Source: Shenchao TechFlow

On February 25, when Ethereum was widely questioned, Aya Miyaguchi, who was once at the forefront of public opinion, served as the new chairman of the Ethereum Foundation.

This is not a whim, and the transition from current executive director to transfer to chairman of the Ethereum Foundation (EF) has been planned for a year.

Aya Miyaguchi said in a blog post, “Ethereum belongs to everyone, and because it does not belong to anyone, we allow a culture of disagreement not only tolerate differences—but to become stronger through differences. The role of the Fong Foundation has never controlled or owned all aspects of Ethereum. Our responsibility is to uphold the values ​​of Ethereum. ”

From Japanese classrooms to the infinite gardens of the crypto world, the story of Aya Miyaguchi It is not only a unique career transformation, but also a conflicting journey to protect values.

Aya Miyaguchi's career starting point is not a technical field, but education.

She worked in a high school in Nagoya, Japan. As a passionate teacher, she is committed to creatively designing courses to inspire students' independent thinking and critical spirit.

However, after more than ten years of teaching experience, she began to feel uneasy - just teaching textbook knowledge could not satisfy her pursuit of deeper meaning in education. She hopes to help students become people who can explore the world independently, not just exam machines.

"As a teacher, I often tell students that they should have at least one experience of going abroad in their life."

In the end, she set an example and opened up a new path for herself, choosing Resigned from his teaching position and went to the United States to study for an MBA.

This decision unexpectedly brought her into the world of blockchain and cryptocurrency.

While studying in the United States, Aya developed a strong interest in financial inclusion, believing that solving inequality is crucial for businesses.

According to chance, she met Jesse Powell, the founder of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, and joined the company as a management director of Kraken Japan.

However, her career has not been smooth sailing.

In 2014, the cryptocurrency’s public image in Japan fell to the bottom as the collapse of the leading Japanese exchange Mt. Gox. Faced with panic and distrust, Miyaguchi took the initiative to contact institutions, participated in regulatory discussions, and worked with industry organizations to promote the cryptocurrency regulatory framework that Japan later launched in 2017.

A episode was when she met Vitalik Buterin, the 19-year-old founder of Ethereum in Kraken's office in 2013. He was not yet a "V god" at the time.I am a contributor to Bitcoin Magazine and am writing an Ethereum white paper.

Aya later recalled that she did not fully understand the technical details of Ethereum at that time, but she realized that the technology had the potential to change the world. She was attracted by the vision of Ethereum and particularly appreciated its nonprofit nature and community adherence to core values. In her opinion, Ethereum is not just a technology, but also a new worldview that can challenge the existing centralized power structure.

Aya was invited by Vitalik to join the Ethereum Foundation in 2018 after leaving Kraken.

The foundation was facing many challenges at that time, including coordinating internal and external activities and establishing non-R&D functions. Despite the arduous task, she accepted the role, which she believed was also an opportunity for her to realize her personal ideal.

“At that time, the crypto industry began to show a money-making atmosphere, and I felt that Ethereum might be the last hope to realize my original vision, how to use decentralized technology to help achieve financial inclusion and help those without bank accounts People get banking services, and I have to help.”

As executive director of the Ethereum Foundation, Aya adopts a unique approach to leadership, which she calls the "subtraction principle"—proactively weakens herself Power, avoid centralized decision-making, while maintaining Ethereum’s open culture and decentralized spirit.

She describes Ethereum as an "infinite garden", emphasizing the nature of its organic development and the importance of long-term thinking rather than short-term gains.

For Aya, Ethereum is not only a technical project, but also an "infinite Garden" that embraces the ideal of decentralization.

This metaphor is derived from "The Game of Limited and Infinite" by James P. Carse. She believes that Ethereum’s mission is not to win short-term benefits, but to continue to promote the popularization and development of the concept of decentralization.

She compares the Ethereum community to an untouched natural park full of diversity and vitality. While there are sometimes radical voices or strange ideas, these can also be the source of future innovation.

“The Ethereum ecosystem did not initially set clear goals or milestones by the Ethereum Foundation, but grew organically as people from different backgrounds joined the community. This is the “Garden” The meaning of the word. However, it is more like a park than a manicured garden. It is a place full of biodiversity with caterpillars and something that may eat some plants, rather than a dependency on a lot of Where to pesticides.

Of course, there are also people in the Ethereum community that say something too radical or even ridiculous. But they can also come up with useful and original ideas. Important It is not to suppress them, but let nature go with the flow. I use the word "garden" to describe this selfHowever, I don't think a word is perfect. ”

In her opinion, decentralization is not only a technical challenge, but also a change in the way of thinking. The privacy risks, data monopoly and abuse of power brought about by centralization have profoundly affected Our lives. The decentralized thinking advocated by Ethereum allows us to re-examine social architecture and change the relationship between people and technology.

