Ethlabs? More like ETH-lots-of-help: Ex-EFers spawn a second steward 🧪

A new non-profit research and development organization called Ethlabs has been formed by former Ethereum Foundation researchers to prepare the network and its native token for institutional adoption, with funding from the largest publicly traded Ether treasury firms BitMine Immersion Technologies and Sharplink, as well as Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin. The initiative is supported by more than 50 ecosystem contributors spanning layer-2 networks, venture capital and decentralized projects, according to the organization. Ethlabs was co-founded by five former senior Ethereum Foundation researchers: Ansgar Dietrichs, Barnabé Monnot, Caspar Schwarz-Schilling, Josh Rudolf and Julian Ma. (Disclaimer: Lubin, through Consensys, and BitMine Chairman Tom Lee are investors in Dastan, the parent company of Decrypt.)

Ethlabs Executive Director and co-founder Ansgar Dietrichs said on X: "The core belief: This is a unique moment for Ethereum. Adoption is here, the global economy is moving on-chain. We want to help Ethereum realize its potential and become the shared global settlement layer." The organization added on X that it sits "between two worlds: real usage from the builders at the frontier, and the protocol that has to support it," working with users and developers to turn needs into standards and products. Its initial focus is on getting institutions operating on-chain at scale, building on prior work in finality, scaling and protocol economics.

Sharplink, which announced the funding effort on Monday, said Ethlabs brings together "technologists who have guided the network through its most consequential upgrades over the past decade. This initiative gives that work a dedicated institutional home with stable, long-term funding." Lee said in a statement: "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. The formation of Ethlabs demonstrates that key stakeholders are stepping up to help ensure Ethereum remains a leading platform for decentralized finance." Lubin added that Ethereum "is entering its next stage of evolution" and that there should be "a number of steward nodes of Ethereum" working to grow the blockchain's utilization. Dragonfly managing partner Haseeb Qureshi, a backer, wrote: "While the EF is shrinking its mandate and more focused on protecting Ethereum's core properties, a group of EF builders have spun out to create a second org. Its mandate is simple: accelerate Ethereum. Increase adoption. Protect DeFi. Solve the biggest problems and make ETH the currency of the internet."

The launch follows the departure of Ethereum Foundation co-executive director Hsiao-Wei Wang, who left her post last week, continuing a wave of exits from the foundation. Last month, former Ethereum Foundation researcher Dankrand Fiest joined Stripe's stablecoin network Tempo after suggesting a new group could "save Ethereum" if it economically aligned itself with the network and $ETH. Former EF contributor Trenton Van Epps warned last week that Ethereum risks entering a "slow-burning funding crisis" amid continued selling of the asset by the Foundation. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said in May that the Foundation's resources were limited, noting it held about 0.16% of the total supply of $ETH. The Ethereum Foundation said it plans to reduce its mandate over the next 5–10 years, adding: "The privilege of stewarding Ethereum must not be hoarded, but carefully shared with others committed to building the infrastructure of self-sovereignty." Precise funding details for Ethlabs were not disclosed, and the organization's funders will not have influence over the research agenda, according to its announcement.

$ETH was recently changing hands around $1,732, up 0.1% in the last 24 hours, down more than 16% in the last month and roughly 65% from its peak, levels last seen in October 2023 and April 2025.