Ethereum Foundation shifts focus to L1 scaling and UX improvement, assigns Vitalik to research direction

The Ethereum Foundation seems to have had enough of the criticism from the crypto industry and its community, especially about its less-than-stellar performance in recent market cycles. 

Ethereum Foundation’s new co-executive director Tomasz K. Stańczak recently took to X with a lengthy statement that offers a way forward.

Ethereum to focus on making the most out of its star player, Vitalik Buterin

According to Stańczak, discussions about the layer 1 scaling roadmap have been far-reaching, and the feedback they have gotten so far suggests that the community appreciates their ambition.

Stańczak now believes that making that ambition a reality is dependent on the focus of the core development teams and researchers. According to him, the recent changes in leadership at the Ethereum Foundation will enable Vitalik to use his time for research and exploration, rather than day‑to‑day coordination or crisis response.

Oh, Vitalik just solved the incusion lists / CR and in a totally novel way. Very convincing. pic.twitter.com/lKjIJ5Aa9q

— Tomasz K. Stańczak (@tkstanczak) June 13, 2024

“Each time Vitalik shares insights or communicates a direction, he accelerates major long‑term breakthroughs,” Stańczak wrote, highlighting how Buterin’s recent posts on RISC‑V and zkVMs have advanced promising avenues, while his writing on privacy has helped realign the community around the Ethereum Foundation’s core values.

Stańczak continued by pointing out that Buterin’s proposals will always carry weight, but their sole aim is to start conversations and encourage progress in difficult research areas.

He said they want their other researchers to enjoy the same freedom.

“Focus remains essential,” he wrote. “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.”

He further added that the foundation will be concentrating on layer 1 scaling, support for layer 2 scaling, and significant UX improvements (including interoperability) in the Pectra, Fusaka, and Glamsterdam upgrades.

The foundation will also be exploring ways to accelerate the timeline of projects that currently look three to five years away. This can be done with posts from their top researchers as they help some of them ship within one or two years through initiatives such as next‑generation execution and consensus layers.

Ethereum’s X community reacts to Stańczak’s post

Since Stańczak shared his long post on the direction the Ethereum Foundation is headed, many users on X have weighed in with their opinions.

“This is the type of awesome leader communication with community,” one user commented, adding that the post “dramatically clears the uncertainty from EVM ecosystem or maybe also L2 ecosystems.”

The overall sentiment among those who commented was in agreement with the foundation’s plans.

There were also some pessimists. One pointed out that it feels “loosely” like there are no choices being made and another argued that it is more important that Ethereum come up with concrete initiatives to strengthen communities, enhance education, onboard builders, and accelerate real‑world app development.

The Ethereum community has been especially vocal about the lack of engagement and poor narrative building, with many calling out the foundation for its minimal social media presence and its limiting responses.

Stańczak’s latest post could be a sign that the EF is finally listening to its community.

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