Joe Lubin, BitMine, and SharpLink are behind a new independent nonprofit called Ethereum Institutional. Its job? Coordinate Ethereum’s push into banking and finance.
The group launched Wednesday with plans to expand beyond New York, London, Hong Kong, and Singapore into more financial hubs. They’re offering education, standards work, research, and events. Basically, a front door for institutions that want in.
“The ecosystem has lacked a credible, independent front door for engaging financial institutions,” the group said in its announcement.
Makes sense. Ethereum already dominates tokenized real-world assets — nearly 58% of that market sits on its chain, per Token Terminal. It also accounts for roughly half of the $311 billion stablecoin market, according to DeFiLlama.
Still, Ether’s price is under pressure. It’s trading around $1,620 after dipping near $1,500 recently. That’s weighing on companies with big ETH treasuries. BitMine and SharpLink are both sitting on unrealized losses.
The launch follows a broader Ethereum Foundation overhaul. The foundation cut 20% of its workforce last month and has seen roughly 19 departures this year. Ethereum Institutional is one of several new independent orgs stepping up. Ethlabs — another research-focused nonprofit — launched in June with the same backers.
Standard Chartered’s Geoff Kendrick sees this as a big positive. He says both orgs “have direct positive implications for Ethereum layer 1, layer 2s, and DeFi protocols.” His take? The three commercial giants behind them will drive commercialization as TradFi enters at scale. He’s sticking with his $4,000 ETH price target for end of 2026.
Institutional adoption remains one of crypto’s strongest trends. Asset prices just haven’t caught up yet, according to 21shares.
