Five senior researchers walked out of the Ethereum Foundation and built something designed to answer a question that has haunted crypto development for years: what happens when the people funding research have no say over what gets researched?
Ethlabs, an independent nonprofit R&D lab, launched on June 22 with a governance structure that tries to thread that needle. The organization is funded by some of the largest corporate ETH holders on the planet, yet its backers have zero control over research priorities. Decisions rest entirely with the lab’s leadership team.
Who’s behind it, and who’s paying for it
The founding team includes Ansgar Dietrichs, Barnabé Monnot, Caspar Schwarz-Schilling, Josh Rudolf, and Julian Ma, all formerly of the Ethereum Foundation.
The money behind Ethlabs is substantial. Bitmine Immersion Technologies, which holds approximately 5.7 million ETH, is a key backer. SharpLink, holding around 876,000 ETH, is also in the mix. Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin has thrown his weight behind the project, alongside Anchorage Digital, Octant, and SNZ.
