Multiple Perspectives | New Leadership Aya Miyaguchi, Can Ethereum Regain Market Confidence?

Author: Fairy, ChainCatcher

Editor: TB, ChainCatcher

On February 25, the Ethereum Foundation (EF) welcomed a significant personnel change: Aya Miyaguchi was promoted from Executive Director to Chair, and the leadership structure of the foundation will also undergo transformation.

According to MAX KORDEK, Chair of the Onchain Foundation, as the new Chair, Aya will be responsible for preparing, presiding over, leading, and ultimately signing all resolutions from the foundation's committee meetings.

These meetings cover all important matters of the foundation, including:

• General work reports from the Chair, Vice Chair, and Executive Director
• Risk assessment (reviewing and updating the foundation's risk assessment chart)
• Financial matters (current holdings and expenditure, token liquidation plans, investment strategies, etc.)
• Legal matters (mainly the approval of legal contracts and agreements)

As an important figure in the Ethereum Foundation, whether Aya Miyaguchi can help restore market confidence in Ethereum has become a topic of industry concern.

ChainCatcher has compiled various opinions from crypto KOLs and collected evaluations from Aya's colleagues regarding her promotion for readers' reference.

I. Perspectives

1. Pessimistic Voices:

CoinMamba@coinmamba:

Aya Miyaguchi is employed in a job that is not suitable for her, has not done substantial work, yet can still receive 7 years' worth of salary (referring to her time as Executive Director). She can continue to do nothing and serve as a symbolic figure. Who is the new Executive Director?

Chen JianJason @jason_chen998:

Aya's promotion is not surprising, as Vitalik has a "stubborn" personality; the more he is questioned and pressured, the more he insists on his choices. The process of Aya being promoted to Chair did not involve a clear vote or performance report, but was more of a decision made by Vitalik.

Mindao@mindaoyang:

This Chair position seems to have opened a new role, responsible for institutional relations and government public relations, more like a "Director of Party History Research Institute." The job transfer idea has a strong tone of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

2. Positive Voices:

MAX KORDEK @maxkordek, Chair of the Onchain Foundation (formerly Lisk Foundation):

Overall, this is a positive adjustment for the Ethereum Foundation. If Ayako is trustworthy (I don't know her well), this could be a good thing for Vitalik, as it allows him to reduce administrative work for FC meetings (such as preparing meetings, signing documents, etc.) and focus more on his strengths—blockchain research.

Ethereum Investor DCinvestor@iamDCinvestor:

Vitalik and the Ethereum Foundation have listened to the community's voice and made many positive changes in the past few weeks, which is commendable.

I believe Aya has been sincerely fulfilling her duties based on the direction she has received, and under her leadership, the professionalism of the Ethereum Foundation has significantly improved compared to when she first took over. Thank you for her contributions.

But now, I am more looking forward to new leadership and new ideas to drive Ethereum back to a leading position in innovation and practical applications.

Xiao Ba｜Web3 & AI@web3xiaoba:

In the Ethereum community, many believe that Aya's "dereliction of duty and incompetence" has led to the ETH price being stagnant for nearly four years, while few know that Aya has been an OG in the crypto market since 2013, and she joined the Ethereum Foundation in February 2018, in a state of being called to duty.

Ebunayo.eth @Ebunayo08:

As discussions about Ethereum and the Ethereum Foundation (EF) continue, I have been concerned that Ethereum's culture and philosophy might be affected during the transformation process. As many have pointed out, there are indeed many areas that need improvement. Aya herself has mentioned in several meetings that there are many things that need to be advanced and optimized, but change needs to be gradual.

Aya's appointment as Chair means that there is a high probability that Ethereum's culture can be preserved, while other areas that need adjustment will also be improved. This also indicates that Vitalik has full confidence in her leadership abilities.

3. Neutral Voices:

XinGPT@xingpt:

Aya's appointment is not "the central government has decided, you come to be the general secretary," but rather "you handle things, I am at ease."

1. This is not a spur-of-the-moment decision; the transition from Executive Director to Chair has been planned for a year.
2. As Executive Director of the Ethereum Foundation, Aya has adopted a unique leadership style, which she calls the "subtraction principle"—actively diminishing her own power to avoid centralized decision-making while maintaining Ethereum's open culture and decentralized spirit.
3. Aya's leadership style is deeply influenced by Zen philosophy. It is somewhat similar to the Daoist principle of "governing by doing nothing," contrasting sharply with traditional top-down management approaches.
4. On February 26, 2025, Aya Miyaguchi announced her transition from Executive Director to Chair, and she also wrote an article titled "A New Chapter in the Infinite Garden," which serves as her future declaration. Aya emphasized the need to be guided by "philosophy" to uphold Ethereum's values.

Early Ethereum Developer Eric Conner@econoar:

I cannot fully judge whether Aya and the changes in the Ethereum Foundation (EF) leadership are a positive or negative development. No one knows what the "Chair" position specifically means; no one knows what the new leadership structure is; no one knows who the new Executive Director is; we can only wait and see.

4. Colleagues' Voices:

Joseph Schweitzer @JBSchweitzer, Head of External Relations at EF:

Aya's goal is to create effective operational processes for EF to succeed; even in the face of storms, she still makes decisions that uphold the core values and spirit of Ethereum—encouraging ecosystem growth, community ownership, and decentralization. Thank you, Aya.

Nathan Sexer @NathanSexer, Member of the Ethereum Foundation:

In my brief interactions with Aya during my collaboration with Deva the Devcon Unicorn, I can attest that she has been a guiding force in maintaining and strengthening Ethereum's culture and values, which is a key part of the success of devcon/nect.

Aya is a highly respected authoritative voice within EF, and her way of interacting with the community—hopeful, clear, and without complaint—fully demonstrates her wisdom and charisma. We often focus on shortcomings, but we should pay more attention to the achievements made. Aya has made outstanding contributions. Keep moving up, keep moving forward.

The Future is Uncertain, but Ethereum Faces Serious Challenges

Different perspectives correspond to different positions; whether Aya's promotion can bring a turning point for Ethereum remains uncertain, but Ethereum is indeed facing a series of severe challenges: overall innovation stagnation, management being accused of "stagnation," weakening competitiveness of ecological applications, and user growth far from expected targets.

Moreover, from the data, the fund flow for Ethereum spot ETFs is also not optimistic, having experienced net outflows for three consecutive days. Data shows that nine Ethereum spot ETFs have collectively seen outflows of $137 million.

Source: Farside Investors

Long positions in the futures market have been severely liquidated. From February 24 to 25, the liquidation amount for Ethereum futures reached $380 million, with long positions liquidated at $330 million and short positions at $50.99 million, as the drop in ETH price triggered a large number of leveraged trade liquidations.

Open interest in futures decreased from $25.5 billion on February 24 to $21.8 billion on the 26th, indicating that traders are closing leveraged positions to reduce risk.

Source: Coinglass

Profitable addresses are decreasing. According to IntoTheBlock data, after the drop in ETH price, currently only 55% of Ethereum addresses are in profit, while 40% of addresses have fallen into loss. This sharply contrasts with the peak in May 2024, when the proportion of profitable Ethereum addresses was nearly 90%. The recent declines have pushed many holders back into the loss zone, further deteriorating market sentiment.

The recent two hacking incidents, combined with the overall market crash, saw ETH prices drop by as much as 16%. Ethereum is under multiple pressures, and whether it can break through the current predicament and reignite market confidence remains to be seen.