Francesco D’Amato has officially joined Ethlabs, an independent nonprofit protocol research organization, after five years at the Ethereum Foundation. This move signifies a continuing trend of Ethereum’s core developers transitioning to external entities post-foundation restructuring.
D’Amato announced his transition via a post on X, indicating his commitment to accelerate protocol research amidst growing adoption of Ethereum. "Leaving that behind is hard, but after five years this time of great change seems right for a new beginning," he stated.
During his tenure at the Ethereum Foundation, D’Amato engaged in various areas of protocol research, including maximal extractable value (MEV), consensus mechanisms, data availability sampling, and execution layer pricing. At Ethlabs, he plans to collaborate with former colleagues to bolster the organization’s research initiatives and integrate new researchers into the Ethereum ecosystem.
Ethlabs' Emergence
Launched in June, Ethlabs was founded by ex-Ethereum Foundation researchers, including Ansgar Dietrichs, Barnabé Monnot, Caspar Schwarz Schilling, Josh Rudolf, and Julian Ma. The organization is focused on crucial research areas such as settlement speed, network capacity, native asset issuance, cross-chain interoperability, and Ethereum’s monetary design.
Supported by key figures and organizations within the Ethereum ecosystem, including co-founder Joe Lubin, Ethlabs aims to refine Ethereum's long-term technical roadmap. D’Amato specifically highlighted a priority to decrease Ethereum’s transaction finality time, asserting his goal to enable faster finalization processes within the protocol.
As the Ethereum community continues to evolve, the formation of independent research groups like Ethlabs illustrates a shifting landscape where protocol development can thrive beyond the original foundation.
This material is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice.
