Ethereum's Next Phase: New Nonprofit Lab Launches to Prepare for Institutional Adoption

A new nonprofit research and development lab called Ethlabs has launched to help Ethereum prepare for its next phase of institutional adoption.

The organization was founded by five former senior researchers from the Ethereum Foundation, including Ansgar Dietrichs, Barnabé Monnot, Caspar Schwarz-Schilling, Josh Rudolf, and Julian Ma. They are joined by Thomas Lee, Chairman of Bitmine, Joseph Chalom, CEO of Sharplink, and Joe Lubin, co-founder of Ethereum.

Ethlabs aims to reinforce foundational commitments to credible neutrality, censorship resistance, and security as the network prepares for a step-function wave of adoption from institutions, agentic finance, and DeFi. The organization will focus on advancing a faster Ethereum with trustworthy interoperability, so institutions building on Ethereum can do so with the necessary neutrality, resilience, privacy, and security.

The funding effort is led by Bitmine, Sharplink, and Joe Lubin, who provide accountability through transparent quarterly reporting and an independent annual audit. Ethlabs' early work will center on what institutions need to move onchain at scale: faster settlement, native issuance, and cross-chain movement on robust infrastructure.