Francesco D'Amato, a prominent protocol researcher, has departed the Ethereum Foundation after five years to join Ethlabs, an independent nonprofit research organization founded by other former Foundation colleagues. Announced on X on July 16, 2026, the move marks a significant shift in Ethereum's research landscape as core protocol work increasingly moves outside the Foundation.
During his tenure at the Ethereum Foundation, D'Amato contributed to key areas including maximal extractable value (MEV), consensus mechanisms, data availability sampling, and execution-layer pricing — research strands that underpin several upcoming Ethereum upgrades. He described the decision as difficult but timely, stating, "Leaving that behind is hard, but after 5 years this time of great change seems right for a new beginning."
At Ethlabs, D'Amato will focus on a long-standing bottleneck: reducing Ethereum's transaction finality time, currently around 12 minutes under normal conditions. He aims to help the network "finalize much faster, as soon as possible," a development that would make Ethereum more competitive with newer Layer 1 chains that settle in seconds.
Ethlabs launched in June 2026, founded by former EF researchers Ansgar Dietrichs, Barnabé Monnot, Caspar Schwarz Schilling, Josh Rudolf, and Julian Ma. Backed by Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin, Bitmine, SharpLink, Anchorage, and Octant, the organization works on settlement speed, network capacity, native asset issuance, cross-chain interoperability, and Ethereum's monetary design. Despite corporate funding, research decisions remain independent via an external grants administrator.
The move reflects a broader decentralization of Ethereum's development apparatus. Last month, the Ethereum Foundation cut 20% of its workforce (54 positions) and dissolved its Protocol Support team, reorganizing into divisions covering protocol development, users, community, access, and institutional activity. Concurrently, other spinouts like EthSystems have emerged, founded by former EF employees Mo Jalil, Oskar Thorén, and Aaryamann Challani to build confidential infrastructure for regulated financial institutions on Ethereum.
D'Amato's departure and the rapid formation of independent research groups signal growing confidence in protocol work outside the Foundation, though it remains to be seen whether this fragmentation strengthens or dilutes Ethereum's technical direction.
