Five senior Ethereum Foundation figures — Trent Van Epps, Josh Stark, Barnabé Monnot, Tim Beiko, and Carl Beek — left within a relatively short period following broader leadership changes at the EF.

In this clip, Kain Warwick shares his theory: longtime Ethereum “missionaries” stayed through years of dysfunction because they believed Tomasz Stanczak represented a path toward meaningful change. When that momentum faded, some may have decided it was time to leave.

Kain raises a broader question: what empirical evidence would it take for Vitalik to conclude that the EF’s approach is not working? Taylor Monahan pushes back on the usual reasons longtime researchers leave — and why these departures do not seem to fit the typical pattern.

Hosts:

This clip is from a longer conversation on SpaceX pre-IPO perps, the EF exodus, and three DeFi hacks in four days. Full episode here: https://youtube.com/live/XCPM60pYDjQ

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