欢迎阅读《协议》,这是 的技术通讯,涵盖了区块链中最重要的故事。我是 Margaux Nijkerk, 的记者。 我们每周都会让您更深入地了解塑造区块链技术的最大趋势、突破和辩论。 本周,我们将深入探讨以太坊机构,这是一个新的非营利组织,旨在向金融机构和银行提供有关以太坊的教育。 以太坊最新的非营利组织将自己定位为华尔街的加密夏尔巴人,在网络的关键时刻指导银行和资产管理公司通过以太坊生态系统。
在过去一年的大部分时间里,围绕以太坊的讨论主要围绕其未来的问题。以太坊基金会因其在生态系统中的作用而面临越来越多的批评,作为回应,它重组了领导层,解雇了员工,并将其重点缩小到管理协议上。与此同时,独立组织开始出现,承担起曾经属于基金会的职责。 最新的是以太坊机构,这是一家上周成立的非营利组织,其雄心勃勃的目标是:成为银行、资产管理公司和其他金融机构的以太坊生态系统的前门。 其创始人表示,该组织将作为企业探索以太坊的中立指南,帮助机构了解生态系统,与开发人员和基础设施提供商建立联系,并在不推广任何单一公司或产品的情况下浏览网络。
以太坊机构由 David Walsh、Matthew Dawson 和 Marius Smith 领导,他们的背景涵盖传统金融、技术和加密货币。 Walsh 和 Dawson 此前曾在以太坊基金会的企业参与团队工作,而 Smith 在 Google 和 EigenLayer 开发者 Eigen Labs 担任高级职务后加入。 道森在接受 采访时表示:“我们在这一年里建立了大约 500 个关系,而且他们一直很欣赏有一个中立的合作伙伴。” “以太坊生态系统中有数千个团队......有时的反馈是,‘这真是压倒性的。’” 该组织旨在填补其创始人认为以太坊机构战略中缺失的部分。 与在以太坊上构建产品的公司不同,以太坊机构表示它将在整个生态系统中工作,帮助企业评估代币化、稳定币和数字资产基础设施等用例,同时将它们介绍给最适合其需求的团队。
“驾驭已经是一项相当复杂的新技术和去中心化生态系统有点令人畏惧,”道森说。 “拥有一个值得信赖且中立的合作伙伴可以帮助实现这一目标……可以加速这一进程并给他们信心。” 它的推出正值以太坊本身达到一个拐点之际。掌管网络的领导者正在日益规范生态系统不同部分如何承担责任和角色。以太坊基金会已明确表示,打算更专注于协议开发,同时鼓励独立组织在业务开发、生态系统增长和机构参与等领域发挥主导作用。 对于以太坊机构的创始人来说,成为一个独立的非营利组织而不是留在基金会内是一个深思熟虑的选择。 “EF 一直对其减法原则直言不讳,”道森说,指的是该组织将网络责任分配给其他组织。 “这是一个不断增加去中心化以及参与代表以太坊的节点数量的例子。”
沃尔什说,在基金会之外运作也给了该组织更大的自由。 “我们觉得作为一个独立实体,我们拥有更多的自主权和自由,”他说。 “在支持这些球队方面,我们可以更加固执己见,更加积极进取。” 多年来,以太坊基金会在对生态系统施加多大影响方面一直采取谨慎的态度。其职责主要是协调协议开发和管理以太坊的技术路线图,而不是充当推动业务开发或采用的中央机构。但随着网络的发展,社区中的一些人推动基金会在机构外展和生态系统协调等领域发挥更积极的作用,而基金会越来越多地选择分散责任。 以太坊机构加入了不断增长的组织网络,在以太坊内承担专门的角色。上个月,EthLabs 推出支持生态系统开发,而 2025 年推出的 Etherealize 等公司则专注于通过商业产品和服务将机构带入链上。
沃尔什认为以太坊机构是对这些其他公司的补充而不是竞争。 “我们采取了略有不同的方法,更多地关注教育,并且在我们希望帮助机构采用哪些解决方案方面更加中立。” 创始人认为,虽然围绕以太坊的大部分在线对话都集中在治理辩论和来自竞争对手区块链的竞争上,但制度动力在幕后继续增强。 他指出贝莱德、摩根大通和 Robinhood 等公司最近的代币化举措证明以太坊仍然是机构区块链部署的主导平台
Welcome to The Protocol, ’s tech newsletter covering the most important stories in blockchain. I’m Margaux Nijkerk, a reporter at .
