Ethereum Price Forecast: Ethlabs launches as new ecosystem steward funded by BitMine, SharpLink​

Ethereum price today: $1,710

• Ethlabs has launched as an Ethereum ecosystem steward to help make the smart contract blockchain ready for institutional adoption.
• Funded by BitMine, SharpLink and Joe Lubin, Ethlabs was co-founded by five former Ethereum Foundation researchers.
• ETH faces resistance at the 20-day EMA and a key descending trendline.​

Ethereum (ETH) treasuries BitMine Immersion (BMNR) and SharpLink (SBET), alongside co-founder Joe Lubin, have partnered to fund Ethlabs, a new research and development lab for the smart contract blockchain.

Co-founded by five former Ethereum Foundation (EF) senior researchers, Ansgar Dietrichs, Barnabé Monnot, Caspar Schwarz-Schilling, Josh Rudolf and Julian Ma, Ethlabs' work focuses on making Ethereum robust for institutional adoption.

"Ethlabs’ early work will center on what institutions need to move onchain at scale: faster settlement, native issuance and cross-chain movement on robust infrastructure, capacity on mainnet and research that grounds ETH’s monetary properties," stated SharpLink in a Monday statement.

The move follows a recent exodus of several EF executives, including former executive directors Hsiao-Wei Wang and Tomasz Stańczak. Several popular Ethereum community members have criticized the EF's direction and vision for Ethereum, with Bankless podcast host David Hoffman announcing he sold off his ETH holdings as a result.

The EF has previously stated that it plans to pursue a subtraction path in which it plays a lesser role as the sole steward of Ethereum, allowing other ecosystem stewards to emerge.

"Ethlabs is the latest group of EF origin that is externalizing to become a major node of the network of 'Responsible Institutions and Stewards of Ethereum,'" said Joe Lubin.

The unveiling of Ethlabs has drawn praise from key community members, including David Hoffman.

"The EF is intentionally leaving a power vacuum for new structures to step up and influence the direction of Ethereum. I think the Ethlabs direction holds the brightest future for Ethereum," Hoffman wrote in an X post on Monday.

BitMine continues its ETH buying spree

Meanwhile, BitMine expanded its digital asset holdings last week, purchasing 52,203 ETH as it continues a buying spree of the top altcoin.

The latest purchase has pushed the company's Ethereum holdings to 5.67 million ETH worth $9.83 billion at the time of writing. With an average purchase price of roughly $3,440, BitMine's ETH position remains down by more than $9.5 billion, according to data from smart money tracker Lookonchain.

The Las Vegas-based firm also reported holdings of 205 Bitcoin (BTC), a $180 million stake in Beast Industries, a $104 million stake in Eightco Holdings and total cash and marketable securities of $601 million.

"The best years for crypto remain ahead, in our view. Tokenization and the rapid progress in AI are expected to drive exponential demand growth for blockchain and decentralized crypto," said BitMine Chairman Thomas Lee in a Monday press release.

BMNR closed at $15.86, down 1.98% at the end of trading on Monday.

​Ethereum Price Forecast: ETH faces 20-day EMA and key descending trendline resistance

Ethereum has experienced $61.1 million in liquidations over the past 24 hours, led by $41.4 million in short liquidations, according to Coinglass data.

On the daily chart, ETH is holding below the 20-, 50- and 100-day Exponential Moving Averages (EMAs), which keeps the near-term bias bearish despite the recent rebound from multi-month lows. The 20-day EMA at $1,764 and the nearby horizontal barrier at $1,741 form immediate overhead supply, while the 50-day EMA at $1,911 and the resistance band around $1,909 further reinforce the broader capping structure.

Momentum gauges are stabilizing, with the Relative Strength Index (RSI) recovering toward 43 and the Stochastic Oscillator (Stoch) hovering in mid-range territory, hinting at easing downside pressure but not yet signaling a sustainable bullish reversal, while price remains trapped under these key averages and the prevailing descending trend line.

On the downside, initial support aligns around $1,524, ahead of $1,404 and the deeper floor near $1,155, levels that, if broken, would reopen the broader bearish continuation toward lower cycle lows.

(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool.)