EthLabs outlines progress in its early buildout and fundraising phase
According to ChainCatcher, EthLabs founder Barnabé Monnot, also known as barnabé.eth, published a Week 2 update summarizing the team’s latest progress during its launch and fundraising stage. The update covered several parallel workstreams, including interoperability research, ecosystem-level discussions, team expansion, and the closing phase of the current financing round.
Team grows more confident in zk-based asynchronous interoperability
On interoperability, EthLabs said it is becoming increasingly confident in asynchronous interop designs based on zero-knowledge proofs. The team believes these approaches could help build safer cross-chain bridges while improving the native distribution of assets across Ethereum’s multi-layer network. That framing suggests EthLabs is placing weight on architecture that can improve both security assumptions and asset mobility across layers, rather than relying only on existing bridge patterns.
The team added that some cross-chain routes still face latency constraints, with the L2 → L1 path standing out as a particular bottleneck. In that context, EthLabs described intents as a practical interim mechanism. It also noted that stronger liquidity on L1 could help match cross-chain solvers more effectively, potentially easing execution under current infrastructure conditions. On the other side of the flow, the L1 → L2 route may see materially lower confirmation delays through the Fast Confirmation Rule, or FCR, and some clients have already started integrating the mechanism.
PropAMMs and ENS emerge as key discussion areas
Beyond interoperability, EthLabs said PropAMMs, or proposal-based AMMs, have recently become a major focus for multiple teams and researchers. The central question, according to the update, is whether PropAMMs can open up meaningful optimization room between L1 execution efficiency and block building. That makes the topic relevant not only for protocol design, but also for how transaction construction and execution may evolve within Ethereum’s broader market structure.
At the same time, the team emphasized that ENS remains critical infrastructure for Ethereum. EthLabs said it is continuing to engage with relevant stakeholders on the direction of its development. While no new implementation timeline was provided, the mention signals that ENS is being treated as a strategic ecosystem component rather than a peripheral service layer.
Hiring pipeline expands as fundraising nears completion
On team building, EthLabs said it has received more than 300 applications so far and has processed around 20% of them. Its short-term goal is to expand to roughly 10 people, with a medium-term target of about 20. The team said it is prioritizing candidates who combine strong engineering capability with domain-specific expertise, indicating a hiring strategy centered on technical depth rather than rapid headcount growth alone.
On fundraising, EthLabs said the round is close to completion. It has already secured early backing from BitMNR, Sharplink, and Ethereum Joseph, and plans to bring in one to two additional core investors before moving into the next stage. No valuation or round size was disclosed in the update.