Original Article Title: "Who Will Save Ethereum from the 'Midlife Crisis'? Can Hsiao-Wei Wang Help?"

Original Article Author: Ethan, Odaily Planet Daily

On March 10, 2025, the Ethereum Foundation (EF) announced that Hsiao-Wei Wang had been promoted to the board of directors, becoming the first ethnic Chinese leader to be promoted from a technical background to the board of directors in the seven-year history of the EF. This appointment is seen as a key signal of the EF's response to the ecosystem crisis and the restructuring of its governance system—in the context of Ethereum facing challenges such as the Solana ecosystem impact, Layer 2 ecosystem fragmentation, and community trust deficit, a rise of technical bureaucrats may herald a silent revolution.

Who is Hsiao-Wei Wang? The 'Boundary Breaker' from Code to Power

Hsiao-Wei Wang (@hwwonx), known in Chinese as Wang Xiaowei (hereinafter referred to as Hsiao-Wei Wang): one of the newly appointed executive directors, early core researcher, and community and technical connector.

Technical Authority: The Driving Force behind Sharding and The Merge

Hsiao-Wei Wang's career began with a deep connection to code and protocol. In 2017, she joined EF as a core researcher and, with a technical background in Network Engineering from National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan, she led the design of the Ethereum Beacon Chain architecture and the smooth implementation of "The Merge" in 2022. Her proposed sharding scalability solution was praised by Vitalik as the "crystallization of Asian wisdom," and her authored EIP-4844 proposal even reduced Layer 2 gas fees by 90%, directly driving the Base chain's daily active users to exceed 2 million.

Community Bridge: Pioneer of the Asia-Pacific Ecosystem

The 2018 Taipei Sharding Workshop was Hsiao-Wei Wang's "breakthrough battle"—this event brought global core developers to Asia for the first time, breaking the Western tech circle's bias against the capabilities of Asia-Pacific developers. Celer Network founder Mo Dong commented, "She made the EF hear the voice of Eastern developers." Subsequently, she traveled to South Korea, Vietnam, and other places to establish a fast lane for developer funding, increasing the percentage of Asian teams receiving EF Grants from 5% (2017) to 22% (2024), successfully transforming the dual identity of 'technical geek' and 'community operator' into a capital of power.

The New Paradigm of Power: The Rise Logic of Technocracy

Wang Hsiao-Wei's career path (Core Researcher→APAC Community Lead→Co-Executive Director) reflects a shift in the EF governance logic: from "Vitalik's Monopoly Authority" to "Dual-Track of Technology + Infrastructure". She forms a complementary duo with Nethermind founder Tomasz Stanczak—while she delves deep into sharding scalability and the APAC ecosystem, he leads client development and MEV mechanism optimization. This "Eastern Tech Geek + Western Infrastructure Architect" power structure is precisely the EF's proactive response to ecosystem fragmentation.

Sharding workshop in Taipei, image from Wang Hsiao-Wei's X platform sharing

The founder of Celer Network, Dr. Dong, highly praises Hsiao-Wei Wang. He mentioned that between 2018 and 2019, Wang jointly led the Ethereum Foundation's Grant Program with Ken, who is now in charge of the Uniswap Foundation. She not only actively promoted project implementation but also had a deep understanding of the Asian developer community, advocating for more voice for many Chinese and Asian builders and facilitating many effective collaborations with a pragmatic attitude.

Today, as the Executive Director of the Ethereum Foundation, Hsiao-Wei Wang has a dual mission of R&D insight and community building. Her joining is seen as an important signal of Ethereum returning to its technical roots and grassroots spirit.

