Joe Lubin, Sharplink, Tom Lee’s Bitmine back new Ethereum research lab

Against that backdrop, Ethlabs represents what supporters describe as a broader transition toward a “multi-node” development model, where independent organizations share responsibility for advancing the network rather than relying heavily on the Foundation.

“We are now poised to recognize and implement the idea that there should be a number of steward nodes of Ethereum,” Joe Lubin said, “each configured in their unique way to evolve and protect what is sacred about the network and massively grow the world’s appreciation and utilization of it.”

Ethlabs’ initial work will focus on faster transaction settlement, expanding Ethereum’s capacity and improving infrastructure for institutions issuing tokenized assets and stablecoins onchain. Ethereum dominates the $300 billion stablecoin market with a 53% market share and hosts roughly half of the $32 billion tokenized asset market, RWA.xyz data shows.

The initiative also reflects the growing institutional investment in Ethereum. SharpLink and Bitmine have both built sizable ETH treasury strategies, while Ethereum continues to host the majority of stablecoins and tokenized real-world asset issuance.

“Ethereum is at a pivotal moment,” Ansgar Dietrichs, Ethlabs’ executive director, said in a statement. “As blockchain systems move rapidly into mainstream use, the coming years will define the shape of the onchain economy for decades.”