BMNR, SBET, and Joe Lubin Back Ethereum Non-Profit R&D Lab 'Ethlabs'

Research evidence excerpt

BMNR, SBET, and Joe Lubin Back Ethereum Non-Profit R&D Lab 'Ethlabs'

Crypto & Blockchain

EQUITY RESEARCH Industry Report

June 22, 2026

BMNR, SBET, and Joe Lubin Back Ethereum Non-Profit

Research Analysts:

Nathan Frankovitz R&D Lab 'Ethlabs'

929-706-2050

Nathan.Frankovitz@cantor.com Ethlabs was announced today as an independent nonprofit R&D lab for Ethereum

Gareth Gacetta and ETH, backed by Anchor Funders Bitmine (BMNR), Sharplink (SBET), and Joe

212-915-1251 Lubin, alongside other ecosystem contributors. Lubin’s role is especially relevant, as Gareth.Gacetta@cantor.com

he is Ethereum's co-founder, Founder & CEO of Consensys, and Chairman of Sharplink, Brett Knoblauch, CFA

212-610-2221 giving SBET unusually direct proximity to Ethereum’s protocol and institutional

Brett.Knoblauch@cantor.com development arc. Ethlabs is led by five former senior Ethereum Foundation (EF)

researchers whose work spans finality, scaling, data availability, the Ethereum Virtual

Machine (EVM), and protocol economics. Ethlabs' stated focus is preparing Ethereum

for the next wave of institutional adoption, including stablecoins, tokenized real-world

assets (RWAs), funds, and agentic finance, which will require expanded investment in

talent and research.

We view the launch as timely given two parallel debates across Ethereum: funding

and governance. Earlier this week, a proposal on Ethereum’s research forum

introduced “validator redirected revenue,” which would allow validators to redirect

0–10% of staking rewards toward ecosystem funding and could become mandatory if

a majority opted in. Separately, CoinDesk reported today that EF co-executive director

Hsiao-Wei Wang is stepping down, following at least eight other senior departures

over the past five months.