Ethereum Foundation Exodus Intensifies: Researchers Carl Beek and Julian Ma Announce Departures, Several Key Members Exit in Quick Succession

BlockBeats News, May 19th, Ethereum Foundation researchers Carl Beek and Julian Ma announced their resignation on Monday, becoming the latest members in the recent wave of departures from the Ethereum Foundation. Carl Beek had been with the Foundation for 7 years, participated in the Beacon Chain development, and supported Ethereum's transition to a PoS consensus mechanism in 2020. Julian Ma, on the other hand, worked at the Foundation for about 4 years, focusing on mechanism design, cryptoeconomics, and protocol scalability. He co-authored the FOCIL proposal (EIP-7805) to enhance anti-censorship capabilities and promoted the Fast Confirmation Rule to reduce the bridging confirmation time between Layer 2 and the Ethereum mainnet to 13 seconds.

In recent months, the Ethereum Foundation has seen a growing number of departures, including former Co-Executive Director Tomasz K. Stańczak, the 7-year veteran Josh Stark, and Protocol team members Barnabé Monnot and Tim Beiko. Alex Stokes, former Co-Head of Protocol, also announced a temporary leave of absence this month.

Reports indicate that the Ethereum Foundation has been restructuring since 2025 to address community concerns regarding scalability, execution efficiency, and ecosystem support. Recently, the Foundation has faced scrutiny for requiring employees to sign a loyalty pledge and has been embroiled in controversy related to its CROPs (Censorship Resistance, Open Source, Privacy, Security) values.