Ethlabs Enters the Void: Ex-EF Researchers Launch R&D Lab as ETH Trades Like It's 2023 🧪

A new non-profit research organization called Ethlabs, founded by five former senior Ethereum Foundation researchers, launched with backing from the network's largest publicly traded treasury firms and Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin, aiming to ready the blockchain for institutional-scale adoption. Funding comes from BitMine Immersion Technologies and Sharplink, alongside Lubin, with more than 50 ecosystem contributors listed as community supporters spanning layer-2 networks, venture capital and decentralized projects. "The core belief: This is a unique moment for Ethereum. Adoption is here, the global economy is moving on-chain," Ethlabs Executive Director and co-founder Ansgar Dietrichs posted on X. "We want to help Ethereum realize its potential and become the shared global settlement layer."

The lab's founding researchers previously contributed to work on finality, scaling and protocol economics, but Ethlabs said its initial focus will be on getting institutions operating on-chain at scale. Co-founders include Barnabé Monnot, Caspar Schwarz-Schilling, Josh Rudolf and Julian Ma alongside Dietrichs. "We sit between two worlds: real usage from the builders at the frontier, and the protocol that has to support it," the organization posted on X, adding that it works with users and developers to "turn what they actually need," into standards and products. BitMine Chairman Tom Lee said the group includes "key stakeholders" stepping up for the network. "We believe Ethereum is positioned to grow significantly in adoption by institutions and by AI agents. And naturally, the ecosystem needs to dramatically expand its investment in talent and research to support this growth," Lee said in a statement. Lubin said Ethereum "is entering its next stage of evolution" and that "a number of steward nodes of Ethereum" should work to grow blockchain utilization. Sharplink's announcement said Ethlabs brings together "technologists who have guided the network through its most consequential upgrades over the past decade," calling the effort a "dedicated institutional home with stable, long-term funding." Precise funding figures were not disclosed, and the organization said its funders will not have influence over the research agenda.

The launch comes one week after Ethereum Foundation co-executive director Hsiao-Wei Wang departed, continuing a wave of exits from the foundation. Last week, former EF contributor Trenton Van Epps warned that Ethereum risks entering a "slow-burning funding crisis" amid continued selling of the asset by the Foundation, and Ethereum educator David Hoffman said the EF is "intentionally leaving a power vacuum for new structures to step up and influence the direction of Ethereum," adding that "the Ethlabs direction holds the brightest future for Ethereum." In May, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said the Ethereum Foundation's resources were limited, noting that the organization held about 0.16% of the total supply of Ether ($ETH). Last month, former Ethereum Foundation researcher Dankrand Fiest, who took a role with Stripe's stablecoin network Tempo, suggested a new group could "save Ethereum" if it economically aligned itself with the network and its native token.

The price of $ETH has not reflected the optimism among crypto participants, jumping 0.1% in the last 24 hours. The second-largest crypto asset was recently changing hands around $1,732, down more than 16% in the last month and 65% from its peak, levels last seen in October 2023 and April 2025.