The Ethereum Dilemma and Hsiao-Wei Wang's "Technical Scalpel"

The Triple Crisis of Ethereum

· Technical Debt and Ecosystem Fragmentation: Ethereum's mainnet TPS has long hovered around 90 transactions per second, while Solana, with its high throughput and MEME wealth effect, has attracted users. The brutal growth of Layer 2 has exacerbated ecosystem division: L2 solutions such as Base route 90% of revenue to Coinbase, leaving less than 1% to support the mainnet, and even instances of teams like Optimism openly clashing with the EF over the "Blob Data Rent Protocol." Wang Hsiao-Wei's advocated "Sharding+ZK-Rollup" solution needs to achieve a million TPS by 2026; otherwise, the community may question it as a "paper blueprint."

· Governance Trust Deficit: In 2024, the Ethereum Foundation (EF) sold 4,466 ETH, causing a 30% market value plunge and leading the community to accuse it of "dumping ETH." Although Vitalik explained that the sale was for employee compensation and ecosystem donations, after analyzing the budget report, Aave founder Stani Kulechov pointed out that the EF's annual burn rate reached $130 million, requiring a reduction to $30 million and a downsizing of the team. More critically, core developer Eric Conner announced his departure citing "EF resistance to change," while Lido founder Konstantin Lomashuk hinted at establishing a "Second Foundation," directly challenging the EF's monopoly on power.

· Value Narrative Weakness: The era of DeFi and NFT dual-wheel drive came to an end, with Ethereum's "world computer" narrative being overtaken by Solana's "casino economics." Trump's issuance of TRUMP coin on Solana triggered a FOMO frenzy, with its on-chain USDC supply growing 600% in six months, while high gas fees on the Ethereum mainnet forced meme coin developers to collectively migrate. Wang Xiaowei's EIP-4844 proposal, which reduced Layer 2 fees by 90%, did not translate the prosperity of a Base chain with 2 million daily active users into ETH value capture.

Coinbase 2024 Q4 Revenue Allocation, image source: X

The Breakthrough Experiment of Technocratic Bureaucracy

· Power Coding at the Protocol Layer: Wang Xiaowei is transforming technical ideals into governance rules. Through the Cancun upgrade, a "social consensus layer" was introduced to dynamically link the EF's ETH sale quota with the mainnet staking rate to alleviate market panic. By mandating L2 to pay royalties to the mainnet based on Blob data volume (similar to fees on Web2 platforms), despite facing opposition from Optimism, this move could reshape Ethereum's value distribution mechanism.

· Game Theory Model of Dynamic Sell-Off Mechanism

Wang Xiaowei's designed rule of "EF's ETH sale quota being linked to the mainnet staking rate" is not a simple administrative directive but is based on an algorithmic constraint rooted in Nash equilibrium:

· When the mainnet staking rate is ≥ 25%, the EF's monthly sell-off limit is 300 ETH;

· If the staking rate falls below 20%, the selling quota is automatically reset to zero.

This mechanism forces the EF to form a community of interest with stakers—when the staking rate fell to 18% in August 2024, the EF's pause of selling action caused a 12% single-day rebound in ETH price, validating the market's positive feedback on rule transparency.

The Economic Rationality of L2 Fee Sharing Mechanism

Forced Layer 2 to pay a 5% income based on Blob data volume (3% injected into the mainnet staking pool, 2% allocated to core developers), essentially addressing the "tragedy of the commons":

· The base chain generates approximately 2000 Blobs per day (worth $20,000), under this rule, it needs to pay $7.3 million annually to the mainnet, equivalent to Coinbase taking a 15% profit cut;

· Compared to competitor chains like Polygon charging 10%-20% fees to node validators, Ethereum's share is relatively mild. This move could increase the mainnet's annual revenue by at least $50 million, easing EF's financial pressure.

· Fusion of Eastern and Western Governance Philosophy: Its leading "Technology Teahouse" mechanism invites Vitalik to dialogue with grassroots developers monthly, weakening the authoritarian worship of "V-godism"; meanwhile, it tacitly approves Chinese teams to test a shard variant on a compliant chain in Hong Kong, as a reserve technical upgrade option for the future.

