Ethereum Foundation Researchers Carl Beek and Julian Ma Announce Departure
Ethereum Foundation researchers Carl Beek (7 years, involved in Beacon Chain development and supported the 2020 PoS upgrade) and Julian Ma (4 years, focused on mechanism design, cryptoeconomics, and scalability) announced their departure on Monday, becoming the latest members in a recent wave of resignations from the foundation.
Julian Ma co-authored the anti-censorship proposal FOCIL (EIP-7805) and promoted the Fast Confirmation Rule, reducing the confirmation time between Layer 2 and the mainnet to 13 seconds.
Ethereum developers and holders are concerned about the foundation's stability, and the wave of resignations has sparked discussions in the community regarding governance and scalability pressures. Independent core developers and Layer 2 projects benefit, while the foundation's internal execution faces short-term pressure, with funding continuing to shift towards efficient scalability solutions and decentralized protocols.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Carl Beek, as a core contributor to Beacon Chain, was deeply involved in Ethereum's transition from PoW to PoS, while Julian Ma consistently contributed to scalability and anti-censorship efforts. This wave of departures continues the restructuring trend at the foundation since 2025, including the leave of former co-executive directors Tomasz K. Stańczak, Josh Stark, Barnabé Monnot, Tim Beiko, and Alex Stokes, among other key Protocol team members.
On the capital front, the Ethereum Foundation is attempting to enhance execution efficiency through organizational restructuring and adjustments to CROPs values, while requiring employees to sign loyalty commitments. This is in response to community dissatisfaction regarding slow scalability and insufficient ecosystem support, but it has also sparked internal cultural controversies, leading to a faster outflow of core talent towards independent research, Layer 2 teams, or commercial entities.
Similar to how early core Ethereum developers dispersed to projects like Lido and Optimism, forming ecological radiation, and the relatively stable talent retention of the Solana Foundation in recent years, the current Ethereum Foundation is undergoing critical growing pains as it transitions from a centralized coordinating body to a more decentralized, community-driven governance model.
Structural judgment: Essentially a response to regulatory changes (governance structure adjustments). As the foundation serves as the de facto coordinating layer for Ethereum, its internal loyalty requirements and value controversies amplify the community's demands for decentralization. The mechanism is that the outflow of talent accelerates protocol development from being solely foundation-led to a parallel evolution of multiple teams, forcing governance power to shift from within the organization to a broader base of independent contributors and the Layer 2 ecosystem.
ABAB News · Law of Cognition
The faster the talent outflow, the more decentralized the governance.
The stronger the loyalty commitment, the higher the intention to resign.
Weakened central coordination accelerates ecological innovation.