Who Is Aya Miyaguchi: Wrong Leader for Ethereum Foundation?

The Ethereum Foundation (EF) is a key player in the crypto world – the nonprofit that funds research sets strategy, promotes education, and drives the ecosystem forward.

When things are running smoothly, leadership rarely gets questioned. But when ETH is lagging behind other cryptos and faces stronger competition from other chains, people start searching for answers.

Discussions about Ethereum’s challenges heat up, and all eyes (and tweets) turn to those at the top.

Who Is Aya Miyaguchi? The Background of EF Executive Director

Before getting into the crypto industry, Miyaguchi worked as a high school teacher in Japan. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Arts, English, and American Literature from Japan’s Nanzen University and an MBA in marketing and sustainable business from San Francisco State University.

Based on her LinkedIn profile, after working at high school for over 13 years, Miyaguchi took on the role of business advisor and lead marketing in San Francisco. In 2012, she co-founded a non-profit organization named Table for Two that stopped its activities a year later.

But how did she get into crypto?

Well, in a 2018 interview with Laura Shin, Aya shared how, as a teacher, she always encouraged her students to leave Japan at least once in their lives to broaden their perspectives. 

That got her thinking – maybe she should try something new too. So, she quit her teaching job, moved to the U.S., and continued her studies to land a new job. That’s when she first heard about Bitcoin in 2011.

Among the things that Miyaguchi was most interested in about crypto were financial inclusion and social impact.

In 2013, Aya took her first crypto job at Kraken. She started out managing Kraken’s Japan operations, eventually becoming the managing director of Kraken Japan, and stayed in that role until November 2017.

How Did Aya Miyaguchi Become EF’s Executive Director? 

Back in 2013, while working at Kraken, Miyaguchi met Vitalik Buterin. At the time, he was writing for Bitcoin Magazine and working on the Ethereum Whitepaper.

In an interview with Wired, Miyaguchi said Buterin once visited Kraken’s offices and chatted with the exchange’s founder, Jesse Powell, and others. He was talking about Bitcoin’s issues and how he wanted to build something better – Ethereum. According to Miyaguchi, Kraken’s founding team was pretty supportive of the idea.

Fast forward to 2014, the Ethereum Foundation got off the ground in Switzerland, and by 2015, the Ethereum Network was live.

After leaving her job at Kraken, Miyaguchi received an offer from someone at the EF to take on a leadership role, managing areas of the ecosystem beyond research and development.

At that point, Ethereum was growing fast. Tons of external developers and researchers were contributing to the open-source codebase, but the project needed someone to bring structure and keep things running smoothly.

Miyaguchi, already a personal fan of Ethereum, was eager to contribute – without necessarily seeking a leadership position. Meanwhile, EF was looking for someone like her, someone who was passionate about the project.

And just like that, she stepped into the role.

Miyaguchi succeeded Ming Chan, who resigned at the end of January 2018. 

I hope to support Ethereum – with all of you in the community – to maintain its genuine vision for the future of humanity (and beyond),

she tweeted. 

In 2019, she was also appointed to the Board of the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance and the Global Blockchain Council of the World Economic Forum.

Aya Miyaguchi's Approach to Ethereum Culture 

When talking about the Ethereum Foundation values, Miyaguchi often connects them to the spirit of Kaizen: continuous improvement for the better. She believes that while technology is important, it’s the underlying philosophy that guides people in the right direction, making it possible to change the world.

At the Ethereum Devcon conference back in 2018, Aya mentioned how building the Ethereum Foundation is different from creating a typical startup or corporate structure. 

Instead of focusing on central control, the foundation is community-focused and aims to minimize its own power as much as possible while providing coordination, funding, and handling communication.

She has also previously stated that at its core, the Ethereum community is not particularly interested in making money but instead prioritizes building products for the public good. In that sense, Miyaguchi draws parallels to Zen ideology, saying it would be ideal if Ethereum’s core values were rooted in the culture just as Zen is rooted in Japanese culture. 

Community Calls for Miyaguchi’s Resignation 

Miyaguchi’s leadership methods at the Ethereum Foundation no longer work – this is the claim made by a movement within the community. From structured criticism to direct calls for her resignation, various social media posts have fueled the discussion.

One of the main criticisms against the EF is its regular ETH sales, which some in the community believe contribute to price declines. However, token sales can serve different purposes, including funding development and maintaining operational costs.

Critics think Ethereum could do better with a leader who promotes competition and brings in fresh strategies. They’ve even got a preferred candidate: Danny Ryan, a well-known Ethereum researcher and developer.

On the website VoteDannyRyan.com, built by developer Fabrice Cheng, 99.8% of users voted “yes” to Miyaguchi stepping down. That said, this is just an informal poll – it doesn’t actually decide whether she stays or leaves.

Responding to the movement, Danny Ryan wrote a post on X expressing respect for Aya’s leadership and friendship.

There are many reasons Ethereum has flourished over the years, and Aya has played a significant role in that. She has a deeply strategic mind and a pure heart,

he said.

Is It Time for Aya Miyaguchi to Leave the Ethereum Foundation? 

Vitalik Buterin, who has the final say in this situation, doesn’t support the movement against Aya. Responding to the calls for her resignation, he said on X: “This is not how the game works.”

He added: 

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 also noted that the social media push against Miyaguchi has made his job harder.

According to the Ethereum Foundation’s website, its board of directors includes Vitalik Buterin, Aya Miyaguchi, and Patrick Storchenegger.

Previously, Buterin announced that major changes to EF’s leadership structure were in the works. The goal? To increase technical expertise, improve communication, and enhance execution ability within the foundation.

At the time of writing, it’s unclear when these changes will take effect – or what Aya Miyaguchi’s future role in Ethereum will be.