Ethlabs, an independent nonprofit research and development organization initiated by five former Ethereum Foundation (EF) core researchers, has been officially established. The core team includes Ansgar Dietrichs, Barnabé Monnot, Caspar Schwarz-Schilling, Josh Rudolf, and Julian Ma, with Ansgar Dietrichs serving as Executive Director. Ethlabs will focus on Ethereum protocol R&D, ETH, DeFi, institutional adoption, and AI Agents. As an independent node in the Ethereum ecosystem, it aims to act as a bridge connecting developers, L2s, institutions, and the base protocol, transforming ecosystem needs into protocol upgrades, technical standards, and infrastructure development. On June 7, in an interview with CoinDesk, Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin mentioned that the EF shouldn’t do everything but should return to safeguarding the core protocol. On the day of Ethlabs' establishment, Joe Lubin further stated that Ethereum is entering a new phase of development. In the future, it should not rely solely on a single foundation but instead be driven by multiple independent "steward nodes" working together to advance the ecosystem. He sees Ethlabs as one of the new nodes externalized from the Ethereum Foundation system. Currently, Ethlabs has received major support from Bitmine, Sharplink, and Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin, along with backing from institutions like SNZ, Octant, and Anchorage Digital, as well as ecosystem members such as Hayden Adams (Uniswap founder) and Jesse Pollak (Base founder).