Former Ethereum Foundation Researchers Launch Ethlabs, Backed by Joe Lubin, Bitmine, and SharpLink on June 22

According to a statement on June 22, former Ethereum Foundation researchers launched Ethlabs, a nonprofit backed by Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin and the two largest ETH treasury firms Bitmine Immersion Technologies and SharpLink, to prepare Ethereum for institutional adoption at scale.

Five former senior Ethereum Foundation researchers co-founded the organization, which will initially focus on what institutions need to move onchain. Bitmine and SharpLink hold approximately 5.7 million and 876,000 ETH tokens, respectively. Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee said Ethereum is positioned for significant institutional and AI agent adoption and the ecosystem needs to expand investment in research to support this growth.