GuShiio.com For Aya, Ethereum is not only a technical project, but also an “infinite garden” that embodies the ideal of decentralization.
Written by: Deep Trend TechFlow
On February 25, when Ethereum was widely questioned, Aya Miyaguchi, who once stood at the forefront of public opinion, became the new chairman of the Ethereum Foundation.
This was not a whim, and the transition from current executive director to becoming chairman of the Ethereum Foundation (EF) has been planned for a year.
Aya Miyaguchi said in her blog post that Ethereum belongs to everyone, and precisely because it belongs to no one, we allow a culture of different opinions to not only tolerate differences but become stronger through differences. The role of the Ethereum Foundation has never been to control or own all aspects of Ethereum.Our responsibility is to uphold the values of Ethereum。& rdquo;
From Japanese classrooms to the infinite gardens of an encrypted world, Aya Miyaguchi’s story is not only a unique career transformation, but also a journey of conflict to protect values.
From Japanese classrooms to the encrypted world
Aya Miyaguchi’s career started not in the technical field, but in education.
She worked at a high school in Nagoya, Japan. As a passionate teacher, she is committed to creatively designing courses to inspire independent thinking and critical spirit among students.
However, after more than ten years of teaching experience, she began to feel uneasy that teaching textbook knowledge alone could not satisfy her pursuit of a deeper meaning of education. She hopes to help students become people who can explore the world independently, rather than just test machines.
“As a teacher, I often tell students that they must have the experience of going abroad at least once in their lives. rdquo;
In the end, she set an example and opened up a new path for herself. She chose to quit her teaching position and go 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 and believed that addressing inequality issues was crucial to businesses.
By chance, she met Jesse Powell, founder of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, and joined the company as Kraken’s Japan management director.
However, her career has not been smooth sailing.
2014 coincided with Japan’s top exchange Mt. Gox collapsed and cryptocurrency’s public image in Japan fell to rock bottom. Faced with panic and mistrust, Miyaguchi proactively contacted government agencies, participated in regulatory discussions, and worked with industry organizations to promote the cryptocurrency regulatory framework that Japan later introduced in 2017.
One episode was that she met Vitalik Buterin, the then 19-year-old founder of Ethereum, in Kraken’s office in 2013. At that time, he was not yet a V-god. His external identity was a contributor to Bitcoin Magazine and was writing an Ethereum white paper.“”
Aya later recalled that she didn’t fully understand the technical details of Ethereum at the time, but she recognized the technology’s potential to change the world. She was attracted by Ethereum’s vision andEspecially appreciate its non-profit nature and the community’s adherence to core values. In her view, Ethereum is not only a technology, but also a new worldview that can challenge existing centralized power structures.
In 2018, after leaving Kraken, Aya was invited by Vitalik to join the Ethereum Foundation.
At that time, the foundation faced many challenges, including coordinating internal and external activities and establishing non-R & D functions. Despite the difficulty of the task, she accepted the role, which she saw as an opportunity for her to realize her personal ideals.
“At that time, the crypto industry was beginning to take on a money-making atmosphere, and I felt that Ethereum might be the last hope for realizing my original vision of how decentralized technology can help achieve financial inclusion and help people without bank accounts get banking services, and I had to help. rdquo;
As executive director of the Ethereum Foundation, Aya has adopted a unique approach to leadership that she calls the principle of subtraction"——Actively weaken one’s power and avoid centralized decision-making, while maintaining Ethereum’s open culture and decentralized spirit.
She described Ethereum as an infinite garden,Emphasize its organic development characteristics and the importance of long-term thinking rather than short-term benefits.
“Infinite Garden and Zen Management
For Aya,Ethereum is not only a technical project, but also an infinite garden that embodies the ideal of decentralization.
This metaphor comes from James P. Carse’s Limited and Infinite Games. She believes that the mission of Ethereum is not to win short-term benefits, but to continue to promote the popularization and development of decentralized concepts.
She compared the Ethereum community to an uncarefully renovated natural park, full of diversity and vitality.Although there are sometimes radical voices or strange ideas, these can also become a source of future innovation.
“The Ethereum ecosystem did not initially have clear goals or milestones set by the Ethereum Foundation, but grew organically as people from different backgrounds joined the community. This is what the word garden means. However, it is more like a national park than a manicured garden. This is a place full of biodiversity, with caterpillars and things that may eat some plants, rather than a place that relies on a lot of pesticides.
