EthLabs, an Ethereum ecosystem research group, said it has moved into its second week of launch while expanding hiring and fundraising efforts. The group said it has received more than 300 applications and plans to grow to about 10 staff in the near term and around 20 in the medium term. EthLabs said it has initial backing from Bitmine, Sharplink and Joseph Lubin, and is seeking one to two additional anchor funders. It said its work is focused on asynchronous cross-chain interoperability based on zk technology and on improving L1-to-L2 connection latency through the Fast Confirmation Rule, adding technical detail to its early growth plans as it scales both its team and capital base.