That transition has also reshaped the Ethereum Foundation itself.
Earlier this year, the foundation published a renewed mandate that emphasizes Ethereum’s core values: including trusted neutrality, self-sovereignty and open infrastructure, while reducing its involvement in some implementation-focused initiatives. Combined with ongoing budget constraints, the shift has resulted in restructuring across the organisation.
The Dietrichs see these changes less as a crisis than a delayed development. “It’s more of a transition period,” he said. “Ethereum is now much more aware and proactively reorienting itself to be ready for this new time period.”
To fill in the gaps
But as the turmoil began to reveal itself at EF, many began to wonder if EthLabs would replace it. Dietrichs sees that rather than competing with the foundation, EthLabs intends to complement it. “We are deliberately positioning ourselves to fill the gaps that the Ethereum Foundation is now deliberately leaving,” Dietrichs said. “We are not trying to create a competing vision for Ethereum.”
These gaps, he argues, center on adoption-oriented engineering, such as improving Ethereum’s scalability, strengthening layer-1 performance, promoting interoperability, and identifying the technical barriers preventing broader institutional use.
“The gap we’re seeing is this more practical, adoption-oriented work that makes Ethereum practically useful for the real world,” he said. EthLabs plans to continue the work its founders previously led within the foundation, including layer-1 scaling research, while expanding into areas such as interoperability and engagement with financial institutions exploring blockchain infrastructure.
