Ether.fi Ventures backs Blockspace to professionalize Ethereum’s off-protocol infrastructure

Ether.fi Ventures just wrote a check for Blockspace, a new commercial entity built to improve and monetize the Ethereum infrastructure that exists outside the core protocol. Blockspace isn’t trying to reinvent the protocol. It’s targeting the layer of infrastructure that already handles over 90% of Ethereum’s blockspace flow, the relays, builders, searchers, and order flow mechanics that most users never see but depend on for every transaction they send. What Blockspace actually does Blockspace is positioning itself as a dedicated team focused exclusively on professionalizing this layer, with two notable constraints baked in from day one. First, it will monetize exclusively in ETH. Not stablecoins, not governance tokens, not equity. ETH. Second, Blockspace has imposed a self-cap on its own stake at 15%. That’s a deliberate ceiling designed to prevent the kind of centralization creep that keeps Ethereum researchers up at night. The team is led by Drew Van der Werff, who has been building connections with other influential Ethereum infrastructure teams including Gattaca and Ultrasound Money. The thesis tying all of this together is refreshingly simple: a commercially successful Ether...