Layla Zulfa
The Ethereum Foundation has announced a comprehensive series of grants, strategically allocated across a broad spectrum of initiatives aimed at fostering community and education, advancing cryptographic research, bolstering core protocol development, enhancing developer experience, and strengthening the overall security and resilience of the Ethereum ecosystem. This significant investment underscores the Foundation’s commitment to sustaining a robust, decentralized, and globally accessible public goods infrastructure, targeting both foundational research and practical implementation across multiple continents. The grants span critical areas from collegiate hackathons and regional developer meetups to highly specialized cryptographic formal verification and advanced protocol security research, signaling a multi-faceted approach to long-term ecosystem health.
Fostering Global Community and Education: Expanding Ethereum’s Reach
A substantial portion of the announced funding is dedicated to community building and educational initiatives, with a particular emphasis on emerging regions and increasing accessibility. In Latin America, a vibrant hub for blockchain innovation, several key projects are receiving support. Destino Devconnect is a grants round specifically designed to empower community-led events and initiatives in Argentina and the broader Latin American region, aiming to accelerate their integration "onchain." This initiative is particularly timely, building on the momentum of recent regional developer gatherings and recognizing the unique potential for Web3 adoption in these markets. Complementing this, the Local Meetups LATAM Grant Round, a collaborative effort with the Localism Fund, seeks to sustain post-Devconnect enthusiasm by funding consistent, educational, and inclusive monthly meetups for a full year across Latin America. This program is crucial for creating enduring local communities, providing ongoing learning opportunities, and acting as a decentralized onboarding mechanism for new builders and users.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, is set to become a focal point for developer activity with Invisible Garden, a developer pop-up city concentrating on Ethereum, Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and cybersecurity. Such focused "pop-up" events are vital for intensive collaboration and knowledge transfer, attracting specialized talent and fostering innovation in concentrated bursts. Further cementing Argentina’s role, Funding the Commons: Buenos Aires 2025 will host a conference centered on RealFi – financial infrastructure designed for real-world coordination, access, and public goods funding. This focus on RealFi highlights a growing trend within the Web3 space to bridge the gap between digital assets and tangible societal impact, addressing practical challenges through decentralized solutions. In a related effort, Lancerium is providing travel assistance to enable its two founders to attend Devconnect ARG, emphasizing the importance of in-person participation for networking and collaboration, especially for emerging contributors.
Brazil is also receiving significant attention with the ETH Latam Hackathon Brasil 2025, hosted in São Paulo by ETHSamba. This hackathon prioritizes real-world Ethereum applications and the onboarding of new builders, recognizing Brazil’s substantial developer pool and market potential. Hackathons like this serve as crucial proving grounds for nascent ideas and as direct pathways for talent acquisition into the ecosystem.
Beyond Latin America, the Foundation’s commitment to global education is evident in grants to Asia and a global translation effort. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Research Center for Blockchain Technology is receiving support for a range of academic activities, including scholarships for its MSc in Blockchain Technology program, the Asiacrypt 2026 conference, guest lectures, and joint research. This strategic partnership with an established academic institution is vital for cultivating high-level research and developing the next generation of blockchain experts within a major financial and technological hub. Taipei, Taiwan, will host the High Assurance Crypto Software (HACS) Workshop 2026, bringing together cryptographers, cryptographic software engineers, and formal verification experts to enhance the security and correctness of real-world cryptographic software. This specialized workshop addresses a critical need for rigorous verification in the increasingly complex cryptographic landscape.
Meanwhile, on a global scale, the 2025 ethereum.org Translatathon is a translation contest designed to incentivize contributions in less-active languages, significantly increasing the accessibility and reach of Ethereum’s foundational documentation. By expanding the number of languages and available content on ethereum.org, the initiative aims to onboard new contributors and reward existing ones, democratizing access to information and fostering a truly global community. In the collegiate hackathon sphere, Cal Hacks 12.0, organized at the University of California, Berkeley, continues to attract top student talent, covering themes such as AI and Web3. Such events are essential pipelines for bringing fresh perspectives and innovative ideas into the blockchain space directly from academic environments. Finally, the Stablecoin (JPYC) Innovation Challenge, backed by the Crypto Asset Community, is a cross-industry ideathon in Japan focused on leveraging stablecoins, specifically JPYC, to solve real business challenges across sectors like e-commerce, logistics, real estate, and accounting. This initiative highlights the practical application of blockchain technology to traditional industries, driving adoption and demonstrating tangible utility.
