Ethereum Foundation researcher Francesco D’Amato leaves for new protocol group Ethlabs

Francesco D’Amato has left the Ethereum Foundation after five years to join Ethlabs, a nonprofit protocol research group founded by former Foundation researchers, in a move that highlights how more core Ethereum development is spreading beyond the Foundation. D’Amato said he plans to continue Ethereum protocol research at Ethlabs, with a particular focus on helping the network finalize transactions faster, while also supporting the group’s effort to expand its research team and bring in new researchers. During his time at EF Research, D’Amato said he worked on MEV, consensus, data availability sampling and execution-layer pricing. He said leaving was difficult but described the current period of change as the right time for a new beginning and said he now sees a credible path for core Ethereum research to advance outside the Ethereum Foundation. Ethlabs launched in June as an independent nonprofit founded by Ansgar Dietrichs, Barnabé Monnot, Caspar Schwarz Schilling, Josh Rudolf and Julian Ma. The group says its research covers settlement speed, network capacity, native asset issuance, cross-chain interoperability and Ethereum’s monetary design, and that its agenda remains independent despite backing from Joe Lubin, Bitmine, SharpLink, Anchorage, Octant, SNZ and other ecosystem participants. The move comes as the Ethereum Foundation reshapes its structure. Last month, it cut 54 positions, or about 20% of staff, after reviewing its long-term responsibilities, later dissolved its Protocol Support team, and reorganized work into divisions covering protocol development, users, community, access and institutional activity. Earlier this month, former Foundation employees Mo Jalil, Oskar Thorén and Aaryamann Challani also launched EthSystems, a for-profit company building confidential infrastructure for regulated financial institutions on Ethereum.