Bitmine, Sharplink and Lubin back new Ethereum R&D nonprofit

Ethlabs, a nonprofit backed by Bitmine, Sharplink and Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin, will fund research and development by five former Ethereum Foundation researchers to prepare the network for increased institutional use.

Sharplink announced the initiative and stated funding includes contributions from Bitmine, Lubin and other backers connected to the Ether treasury. The organization intends to provide stable, long-term financing and an independent home for engineers working on core protocol issues.

Ethlabs was co-founded by former senior Ethereum Foundation researchers Ansgar Dietrichs, Barnabé Monnot, Caspar Schwarz-Schilling, Josh Rudolf and Julian Ma. The group says it will focus on protocol-level engineering rather than application-level projects.

Sharplink wrote that Ethlabs was formed to “ready Ethereum for the next phase of institutional adoption” and to ensure the network can absorb higher demand at scale. Lubin, in a statement, wrote that Ethereum “is entering its next stage of evolution” and urged a number of steward nodes to help grow blockchain usage.

The launch follows public concerns about funding for core Ethereum development. A former contributor warned of a potential slow-burning funding crisis, and recent departures from the foundation include co-executive director Hsiao-Wei Wang.

Vitalik Buterin has noted the foundation holds a small share of the total Ether supply, around 0.16%. Backers of Ethlabs consider the nonprofit model a way to offer predictable resources and governance independence for long-term protocol work.

Ether’s market price is about 65% below its all-time high and trades near $1,700. Ethlabs’ founders and backers state that steady funding will let researchers focus on performance, scalability, security and formal verification efforts that matter to institutional users.

Ethlabs will operate as a research-focused nonprofit concentrating on protocol upgrades and infrastructure improvements aimed at supporting higher throughput and stronger guarantees for stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, institutional funds and automated AI commerce seeking settlement on Ethereum.