Advancing Cryptographic Frontiers: Bolstering Security and Scalability with Zero-Knowledge Proofs
A substantial portion of the funding is directed towards cutting-edge cryptography and zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs), areas critical for Ethereum’s long-term scalability, privacy, and security. The focus here is multi-pronged, encompassing foundational research, formal verification, and the development of robust tooling.
Several grants are dedicated to strengthening the formal verification of ZKP systems, a paramount concern given the complexity and security-critical nature of these technologies. AVAZAR: Automatic Verification Tools for zkVM Arithmetization, led by Albert Rubio, supports work on the verification and associated tooling for circuits in LLZK, a low-level intermediate representation for ZK compilers. This is complemented by the Evolution of the LLZK IR project by Veridise, which aims to further develop LLZK as a shared, verification-oriented infrastructure, enabling more robust tooling, interoperability across ZK Domain Specific Languages (DSLs), and improved correctness guarantees for ZK circuits. Such efforts are crucial for building a secure and interoperable ZK ecosystem.
OpenVM Formal Verification, a collaboration with Axiom, focuses on establishing the functional correctness of all RV32IM opcode circuits within OpenVM. The goal is to mitigate soundness or completeness issues in OpenVM’s circuit design and contribute reusable formal verification infrastructure to the broader zkVM ecosystem. This work is foundational for building trust in ZK-powered virtual machines. Similarly, Verifying Autoprecompiles by powdr labs and Certora involves formally verifying powdr’s autoprecompiles, a step expected to enhance performance and accelerate adoption of these critical components.
Formal methods are also being applied to Rust codebases, which are increasingly prevalent in the Web3 stack. The Lean Backend for Hax by Cryspen continues the development of a Lean backend for Hax, enabling Rust code to be formally verified in Lean. This is mirrored by Rust Verification Through Lean 4 Tooling Investigation by Runtime Verification, which explores establishing a practical Rust to Lean verification pipeline using the hax toolchain, specifically for Rust components used in zkEVM and zkVM stacks. These projects address the critical need for high assurance in the low-level code that underpins many cryptographic systems.
Furthering foundational research, the EPFL Laboratory for Computation Security is supporting PhD students researching foundational and applied cryptography. Their work addresses core limitations in current SNARK designs, including recursion security and exploring trade-offs between proof size and security – challenges that are central to the practical deployment of advanced ZKPs. The Recursive Extraction Problem, researched by Nicholas Spooner, specifically investigates the security of recursive composition in SNARKs, focusing on the complex recursive extraction problem that arises when security proofs require repeated application of knowledge extractors. This highly specialized research is vital for ensuring the long-term security of complex ZKP constructions.
Several grants focus on specific cryptographic primitives and their formalization. Fiat-Shamir Specification aims to formalize in Lean the Fiat-Shamir transformation based on duplex sponges and the spongefish construction. This fundamental work contributes to the rigorous understanding and standardization of cryptographic proofs. Technical Review of Fiat-Shamir from Duplex Sponges by Kasra Abbaszadeh provides a crucial audit of the recent analysis of this transformation, identifying gaps and clarifying abstractions for rigorous reasoning. Nethermind is also contributing significantly with STIR & WHIR in ArkLib, formalizing key theorems for these cryptographic components in Lean and supplementing them with executable specifications. Additionally, Onur Kılıç’s WHIR project seeks to accelerate WHIR and upstream it into Plonky3, contributing to the low-level stack of proving systems for Ethereum post-quantum signatures, a forward-looking effort to prepare for future cryptographic challenges.
