Skip to content
- Julian Ma and Carl Beek left the Ethereum Foundation, deepening talent loss concerns.
- Beek helped build the Beacon Chain, while Ma worked on FOCIL and fast confirmation.
- Recent exits have raised concerns over institutional knowledge inside Ethereum’s teams.
The Ethereum Foundation faced fresh community attention after Julian Ma and Carl Beek announced their exits on Monday. Both researchers posted farewell messages on X within hours, adding to a broader series of departures from the organization’s senior technical ranks.
The tone of the announcements was warm, but the message was clear. They also reignited the discussion about loss of its developer base, which helped develop the organization’s core systems during a critical period for Ethereum development.
Ethereum Foundation Researcher Carl Beek Confirms Exit
Carl Beek spent seven years at the Ethereum Foundation. Some of his most prominent contributions were to the Beacon Chain, which was used to facilitate Ethereum’s transition from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake.
That transition became known as the Merge. It is still one of the most complicated upgrades accomplished by any major blockchain network.
Beek said he will retire on May 29. He also announced last month the birth of his first child, which put his departure closer to a personal milestone.
In his farewell post, Beek thanked researchers, core developers, Foundation members, and the wider community. According to him, the people behind the network are still the strength of Ethereum.
After four years at the Ethereum Foundation, Julian Ma also confirmed his resignation. He joined as a mechanism design researcher and then progressed towards product and growth strategy.
Also Read: Capital B Expands Bitcoin Strategy After Securing $17.8 Million Investment
Two projects defined Ma’s time at the organization. The first one is FOCIL, also known as EIP-7805, which was developed to mitigate the risk of censorship on Ethereum.
Julian Ma Leaves After Key Ethereum Scaling Contributions
The goal of FOCIL was to prevent the commercial trade of block propose roles. Ma explained the work as “defending one side of Ethereum from the financialization of the market.
Ma also led the Fast Confirmation Rule from design to deployment. The rule brought the asset bridging time between the Ethereum mainnet and Layer 2 networks down to 13 seconds.
Those transfers had previously taken minutes. Ma said he now wants to explore ideas built on top of crypto’s financial infrastructure and move deeper into product work.
These are the latest departures after several other members of the Ethereum Foundation had left. In February, after just one year in the position, Tomasz Stańczak stepped down as a co-executive director.
Josh Stark left in March after seven years. Barnabe Monnot and Tim Beiko also departed from the Protocol team, while Trent Van Epps moved on from Protocol Guild.
Earlier this month, Alex Stokes announced a sabbatical. Péter Szilágyi also departed last June, after a decade, bringing with him an understanding of Geth.
Many nodes around the globe use the Geth execution client. One of the country’s biggest concerns about the loss of institutional knowledge in key technical fields was the departure.
The Ethereum Foundation restructured in 2025 after sustained community criticism over execution and strategic direction. Changes were made as Ethereum was falling behind in the narrative with the faster-moving rivals.
Also Read: Standard Chartered Acquires Zodia Custody Core Business
