Former Ethereum Foundation privacy team launches EthSystems with Joe Lubin, Bitmine backing
A new venture founded by former Ethereum Foundation experts is aiming to solve one of institutional finance's biggest blockchain challenges—confidentiality on public Ethereum.
EthSystems, a for-profit company founded by three former Ethereum Foundation privacy researchers, launched July 14 with backing from Ethereum treasury firms Bitmine and SharpLink and Consensys CEO Joe Lubin, aiming to build confidential blockchain infrastructure for banks and asset managers.
The launch reflects Ethereum’s evolving strategy, where specialized independent organizations are increasingly taking responsibility for institutional development while the Ethereum Foundation narrows its focus to core protocol research, security, decentralization, and censorship resistance.
EthSystems focuses on privacy infrastructure for institutional finance
The newly launched EthSystems was established by former Ethereum Foundation employees Mo Jalil, Oskar Thorén, and Aaryamann Challani, who previously collaborated within the Foundation’s Institutional Privacy Task Force. Their experience working directly with central banks, financial regulators, and major financial institutions shaped the company’s mission to address one of blockchain’s biggest adoption barriers for enterprise users.
Rather than building a private blockchain, the company intends to help institutions securely leverage Ethereum’s public network while protecting confidential business information.
According to the company, the infrastructure will shield sensitive data such as transaction details, trading strategies, portfolio positions, and client identities from public visibility without sacrificing Ethereum’s security and transparency.
A key component of the company’s work will involve deploying privacy technologies powered by zero-knowledge cryptography. These cryptographic techniques allow transactions to be mathematically verified without revealing the underlying confidential information, making them increasingly attractive for regulated financial markets.
Explaining its commercial approach, the company stated:
“The business model is simple: bespoke consulting, focused on solving the hardest blockers for institutional adoption.”
The team added that much of its future work will build directly on research already undertaken during its time at the Ethereum Foundation, but under a commercial structure capable of serving enterprise clients.
“In practice, this means continuing a lot of the work we have been doing, only charging money for it. Commercial engagements often require a commercial counterparty.”
Alongside consulting services, EthSystems confirmed it will continue publishing protocol specifications and contributing to open-source Ethereum projects, ensuring that broader ecosystem development remains accessible.
Among the founders’ previous achievements are privacy-focused bond issuance frameworks, confidential stablecoin payment systems, private cross-chain settlement mechanisms, and the Ethereum Privacy Map initiative.
“Our mission: help institutions build confidential systems on public Ethereum without giving up what makes Ethereum worth using,” the team said in its launch announcement.
Ethereum foundation restructuring creates room for independent innovation
The debut of EthSystems closely follows one of the most significant organizational restructurings in the Ethereum Foundation’s history.
In June, the Foundation announced the elimination of 54 positions—approximately 20% of its workforce—after conducting a comprehensive review of spending priorities, staffing, and long-term strategic responsibilities.
Following the restructuring, the organization reorganized its activities into five primary divisions covering protocol development, user access, community engagement, institutional activity, and ecosystem growth, while separate operational teams continue handling administrative functions.
The Foundation explained that streamlining its workforce would enable greater concentration on responsibilities that only the nonprofit organization is uniquely positioned to perform.
“These decisions were hard, but they are necessary,” the Ethereum Foundation said in its June announcement.
“We must be resourced and organized in a way that allows us to focus on the critical work that only EF can, and therefore must, do in the coming years.”
The restructuring continued into July when the Foundation dissolved its Protocol Support team, which had coordinated All Core Developers meetings, Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) support, network upgrade tracking, Forkcast, and the Ethereum Protocol Fellowship.
Mario Havel, who spent more than five years with the team, confirmed the development on X while noting that he remains employed by the Foundation.
“I am still part of EF, continuing my work and figuring out what’s most needed in the future. However, all of my team, Protocol Support, that I have been part of for 5+ years, has been dissolved.”
The emergence of EthSystems is part of a broader strategy that is reshaping how Ethereum supports enterprise adoption.
The company joins Ethereum Institutional and EthLabs as newly formed independent organizations that have also received backing from Bitmine, SharpLink, and Joe Lubin.
Each organization has been assigned a distinct role within Ethereum’s expanding institutional ecosystem. EthLabs is expected to contribute significantly to protocol research and engineering, while Ethereum Institutional serves as a neutral engagement hub for banks, asset managers, payment providers, and financial institutions exploring Ethereum adoption.
Speaking previously with The Block, Lubin explained that he anticipated several organizations emerging from the Foundation as it sharpened its focus on what it describes as the CROPS framework—censorship resistance, open-source software, privacy, and security.
Reflecting this direction, EthSystems said there is growing demand for a commercially driven organization capable of making different operational decisions than a nonprofit foundation.
“As EF continues doubling down on cypherpunk fundamentals, especially with a focus on individuals, there’s room for an independent for-profit entity that can make different choices in the trade-off space,” the company noted.
Despite the increasing role of independent organizations, the Ethereum Foundation continues to oversee development of Ethereum’s core protocol, including critical work surrounding decentralization, privacy protections, network security, and censorship resistance.
Meanwhile, Ethereum developers continue advancing the forthcoming Glamsterdam upgrade, which is expected to introduce improvements to block construction, data availability, and overall network performance.
As institutional demand for blockchain infrastructure continues to grow globally, the arrival of EthSystems signals Ethereum’s commitment to balancing public blockchain transparency with the confidentiality requirements of regulated financial markets.
With experienced leadership, strong ecosystem backing, and a clear enterprise-focused mandate, the new company could play an increasingly important role in bringing traditional finance onto Ethereum without compromising the network’s open architecture.
