Since the beginning of this year, Aya Miyaguchi, the Executive Director of the Ethereum Foundation, has become the focus of community discussion. Some opponents have called for a change in the foundation's leadership, and some have even made malicious threats against her online. On the other hand, her supporters believe that since taking office in 2018, Miyaguchi has been consistently promoting the decentralization and long-term development of the foundation. Regardless of criticism or praise, it is undeniable that Aya Miyaguchi, with more than a decade of experience in education and the crypto industry, has carved out a unique path. Her story is not a conventional one: from a high school teacher in Japan, to entering the cryptocurrency industry; from an educator in the classroom, to a proponent in the crypto industry, and then becoming a leader of the Ethereum Foundation. She has constantly crossed boundaries and transformed her identity. From "Passionate Teacher" to Crypto Industry "Pioneer" Aya Miyaguchi was once a high school teacher in Japan, and because of her love for teaching and passion, she was also known as a "passionate teacher". She particularly enjoyed designing creative teaching methods and stories for her students, inspiring them to think independently, critically and explore. "Like many other young teachers, I felt uneasy about entering the teaching profession right after university." After more than a decade in the education industry, Miyaguchi became tired of just teaching textbook knowledge, and she wanted to guide students on how to think and learn as "whole persons" independently. As a teacher, Miyaguchi often advised her students to have at least one experience of going abroad in their lifetime. She also realized that as a teacher herself, she also needed to go out and see the world, or try other professional experiences. Miyaguchi then resigned from her job and went to the United States to pursue a master's degree in business. It was during this period that Miyaguchi's life began to intersect with blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Miyaguchi started to get in touch with Bitcoin in 2011. As a non-technical background person, it took her a long time to truly understand the concept of Bitcoin. After delving into the main advantages of Bitcoin, Miyaguchi believed it had great potential in financial inclusion and social impact. During her MBA studies, Miyaguchi's research focus was on sustainable business, and she was personally interested in microfinance, especially how to help women in developing countries achieve economic independence. Miyaguchi became increasingly convinced that Bitcoin could play a big role in this. One of the founders of Kraken, one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges, Jesse Powell, was the first "benefactor" to formally bring Miyaguchi into the industry. In their exchanges, the potential of emerging technologies caught her eye, especially the possibilities of blockchain in financial inclusion, social and economic inequality, and human coordination. In 2013, Miyaguchi joined Kraken, which was just starting to recruit at the time, with a small team. Miyaguchi was initially responsible for Kraken's business in Japan, and later became the Managing Director of Kraken Japan. In 2014, just as Miyaguchi and Kraken were starting their business in Japan, the leading exchange Mt. Gox collapsed. The news spread quickly, and Bitcoin and Mt. Gox entered the public eye due to various negative reports, leaving the first impression of panic and distrust towards Bitcoin in Japan. Therefore, Miyaguchi had to take action. She proactively contacted the government department responsible for researching Bitcoin and related regulatory affairs, introduced her background, and explained her relevant experience in the field. She also collaborated with the self-regulatory organization "Digital Asset Transfer Authority (DATA)" to persuade the Japanese government to decide not to regulate the cryptocurrency industry at the time, and the meetings also became the starting point for regulatory discussions. Miyaguchi also co-founded the Japan Authority of Digital Assets (JADA), and later deeply participated in many regulatory discussions, ultimately leading to the launch of the cryptocurrency regulatory framework in Japan in 2017. Joining Ethereum: Coordinating Community, Projects and Fund Management In February 2018, Miyaguchi's career took another major turn when she accepted an invitation from Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin to join the Ethereum Foundation as Executive Director. The Ethereum Foundation, founded in 2015, is an organization aimed at promoting Ethereum research, development and application, while also supporting community activities to drive the development of Ethereum. Miyaguchi's main responsibilities are to coordinate and organize the Foundation's various activities, including internal affairs, as well as collaborating with community members, such as conducting education and hosting events. In fact, Miyaguchi and Vitalik had already met in 2013. After joining Kraken, Miyaguchi encountered the then 19-year-old Vitalik, who was writing articles for Bitcoin Magazine and busy promoting the Ethereum whitepaper. For Miyaguchi, this encounter was an important turning point, as she later realized the potential of Ethereum far exceeded her expectations. Ethereum not only allows Bitcoin-style financial transactions, but more importantly, it can bring revolutionary changes to non-financial fields. Through smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps), Ethereum can support new governance models, environmental solutions and education systems. These ideas deeply touched Miyaguchi, and she believed that if Ethereum could realize the vision of the whitepaper, it would change the world. So when Vitalik extended the olive branch, Miyaguchi quickly agreed and decided to devote herself to Ethereum, becoming a member of its core team. The open-source nature of Ethereum means that more and more contributors come from the community, and the rapid increase of these external contributors has made it increasingly difficult to coordinate internal and external work. As the largest blockchain ecosystem, the Ethereum community is very broad, encompassing any individual, organization, company, or EEA (Ethereum Enterprise Alliance) doing things on Ethereum. When Miyaguchi joined, the Foundation was in a relatively difficult stage. Upon arrival, Miyaguchi faced huge challenges. The work of the Ethereum Foundation is not only technical development, but also requires coordinating the community and driving project funding and financial management. Miyaguchi's goal is to communicate with as many different groups as possible to ensure that the development of Ethereum is the result of multi-party collaboration. She once said: "Our role is more like a coordinator, not a manager. Our goal is to drive the overall development of Ethereum, not to monopolize the work." Ethereum and the "Infinite Garden" Perhaps still unable to let go of her passion for teaching, Miyaguchi, who was once a "gardener" on campus, likes to compare Ethereum to an "infinite garden", a metaphor derived from James P. Carse's book "Finite and Infinite Games". In her view, Ethereum is not just a technical project, but a kind of "infinite game". In a "finite game", the players' goal is to win the game; in an "infinite game", the players' goal is to keep playing and continue to drive progress. In her heart: "Ethereum's mission is not to quickly gain short-term profits, but to promote the widespread adoption and development of decentralization in the long run."

