Ethereum Foundation Awards Millions In New Grant Funding

The non-profit dedicated to advancing ethereum has awarded $2.5 million in grant funding to various projects looking to improve the ecosystem.

AccessTimeIconMar 8, 2018 at 6:10 a.m. UTC
Updated Sep 13, 2021 at 7:39 a.m. UTC
10 Years of Decentralizing the Future
May 29-31, 2024 - Austin, TexasThe biggest and most established global hub for everything crypto, blockchain and Web3.Register Now

The non-profit dedicated to advancing and maintaining ethereum's software  has officially announced the recipients of its first wave of development grants.

A total of 13 projects received more than $2.5 million combined to work on scalability, security, development experiences, user interface study and other derivatives of the ethereum blockchain, according to a Wednesday announcement.

The grants will help the ethereum community better develop distributed applications (dapps) and smart contracts, according to the post. The Foundation also noted the different topics each of the recipients is researching, and said, "we hope that these grants will signal to the community what we think are the missing pieces in the ecosystem that need more support."

The Foundation continued, saying it "is here to serve teams and individuals that are working to prevent a tragedy of the commons."

Notably, it went on to acknowledge that the grant program had changed its focus since its first announcement in January. At the time, it was aimed at developers working on scaling ethereum’s network, as previously reported.

On Wednesday, the Foundation explained the change:

“We decided to broaden the support to projects that are doing great work across scalability, usefulness and security. These projects have no ICOs, no token sales, and focus simply on building useful products and experiences.”

Nor are the grants strictly related to the main network. The Foundation noted that some of its grants went to “hackternships” for members of the community who proposed a useful side project.

That being said, some of the largest grants went towards scalability research - L4 Research, which earned $1.5 million to work on state channels, while Prysmatic Labs earned $100,000 for work on sharding.

Ether image via Shutterstock

Disclosure

Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.

CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.


Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk's longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.