Of course, there are also people in the Ethereum community who will say something too radical or even ridiculous. But they can also come up with some useful and original ideas. The important thing is not to suppress them, but to let nature go its course. I use the word garden to describe this natural balance, but I don’t think a word is perfect.& rdquo;
In her view, decentralization is not only a technical challenge, but also a change in the way of thinking. The privacy risks, data monopoly and power abuse brought about by centralization have profoundly affected our lives. The decentralized thinking advocated by Ethereum can allow us to re-examine the social structure and change the relationship between people and technology.
Aya’s leadership style is deeply influenced by Zen philosophy. It is somewhat similar to the rule by doing nothing advocated by Taoism, which is in sharp contrast to the traditional top-down management method.
She compares herself to a Zen teacher, training team and community members to maintain the spirit of Ethereum in a decentralized environment.
She cited The Merge upgrade as an example, emphasizing that this major technological change was completed without a boss or central authority, reflecting the self-coordination capabilities of the Ethereum community.
Under her leadership, the Ethereum Foundation has supported multiple public products and open source tools, such as projects such as Etherisc. In addition, she participated in the World Economic Forum’s Global Blockchain Committee and served on the board of directors of the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance, expanding Ethereum’s cooperation in the enterprise field.
Question and persistence
Aya’s values and management style have been supported and recognized by Vitalik, and have also aroused external doubts.
To sum up, the doubts about Aya are mainly reflected in five aspects:
Qualification disputes
Some industry KOL believes that her background (such as English literature and previous high school teaching experience) is not enough for the role of executive director and questions her professional abilities.
For example, crypto KOL CoinMamba believes that she may not even pass the first round of interviews in other organizations.
slow progress
Ethereum’s expansion issue has always been the focus of community attention. Some users believe that under Aya’s leadership, the slow progress of expansion solutions has caused Ethereum to lag behind competitors such as Solana in the market competition.
spending problem
The foundation’s financial management has also been the focus of criticism. Some users believe that the foundation has US$800 million in reserves, but it spends too much and results are insufficient.
Leveraging management, insufficient support for developers
The Ethereum Foundation has been criticized for being too liberal and failing to actively support developers in the ecosystem. Community members believe that the foundation is too passive in technical support and resource allocation, resulting in developers having to take on more responsibilities themselves.
$ETH underperformed
Some criticism points to the disappointing performance of Ethereum tokens in the market, arguing that under Aya’s leadership, Ethereum lost its lead over competitors.
Despite the criticism, Vitalik Buterin actively defended Aya on X, emphasizing her contribution to promoting Ethereum upgrades, Devcon activities and maintaining Ethereum culture, and criticizing the community’s offensive behavior as offensive.
A new chapter in infinite garden
On February 26, 2025, Aya Miyaguchi announced her transition from executive director to chairman. She also wrote the article “A New Chapter in Infinite Garden” as a declaration for her future.
Aya emphasizes the need to be guided by philosophy and maintain Ethereum’s values:
Major technological developments in Ethereum, such as mergers and turning 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-style expansion.
The uniqueness of Ethereum lies in the interweaving of technology and social innovation, making it an infinite garden.
The concept of decentralization has a profound impact on global society and democratic systems, and the Foundation is committed to upholding this value.
Summary, to sum it up:Subtraction, not minimalism. Long-term sustainability, not short-term benefits. Thoughtful complexity, not oversimplification. Manage, not control, adaptive growth, not rigid structures. Purposeful evolution, not corporate expansion. Community leadership, not domination.
An interesting phenomenon is that in discussions on the Chinese Internet, when an organization is criticized, people tend to think that XX has bad people around it and XX has been deceived by bad people, similar to how King Zhou was bewitched by Daji. In the critical discussions on Ethereum, Aya became a similar bad person.
This is a little unfair to Aya. She has never changed and has always acted in accordance with her values and methods.It was Vitalik and the Ethereum Foundation who chose Aya, and they belonged to both sides in terms of values.
In the encrypted world of price-driven attitudes, rise is justice, values and ideology are often regarded as a kind of nihilism. Pleasing Leviathan and incorporating authority is the easiest thing to immediately make asset prices to the moon, but refusing to compromise and adhering to the ideals and principles of decentralization is more difficult and valuable.
Of course, we must also maintain vigilance and supervision,History tells us that many movements that carry 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 ideal of decentralization may be difficult to achieve, but it is this difficulty that makes it particularly precious.
Just as Mask founder suji quoted Murakami’s famous saying at an event in Hong Kong:
“Between a hard high wall and an egg crashing into it, I will always be on the egg’s side.& rdquo;
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