· Agenda Setting of the Technology Teahouse

The monthly developer dialogues are not just "empty talks," but adopt an improved version of the Robert's Rules of Order:

· The priority of topics is determined by the number of GitHub issue likes (to avoid EF's internal manipulation);

· Each proposal must be accompanied by feasibility assessment reports from at least 3 Layer 2 teams. The "EIP-7624 Proposal" approved at the November 2024 meeting (optimizing cross-chain gas fee prediction model) was precisely put forward by the Metis team at the teahouse meeting and passed unanimously.

· The Technical Strategy of Hong Kong Shard Experiment

Allowing Chinese teams to test "dynamic sharding" technology on a compliant chain (automatically adjusting the number of shards based on transaction load), it serves as a "technical sandbox" to address geopolitical risks.

· Hong Kong Cyberport Chain has achieved a single-shard throughput of 5000 TPS and boasts 95% compatibility with Ethereum mainnet's ZK-Rollup;

· This trial has reserved a switchable "China Option" for the 2026 mainnet upgrade — if U.S. regulations escalate, Hong Kong Chain's technical modules can be quickly transplanted to the mainnet.

· Compliance Game of DeFi Staking: Establish a 5-of-3 Multisig Wallet, deposit $1.5 billion worth of ETH into protocols like Aave for interest generation, attempting to reverse the Ethereum Foundation's "only sell, not earn" image, and testing the compliance flexibility of decentralized finance on the edge of SEC regulations.

The balancing mechanism of the Multisig Wallet $1.5 billion worth of ETH is injected into a 5-of-3 multisig wallet composed of Chainlink, Aave, EF, Gnosis, and Lido, with each step of operation leaving an on-chain trace:

· Distribution formula for returns is written into the smart contract (60% for developer grants, 30% for ETH buyback and burn, 10% as a risk reserve);

· Even if facing an SEC investigation, this structure can argue through "protocol autonomy" (as established by the 2024 Uniswap lawsuit precedent). After running for half a year, the fund's annualized return reached 8.2% (around $12.3 million), far exceeding the cash flow return from EF's ETH sell-off.

Unfinished Battle and Hidden Perils

· Collision of Technical Idealism and Reality: Under the threat of Solana's single-chain million TPS, Wang Xiaowei's "Sharding + ZK-Rollup" solution needs to be implemented before 2026, or else it will be questioned as a "paper blueprint";

· Community Split Risk: Lido founder Konstantin Lomashuk hints at establishing a "Second Foundation," with radical reforms potentially angering "V God fundamentalists";

· Compliance Minefield: The privacy cross-chain bridge co-developed by EF and Coinbase may violate the U.S. "Hybrid Asset Act," and Wang Xiaowei still needs to prove "protocol neutrality" in a congressional hearing to avoid following in Ripple's footsteps.

· Cultural Conflict: Western developers criticize its "Asian Efficiency First" strategy for causing a 30% increase in testnet bug rates, necessitating a recalibration between code rigor and iteration speed.

Western developers' criticism of the "30% Increase in Test Network Vulnerability Rate" is actually the inevitable result of the trade-off between iteration speed and security:

· The EF Asia Pacific team adopts a Toyota-style "kanban management" system, reducing the upgrade cycle from 6 months to 3 months. However, according to research from the Linux Foundation, a 50% reduction in code review time can lead to a 25%-40% increase in vulnerability rates;

· Wang Xiaowei introduced Formal Verification tools (such as Certora) for automated auditing, reducing the number of Critical Bugs by 60%. However, this came at a cost of a $2 million/year increase in development expenses.

Conclusion: A Silent "Technological Breakthrough"

Wang Xiaowei's entry also indirectly confirms Ethereum's transformation from a "young genius" to a "middle-aged technologist" – no longer relying solely on Vitalik's bursts of inspiration, but on systematic engineering thinking and incremental reform. This "Chinese technical bureaucrat"'s involvement in the transformation may herald Ethereum's inevitable "midlife crisis" battle. It is also the intersection of code politics with Confucian and Daoist wisdom, injecting Eastern governance philosophy into a new chapter of decentralized systems.

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