Researchers Carl Beek and Julian Ma announced their departures from the Ethereum Foundation on May 18, adding to a growing list of senior exits in 2026. Beek's last day is May 29 after seven years on Beacon Chain research; Ma leaves after four years building FOCIL and the Fast Confirmation Rule.

The Ethereum Foundation just lost two more senior researchers. Follow the full departure wave - subscribe to Web Snack and stay ahead of Ethereum's roadmap shifts.

Why the Ethereum Foundation Has Been Losing Developers Since 2025

In mid-2025, under community pressure over execution speed and governance transparency, the Ethereum Foundation began a structural overhaul. The changes included its first public layoffs, a reorganization of research and development teams, and a leadership transition - long-serving Executive Director Aya Miyaguchi stepped back to become President while Hsiao-Wei Wang and Tomasz Stańczak took over as co-executive directors.

The restructuring did not halt the turnover. Stańczak resigned in February 2026, less than a year into the role. Josh Stark left in March after seven years. Trent Van Epps departed after five years. Peter Szilágyi, who built Geth - Ethereum's most widely used execution client - had already left in June 2025 after roughly a decade at the organization.

Earlier in May, the foundation disclosed that Barnabé Monnot and Tim Beiko are also leaving the Protocol team and that former co-lead Alex Stokes is going on sabbatical. Three new Protocol Cluster co-leads were named the same day.

Beek's Beacon Chain Work and Ma's 13-Second L2 Fix

Carl Beek spent seven years at the foundation contributing to core protocol infrastructure. He helped design the Beacon Chain, which supported Ethereum's transition from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, and participated in the KZG ceremony used in Ethereum's blob transaction scaling system. Beek said on X that he recently welcomed a child and plans to spend time with family before deciding his next step.

Julian Ma worked on mechanism design, cryptoeconomics, and protocol scaling. His most cited contributions are FOCIL (EIP-7805), which strengthens censorship resistance through inclusion lists that make it harder for block builders to exclude transactions, and the Fast Confirmation Rule (FCR), which cuts bridging time between Ethereum Layer 1 and Layer 2 networks to approximately 13 seconds. Ma noted his role had shifted from research toward product and growth work over time.

Neither departure read as adversarial. Both researchers acknowledged colleagues and expressed gratitude in their announcements, with no stated destination.

What Eight Departures Mean for Ethereum's Glamsterdam Timeline

The Glamsterdam upgrade, originally scheduled for June 2026, has been pushed to Q3 2026. The delay has not been attributed directly to personnel changes, but it arrives as the foundation's Protocol Cluster - its core team for base-layer design and coordination - transitions to new leadership mid-cycle.

Ethereum's development reaches well beyond the foundation. Independent client teams, external researchers, and contributors outside the EF payroll do most of the day-to-day building. But the exits of researchers with direct ownership of active proposals like FOCIL raise practical questions about how cleanly knowledge transfers to incoming leads.

Pseudonymous analyst Ignas flagged the pattern publicly on May 18, asking whether the reasons include low pay, competitor offers, or disillusionment with the project's direction - questions the foundation has not answered directly.

New Protocol Co-Leads and the Q3 Roadmap Test

On May 11, the Ethereum Foundation named Will Corcoran, Kev Wedderburn, and Fredrik as the new Protocol Cluster co-leads. Corcoran focuses on post-quantum security and has contributed to the zkEVM team. Wedderburn leads the zkEVM team. Fredrik heads Protocol security research, including the Trillion Dollar Security project.

The three inherit a roadmap that includes Glamsterdam, the Hegotá fork, and FOCIL - a proposal their predecessor co-developed. The foundation published a new mandate earlier in 2026 repositioning itself as one steward among many, not Ethereum's central authority. Whether the current departure rate reflects that shift executing as planned, or friction outpacing the transition, remains the open question the community is asking.

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P.S. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Always conduct your own research and make independent decisions.