The efficiency and security of hashing algorithms are also being addressed. Tightening the Hash Size in Round-by-Round Sound IOPs by Nethermind investigates whether multi-round, round-by-round sound SNARKs can safely use smaller hash digests, starting with a feasibility study in both the Random Oracle Model and the Quantum Random Oracle Model. This could lead to more efficient proof systems without compromising security. A proactive security measure is the Poseidon Cryptanalysis Bounty Program, led by Jintai Ding and Ziyu Zhao, which aims to ensure that the interpolation attack remains the fastest preimage attack on Poseidon and to verify the complexity of this attack on reduced-round versions. This bounty program actively encourages cryptanalysis, strengthening the confidence in widely used hash functions.
Beyond foundational aspects, practical applications of ZKPs for privacy are also being funded. Private Payments L2 by Vienhage Cybersecurity UG aims to create a prototype of a minimal, open-source app-specific L2 rollup for private stablecoin transfers, leveraging lightweight ZK circuits and a simplified sequencing model. This directly addresses the demand for enhanced privacy in on-chain transactions. Privote, by Shashank Trivedi, is a private on-chain voting protocol powered by MACI (Minimum Anti-Collusion Infrastructure), currently hosting the frontend for the Gitcoin Grants 24: Privacy domain. This demonstrates the immediate utility of ZKPs in creating more secure and private governance mechanisms.
Enhancing Developer Tooling, Execution Layer, and Consensus Layer
The grants also extend to improving the developer experience and strengthening core protocol layers. The Ethereum Developer Ecosystem Dataset by Open Source Observer aims to deliver an improved, reproducible, and publicly auditable view of Ethereum developer ecosystem data, along with a sustainable mechanism to keep it updated. This data is invaluable for understanding ecosystem growth, identifying areas for support, and tracking the impact of public goods funding.
For Solidity developers, solc-mlir Middle End Optimization Layer for Solidity by Walnut is a focused research effort to add an MLIR middle-end to the Solidity compiler. This ambitious project aims to yield measurable gas savings and enable richer correctness and safety analyses, significantly improving the efficiency and security of smart contracts.
On the execution layer, Karen Sarkisyan is leading the Helios Integration in Kohaku project. This involves integrating Helios, a light client, with the Kohaku browser extension, improving performance and ensuring it is a portable and easily integrable part of the Kohaku SDK. Light clients are crucial for enabling more decentralized and secure access to the Ethereum network for end-users, reducing reliance on centralized infrastructure.
For the consensus layer, Ream by Ream Labs is receiving continued development support. Ream is a modular, contributor-friendly, and fast implementation of the Lean Consensus specification. High-performance and robust consensus layer clients are vital for the network’s stability, security, and decentralization.
General Growth, Security, and Protocol Support: Building a Resilient Ecosystem
Beyond specific technical layers, several grants focus on the broader health, security, and growth of the Ethereum ecosystem. Gitcoin Grants 24: Public Goods R&D Domain and the Privacy Domain both receive co-funding, underscoring the Foundation’s continued commitment to quadratic funding as a mechanism for supporting open-source public goods. The Public Goods R&D Domain specifically supports academic and other forms of research that advance insights and knowledge on Ethereum public goods and their funding, while fostering the development of neutral, open-source solutions with a focus on interoperability. The Privacy Domain supports critical privacy solutions for a secure onchain Ethereum ecosystem, recognizing privacy as a fundamental human right in the digital age.
Innovations in funding mechanisms are also being explored, with Deep Funding Markets by Seer. This multiscalar prediction market allows model builders to bet on the value an open-source repository would receive if professionally evaluated, and it was notably used in Gitcoin Grants 24. Complementing this, Juror Voting for Deep Funding, led by Allan Niemerg, establishes a juror evaluation process, creating an app for collecting data from jurors and integrating results into the Deep Funding voting app. These projects aim to refine and improve the efficiency and fairness of public goods funding allocation.
Security remains a paramount concern. Anti-Crypto-Drainer Operations by the Security Alliance (SEAL) is a critical initiative focused on tracking, discovering, and blocking crypto drainers that target EVM-based chains. These malicious actors pose a significant threat to user funds, and proactive measures like SEAL’s work are essential for protecting the ecosystem. Further enhancing security readiness, several Capture the Flag (CTF) competitions are being supported: BuidlGuidl’s Builder Bootcamp Capture the Flag and Capture the Funds by Certora. These CTFs provide engaging and practical opportunities for developers to hone their security auditing skills, identify vulnerabilities, and exploit smart contract weaknesses in a controlled environment, directly contributing to a more secure developer community.
