An Ethereum core developer has left the community to pursue innovations within the artificial intelligence landscape.
On Jan. 21, a prominent Ethereum core developer, Eric Conner, announced his departure from the Ethereum community after Vitalik Buterin dismissed calls for a leadership shakeup and claimed sole authority over the Ethereum Foundation.
“The person deciding the new EF leadership team is me. One of the goals of the ongoing reform is to give the EF a ‘proper board,’ but until that happens, it’s me,” Buterin said.
While many supported Buterin’s decision to solely run Ethereum until reforms for an official board kick in, several community members called out the move, citing ambiguity with the ethos of the blockchain technology — the pursuit of decentralization.
Despite a long-term 11-year affiliation with the Ethereum community, Conner sided with the latter. Responding to Buterin’s message, the core developer wrote on X:
“I am no longer a dot eth. Perhaps some day those in leadership roles will realign with the community but for now, I am out.”
Losing interest in Ethereum amid leadership concerns
Connor said that he “simply lost passion” after realizing the importance of community and embracing change to serve a larger community. He added:
“Leaders matter, culture matters, community matters and we can’t just shrug this off anymore. […] Truly, I hope Ethereum wins but I can no longer spend all of my days shouting into this void.”
He announced his switch to AI in another X post.
Source: Eric Conner
Conner will initially work on building Freysa.ai, an evolving AI agent, but is open to collaborating on building other AI tools.
Related: AI agents’ market cap surges 222% in Q4 2024, driven by Solana
Vitalik Buterin attempts leadership restructuring
On Jan. 18, Buterin announced major changes to the Ethereum Foundation’s leadership to emphasize technical expertise and improve communication between the foundation and builders in the Ethereum ecosystem.
Source: Vitalik Buterin
Amid the major overhaul announcement, he said, “People seeking a different vision are welcome to start their own orgs.”
This leadership change at the Ethereum Foundation follows a rocky year in 2024, which saw the Foundation’s spending, roadmap goals and personnel come under fire from the Ethereum community.
Magazine: Stablecoin for cyber-scammers launches, Sony L2 drama: Asia Express
Leave a Reply