Danny Ryan, a Key Figure in Ethereum’s Proof-of-Stake Transition, Is Stepping Down — What’s Going On?
Date: 2024-09-16 Author: Henry Casey Categories: BUSINESS
Danny Ryan, one of the Ethereum Foundation’s lead researchers, has announced his resignation after seven years in the Ethereum ecosystem.
Ryan played a key role in Ethereum’s transition to a Proof-of-Stake consensus system, particularly during “The Merge,” when the blockchain abandoned Proof-of-Work.
Ryan indicated that his departure was due to personal reasons and was not a criticism of Ethereum or the cryptocurrency industry as a whole.
Ryan is Seeking New Opportunities
In a GitHub post, he explained his decision to leave, noting that leading the Ethereum project was an intense and all-encompassing experience.
“Being one of many people steering the complex ship that is Ethereum has been an all-consuming experience, and while it has been one of the greatest experiences of my life, I am ready to pass on this role to others to make room for new things,” he wrote.
Assessing his contributions to Ethereum’s development, Ryan recalled joining the project “as a random person off the internet” and quickly finding an opportunity to make meaningful contributions.
“Ethereum’s development and research are in good hands. There is a deep level of experience and leadership across the dozens of teams involved in the project,” he added, assuring the community of a strong future for Ethereum’s development.
“While the protocol still has work to do, the issues can be resolved with a little time and effort.”
Over the years, Ryan played a major role in the launch of Ethereum’s Beacon Chain in 2021 and has been heavily involved in the Ethereum Improvement Proposals through the foundation’s blog.
As of September 13, when the announcement was made, Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, was trading at $2,416.
Buterin to Support Only Advanced Layer 2 Solutions
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has publicly stated that starting next year, he will only support Layer 2 solutions that have moved beyond the initial development stage.
The move is aimed at increasing security and trust in the Ethereum ecosystem, which is home to various projects based on the rollup mechanism.
However, these projects still rely on early mechanisms that Buterin calls “training wheels.”
He believes it is important to move away from rollups that rely on “multi-signatures” to a future with cryptographic trust that minimizes the reliance on human control.
Buterin noted that several teams working on the ZK rollup (zero-knowledge) could reach the first stage by the end of the year, which would be an important step for mass adoption and trust in Ethereum scaling solutions.
However, he cautioned against rushing to roll back safeguards before confidence in the security of proof systems is achieved.
As reported, Buterin has been linked to a series of ETH sales since August 30 totaling 950 ETH, worth about $2.28 million. His wallet, which received 3,800 ETH, worth about $9.8 million, sells ETH in small batches.