Aya's leadership style is deeply influenced by Zen philosophy. It's a bit similar to The “governance by inaction” advocated by Taoism is in sharp contrast to the traditional top-down management method.

She compared herself to a Zen teacher who trains teams and community members to decentralize Keep the spirit of Ethereum in the environment.

She uses "The Merge "upgrade as an example, emphasizing that this major technological change was completed without a "boss" or central authority, reflecting the self-coordination ability of the Ethereum community.

Under her leadership, The Ethereum Foundation supports several public products and open source tools such as Etherisc. In addition, she has participated in the World Economic Forum’s Global Blockchain Committee and served as the Board of Directors of the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance, expanding Ethereum’s corporate sector Cooperation.

Aya's values ​​and management style have been supported and recognized by Vitalik, and has also aroused doubts from the outside world.

In summary, the doubts about Aya are mainly reflected in 5 aspects:

Quality dispute

Some industries KOL believes that her background (such as English literature and previous high school teacher experience) is not sufficient to be competent in the executive director role, questioning her professional abilities.

For example, Crypto KOL CoinMamba believes that she may be in first place in other organizations Even the round of interviews cannot pass.

Slow progress

Ethereum's expansion has always been the focus of the community, and some users believe that under the leadership of Aya, Slow progress in scaling solutions has led to Ethereum lagging behind competitors such as Solana in market competition.

Spension issues

Finance financial management is also a key point of criticism. Some users believe that The Foundation has 8 $100 million in funding reserves, but the cost is too high and the results are insufficient.

Let-letting management, insufficient support for developers

Ethereum Foundation was criticized for being too "let go" and failed to Actively support developers in the ecosystem. Community members believe that the foundation is too passive in technical support and resource allocation, which leads to developers taking on more responsibilities on their own.

$ETH poor performance

Some criticism points to the performance of Ethereum tokens in the market, which is disappointing, believing that Ethereum has lost its leadership under AyaLeading advantage over competitors.

Despite the above criticism, Vitalik Buterin actively defended Aya on X, highlighting her contributions to promoting Ethereum upgrades, Devcon campaigns and maintaining Ethereum culture, and criticizing the community's attacks "inspiring" Disgusted.”

On February 26, 2025, Aya Miyaguchi announced her transition from executive director to chairman, and she also wrote the article "A New Chapter of Infinite Garden", which is regarded as her future declaration.

Aya emphasizes the need to maintain Ethereum's values ​​by guided by philosophy:

Ethereum's major technological advances (such as mergers and shifts to proof of stake) embody the philosophy of leadership without control .

The foundation’s goal is to help Ethereum achieve long-term sustainability, rather than pursuing short-term gains or traditional enterprise expansion.

Ethereum’s uniqueness lies in the interweaving of its technology and social innovation, making it an infinite garden.

The concept of decentralization has a profound impact on global society and democratic institutions, and the Foundation is committed to adhering to this value.

Summary, to sum it up is: subtraction, not minimalism. Long-term sustainability, not short-term benefits. Thoughtful complexity, not oversimplification. Manage, not control adaptive growth, not rigid structure. Purposeful evolution, not corporate expansion. Community leadership, not domination.

An interesting phenomenon is that in the discussion on the Chinese Internet, when an organization is criticized, people tend to think that "xx has bad people around, xx is deceived by bad people", similar to "King Zhou is by Daji Bewitched, Aya became a similar "bad guy" in a critical discussion on Ethereum.

This is a bit unfair to Aya. She has never changed and has always acted according to her values ​​and methods. It was Vitalik and the Ethereum Foundation who chose Aya, and they are both parties in terms of values.

In the crypto-world of price-driven attitudes, rising means justice, and values ​​and ideology are often regarded as a kind of "nihilism". It is the easiest thing to please "Leviathan" and integrate authority into it. The matter immediately puts the asset price to The Moon, but refuses to "compromise" and adheres to the decentralized ideals and principles more difficult and valuable.

Of course, we must also be vigilant and supervise. History tells us that many movements under the banner of "lofty ideals" may also become tools of power.

Ethereum's journey is both a technological exploration and an experiment on human values.

The decentralization ideal may be difficult to achieve, but it is this difficulty that makes it particularly precious.

As, Mask founder suji quoted a famous quote from Murakami Murakami during a Hong Kong event:

"In a hard wall and a bump intoBetween its eggs, I will always stand on the side of the eggs. ”