Ethlabs can hire ‘top talent’ and run alternative Ethereum funding for 2-3 years

Ethlabs just announced that its committed funding is sufficient to sustain operations and recruit new talent for two to three years, according to a public Q&A the organization held today, June 29, 2026. However, the organization did not reveal any specific figures.

Responding to community questions received since its launch on June 22, Ethlabs stated that fundraising would continue on a consistent basis rather than through a single closed round. 

There’s a community donation round currently active, and the team intends to reveal more backers before it concludes. Additionally, while the team has switched its primary donation address to ethlabs.eth, they have kept the previous eth-labs.eth address active to ensure both remain functional.

Ethlabs research strategy now divided into three

Ethlabs shared its research strategy across three key pillars. The first is Chain, which focuses on core protocol improvements like scaling the L1 execution layer, blob capacity, and transaction speeds.

The other two include Platform, which focuses on the infrastructure bridging the protocol and developers (such as interoperability and the EVM roadmap), and Growth, which was set up to drive the adoption of new technologies like the Fast Confirmation Rule across L2 networks and exchanges, helping to drastically reduce deposit times.

The Ethlabs team hasn’t established a formal roadmap or specific milestones yet, though, as they are still in the process of finalizing those details.

What’s the relationship like with the Ethereum Foundation?

Discussing the potential overlap with the Ethereum Foundation, Ethlabs said the two organizations share similar goals. The team clarified that Ethereum does not belong to any single institution, and that client teams, core developers, L2 networks, wallets, and the Foundation itself are all necessary parts of the system. 

According to the Q&A, Ethlabs positioned itself as “additional supporting power” instead.

That distinction matters given the recent issues at the Foundation. On June 22, the same day Ethlabs launched, the Ethereum Foundation cut 54 jobs (about 20% of its workforce) as part of a restructuring effort that kicked off last year. 

This follows the high-profile exits of co-directors Tomasz Stańczak in February and Hsiao-Wei Wang, who resigned on June 22 as well (after eight years), leaving board member Bastian Aue as the sole executive managing day-to-day operations.

Many of the researchers who left the Foundation over the past year are now at Ethlabs. The five co-founders, Ansgar Dietrichs, Barnabé Monnot, Caspar Schwarz-Schilling, Josh Rudolf, and Julian Ma, collectively contributed to Ethereum’s finality mechanisms, scaling architecture, data availability layer, the virtual machine, and protocol economics.

Funding strategy was set up for independence

Apparently, Ethlabs chose a nonprofit structure deliberately. The team explained that its sponsors, primarily ETH holders and Ethereum builders, do not gain influence over the organization’s research direction or roadmap through their contributions.

As such, their funding comes from Bitmine Immersion Technologies (NYSE: BMNR), SharpLink (NASDAQ: SBET), Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin, and ecosystem participants including Anchorage, Octant, and SNZ. According to Cryptopolitan, over 50 community partners have also pledged support.

Contributions are handled by an independent grants administrator responsible for screening, valuation, and disbursement. While funders will receive quarterly updates and annual independent audits, they will have no say over technical decisions. Instead, the executive director, Dietrichs, and the rest of the Ethlabs leadership team will make the final decisions on research priorities.

The independence question carries weight because several backers hold significant ETH positions. Bitmine has disclosed holdings exceeding 5.4 million ETH, making it one of the largest known institutional Ether holders, according to Cryptopolitan. SharpLink markets itself as an institutional-grade Ethereum treasury platform. Both companies benefit directly if Ethereum’s infrastructure improves and adoption grows.

Nonetheless, Ethlabs said it will announce a new batch of supporters before closing the current community funding round. The team has not set a timeline for publishing a formal roadmap or specific milestones. ETH was trading at $1,618 today, according to CoinMarketCap, down sharply from its August 2025 peak near $4,950.