tomasz Stańczak signal a significant intensification of the organization's focus on addressing immediate scaling challenges and enhancing user experience within the Ethereum ecosystem.

"Within the EF we will shift much of our research effort toward near‑term goals, aiming to address user experience and scaling challenges in the next two protocol upgrades," Stańczak said this week in a post on his Twitter/X account, highlighting the prioritization of the Pectra, Fusaka, and Glamsterdam upgrades. These upgrades are expected to prioritize Layer 1 scaling improvements, enhanced support for Layer 2 scaling solutions, and significant user experience enhancements, including improved interoperability.

Stańczak also emphasized that a key aim of the leadership changes was to free up more of Vitalik Buterin's time for long-term research and exploration, rather than day-to-day coordination. While acknowledging Buterin's continued influence, he stressed that his proposals, along with those from other researchers, are intended to spark community discussion and are subject to review.

The Ethereum Foundation announced its new leadership structure in March, welcoming Hsiao-Wei Wang and Tomasz Stańczak as co-executive directors effective March 17th. At the time, the Foundation articulated the need to guide Ethereum's evolution. "Over the next few years, the Ethereum ecosystem needs to navigate the challenging transition from being an early-stage project serving a small number of enthusiasts to being a robust permissionless censorship-resistant base layer of the global finance and software stack," the Ethereum Foundation said in a statement .

The Foundation also stated that under the new leadership, it would ensure growth while upholding core Ethereum values.

Stańczak's recent remarks build upon this foundational shift, indicating a strategic prioritization of more immediate, user-facing improvements. He also noted that the foundation is actively exploring ways to accelerate the timeline for projects currently considered to be three to five years away, aiming to bring them to fruition within a one-to-two-year timeframe by leveraging insights from top researchers.

While the Foundation said it remains committed to long-term research and development, the increased emphasis on near-term deliverables signals a strategic move to ensure Ethereum's readiness for mainstream use and its ability to effectively support the rapidly expanding ecosystem of decentralized applications and Layer 2 solutions. This shift in focus could lead to a more agile and user-centric development trajectory for Ethereum in the immediate future.