The challenge of "blind signing" – where users sign transactions without fully understanding their implications – is addressed by Clear Signing Library from WalletConnect. This project aims to build a library and Proof-of-Concept (PoC) wallet to mitigate this critical usability and security issue, making on-chain interactions safer for everyday users. Another innovative approach to security is the Kaggle Competition for LLM Identification of Smart Contract Vulnerabilities by OneSavie Lab. By hosting a Kaggle competition for LLM-based smart contract vulnerability detection built on the Bastet dataset, the initiative aims to attract both crypto security talent and non-crypto AI/LLM talent, leveraging advancements in AI to improve smart contract security.
In terms of infrastructure, NodeCore by dRPC focuses on incorporating network-level privacy into a high-performance, self-hosted RPC load-balancer. This system distributes requests across multiple blockchain providers or nodes, optimizing for latency, error rate, and cost, while also enhancing user privacy by obscuring their direct interaction with individual nodes. Open Creator Rails by ChainSafe is building a minimal, verifiable on-chain runtime for managing time-bound access to digital resources using deterministic entitlements, laying groundwork for new forms of digital rights management and creator monetization.
Protocol growth and support are foundational for Ethereum’s evolution. LLM-Enabled Differential Testing on Ethereum Clients by Chiachih Wu aims to design and implement LLM-enabled differential testing to accelerate the discovery of vulnerabilities in the Ethereum protocol. This research leverages AI to enhance the robustness of core client software. Protocol Fellowship supports Mike Neuder’s doctoral work, which focuses on using economics and computation to deepen the understanding of blockchain mechanism design, generating high-impact academic research and educational content, including public explainers on protocol changes and teaching a new blockchain course at Princeton University. This fosters a deeper academic understanding of the protocol’s intricate design.
The Smart Contract Vulnerability Database (SCVD) by Truscova is building a system that accepts diverse vulnerability reports from multiple sources, standardizes them into a schema, and outputs them into a publicly available dataset. This centralized, accessible database is a critical resource for developers and auditors, enabling more effective vulnerability management and prevention. The Summer of Protocols (SoP) Program Management, overseen by Timber Stinson-Schroff, focuses on managing SoP by overseeing 2025 program logistics, supporting community management, and shaping SoP’s longer-term roadmap. SoP is a vital initiative for coordinating and advancing research and development across various decentralized protocols.
Privacy at the protocol level is further addressed through a collaboration with The Tor Project, providing technical support to the Ethereum Foundation’s Privacy Cluster. This partnership aims to overcome technical barriers of integrating Tor at the edge and within the Ethereum ecosystem infrastructure, improving scalability of bridging to Tor and adapting the Arti Tor client into WebAssembly for integration in wallets and frontends. This work is pivotal for bringing privacy to RPC calls like transaction broadcasting, particularly in constrained environments like browser wallets.
Diversity and inclusion within the core protocol development space are championed by the Women in Ethereum Protocol (WiEP) initiative. Mercy Boma Naps-Nkari and Arunima Chaudhuri are facilitating WiEP Cohort 4, developing workflows, coordinating mentors, tracking participant contributions, and supporting events like the WiEP Brunch at Devconnect. Meenakshi Singh is coordinating marketing for WiEP Cohort 4, managing communications, social media, and assisting with session recordings. These efforts are crucial for fostering an inclusive environment and bringing diverse talent into the highly specialized field of protocol development. Finally, Divya Ranjan Pattanaik is undertaking an informal two-month internship focused on Ethereum protocol R&D, providing a direct pathway for emerging talent to contribute to core development.
The sheer breadth and depth of these grants reflect a strategic and holistic approach to nurturing the Ethereum ecosystem. By investing in foundational research, practical applications, security, community building, and educational initiatives across diverse geographies, the Ethereum Foundation is not only addressing immediate needs but also laying robust groundwork for the network’s continued evolution, resilience, and global impact. This commitment to public goods funding and open-source development is expected to yield significant advancements in scalability, privacy, security, and accessibility, further solidifying Ethereum’s role as a leading decentralized platform for the future.