The metaphor of "garden" also has deeper implications. In Miyaguchi's view, the Ethereum community is like a national park, not a carefully manicured garden. It is full of diversity and vitality, and although there may sometimes be some radical voices or strange ideas, these can also become sources of new creativity. Just like the ecosystem in nature, the decentralized Ethereum ecosystem also needs to maintain this diversity and inclusiveness.

In the development process of Ethereum, Miyaguchi has always emphasized that decentralization is not only a technical challenge, but also a revolution in mindset. She believes that the value of decentralization is not only reflected in the financial field, but also includes all aspects of society. Many people have not yet realized that the privacy risks, data monopolies, and abuse of power brought by centralization have already permeated our lives. The decentralized thinking advocated by Ethereum can fundamentally re-examine the social structure and change our relationship with others and with technology.

The Decentralization Myth of the Ethereum Foundation

In an early interview, Miyaguchi said that the issues of how the Foundation operates and what the Foundation's functions should be should be discussed internally. But as for how the technology is used or how governance should operate, these should not be decided by the Foundation or Vitalik. "As an individual who has made a lot of contributions to Ethereum, he also has his own views. But as I said, this should not be decided by anyone in the Foundation. Foundation members can certainly have their own opinions and may lean towards certain choices, but the final decision on governance decisions should not be made by the Foundation."

However, as a decentralized project, the lack of transparency and community participation in major decisions such as personnel changes in the Foundation has long been a criticized issue. Ming Chan, Miyaguchi's predecessor as Executive Director, was heavily criticized in the Ethereum community, accused of being too controlling, opaque, and failing to effectively establish an organizational structure. Miyaguchi, on the other hand, was directly appointed through internal invitations, with the approval of Vitalik and the researchers and developers on the team.

Miyaguchi has also responded to questions about this recruitment process, saying that of course the Foundation can adopt an open approach and let the community decide. "If the community members think this is the best way and make such a suggestion, that's fine too." But at the same time, this process involves not only the community, but also the internal organization and management of the Foundation. They need someone with global work experience and long-term experience in the crypto field, and they were told that they thought I met these criteria. "So although this process is not public, I think letting the community decide is also a good idea."

Recently, in an unofficial on-chain vote by Ethereum community members, former Ethereum Foundation core researcher Danny Ryan received 99.98% absolute support and was elected as the next Foundation leader. Consensys CEO and Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin also suggested that Danny Ryan and ETH France president Jerome de Tychey jointly lead the EF to enhance the technical orientation and vitality.

Danny Ryan was a core researcher at the Ethereum Foundation and played an important role in key upgrades such as Proof of Stake (PoS) and The Merge. At the beginning of this year when Miyaguchi was in the eye of the storm, Ryan also stood up to call for an end to the "mob-like criticism" of her. Ryan said that regardless of his role in Ethereum's future, he has great respect and recognition for Miyaguchi's leadership abilities, and said she has far-reaching strategic vision and pure original intention. "There are many reasons why Ethereum has thrived over the years, and Aya has played an important role in it. My success in Ethereum has always been inseparable from her support and guidance," Ryan said in a tweet.

Vitalik Buterin also defended Aya Miyaguchi against the accusations, pointing out that there were translation biases in the relevant quotes, and criticized some of the allegedly violent attacks against her as "pure malice." Vitalik also explicitly stated in a tweet that the current decision-making power of the new EF leadership team is in his own hands, and the ongoing reforms are aimed at introducing a formal board of directors for the Foundation, but before that, the decision-making power still belongs to him personally.

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