Ethereum's newest nonprofit is positioning itself asWall Street’s crypto sherpa, guiding banks and asset managers through the Ethereum ecosystem at a pivotal moment for the network.
For much of the past year, the conversation around Ethereum has been dominated by questions about its future. The Ethereum Foundation has faced mounting criticism over its role in the ecosystem, and, in response, has restructured its leadership, laid off staff and narrowed its focus to stewarding the protocol. At the same time, independent organizations have begun emerging to take on responsibilities that were once housed within the foundation.
The latest is Ethereum Institutional, a nonprofit launched last week with an ambitious goal: becoming the Ethereum ecosystem's front door for banks, asset managers and other financial institutions.
Its founders say the organization will serve as a neutral guide for enterprises exploring Ethereum, helping institutions understand the ecosystem, connect with developers and infrastructure providers, and navigate the network without promoting any single company or product.
Ethereum Institutional is led by David Walsh, Matthew Dawson and Marius Smith, whose backgrounds span traditional finance, technology and crypto. Walsh and Dawson previously worked on the Ethereum Foundation's enterprise engagement team, while Smith joined after senior roles at Google and EigenLayer developer Eigen Labs.
"We've built up around 500 relationships over the course of the year, and what's consistently come back was that they appreciate having a neutral counterpart," Dawson told in an interview. "There's thousands of teams in the Ethereum ecosystem... the feedback sometimes has been, 'This is overwhelming.'"
The organization is designed to fill what its founders see as a missing piece in Ethereum's institutional strategy.
Unlike companies building products on Ethereum, Ethereum Institutional says it will work across the ecosystem, helping enterprises evaluate use cases such as tokenization, stablecoins and digital asset infrastructure while introducing them to the teams best suited for their needs.
"Navigating what is already a new and fairly complex technology and the decentralized ecosystem is a bit daunting," Dawson said. "Having a trusted and neutral partner that can help with that navigation... can accelerate that journey and give them confidence."
Its launch comes as Ethereum itself reaches an inflection point. The leaders steering the network are increasingly formalizing how different parts of the ecosystem are taking on responsibilities and roles. The Ethereum Foundation has made clear it intends to focus more narrowly on protocol development while encouraging independent organizations to lead areas such as business development, ecosystem growth and institutional engagement.
For Ethereum Institutional's founders, becoming an independent nonprofit rather than remaining within the foundation was a deliberate choice.
"The EF has always been quite vocal about its principle of subtraction," Dawson said, referring to the organization diving up responsibilities for the network to other organizations . "This is an example of that increasing decentralization, and the number of nodes participating in representing Ethereum."
Operating outside the foundation also gives the organization greater freedom, Walsh said.
"We feel like we have a lot more autonomy and freedom to work as an independent entity," he said. "We can get a bit more opinionated, and a bit more aggressive, in terms of being able to support these teams."
For years, the Ethereum Foundation has walked a careful line in how much influence it exerts over the ecosystem. Its mandate has largely been to coordinate protocol development and steward Ethereum’s technical roadmap, rather than act as a central authority driving business development or adoption. But as the network grew, some in the community pushed for the foundation to take on a more active role in areas like institutional outreach and ecosystem coordination, responsibilities it has increasingly chosen to decentralize instead.
Ethereum Institutional joins a growing network of organizations taking on specialized roles within Ethereum. Last month, EthLabs launched to support ecosystem development, while firms such as Etherealize, launched in 2025, have focused on bringing institutions onchain through commercial products and services.
Walsh sees Ethereum Institutional as complementary to these other firms rather than competitive. "We've taken a slightly different approach, where it's a bit more about education and a bit more neutral in terms of what solutions we want to help institutions adopt."
The founders argue that while much of the online conversation around Ethereum has focused on governance debates and competition from rival blockchains, institutional momentum has continued to build behind the scenes.
He points to recent tokenization initiatives from firms including BlackRock, JPMorgan and Robinhood as evidence that Ethereum remains the dominant platform for institutional blockchain deployments.
For Dawson, there's no contradiction between Ethereum's cypherpunk origins and Wall Street's growing interest, even as many feel like those interests may be separating.
"Those cypherpunk values translate into operational resilience for institutions," he said. "Lack of downtime and security are all things that institutions are absolutely obsessed with."
The founders don't believe Ethereum's future belongs solely to banks. Instead, they see institutional adoption as one piece of a much broader vision.
"I think of it as the internet," Walsh said. "There's room for everyone: DeFi, cross-border payments, banking the unbanked, and Wall Street."
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