Celestia grants in 2026: is there a program to apply to?

What was the Celestia Ecosystem Delegation Program?

The Celestia Ecosystem Delegation Program was a pilot that ran from July 1 to December 31, 2025. It gave TIA delegations to 10 validators that were doing ecosystem work. It was the last Foundation program on the Celestia forum that looked like funding, and it has ended.

A delegation is not a grant. In proof-of-stake networks, delegating tokens adds stake to a validator; the validator earns from it only through staking rewards and commission, and no cash goes to a project. The program was also limited to validators, so it never offered a route for app or tooling teams.

What about Avail and other modular projects?

Other modular and data availability projects show the same pattern: announced programs with no working application.

Avail's Core Dev Programme announcement from July 2025 is the newest builder funding we found for Avail, and no blog or forum post after July 2025 mentions grants or the programme. The Eigen Foundation's grants overview still describes a portal that has not launched.

Where can modular and data availability builders apply?

Funding for modular infrastructure exists, just not from Celestia. Look for programs that fund storage, data, rollups and cross-chain infrastructure on networks that do run open programs. These are open with no deadline as of October 31, 2026, except TheDAO Security Fund, whose Round Two runs to January 31, 2027:

• Walrus Grants and RFPsWalrus FoundationUndisclosedAnytime
• Tezos Foundation GrantsTezos FoundationUndisclosedAnytime
• Analog Grant ProgramAnalogUp to $50KAnytime
• Canton Development FundCanton FoundationUndisclosedAnytime
• TheDAO Security FundTheDAO Security FundUp to $640K91 days
• Arbitrum Security ProgramArbitrum FoundationUndisclosedAnytime
• Polkadot OpenGov TreasuryPolkadot OpenGovUp to $12MAnytime
• The Graph Grants ProgramThe Graph Foundation$1K–$325KAnytime

How each fits a modular builder:

• Data availability and storage: Walrus Grants and RFPs funds builders on Walrus, a decentralized storage and data availability network built on Sui. Its RFPs are open to anyone; ecosystem grants go to teams already active in the Walrus community.
• Rollups: the Tezos Foundation funds core protocol, Octez and Smart Rollups development, reviewed in the month after each quarter ends. The Arbitrum Security Program subsidizes audits for teams launching their own Arbitrum chain.
• Cross-chain infrastructure: Analog pays up to $50,000 in stablecoins or ANLOG for block explorers, connector integrations and validator tools. The Canton Development Fund funds scaling work such as multi-synchronizer architecture and BFT throughput.
• L2 security: TheDAO Security Fund co-funds Ethereum client and L2 infrastructure security, but only work that makes Ethereum or its L2s measurably safer.
• Shared infrastructure by vote: the Polkadot OpenGov Treasury funds RPC nodes, collators, testnets and bridges through on-chain referenda.
• Indexing and data services: The Graph Grants Program funds open-source data services and tooling.

For the full set, browse Web3 infrastructure grants or the Web3 grant directory. If your work is an Ethereum rollup, our guide to layer 2 grants covers which L2s still fund builders.

How to pitch modular infrastructure to another chain's program

A chain's grant program pays for work that helps that chain. A data availability tool pitched to Walrus, Tezos or Polkadot has to show who on that network will use it, not how it serves modular blockchains in general.

Three habits help:

1. Name the users on that chain. Rollup teams, indexers or app developers in the target ecosystem who have asked for the tool, ideally with a link to the thread.
2. Plan for maintenance. The Canton Development Fund asks who will maintain shared work after the grant; Walrus asks for a path to sustainability, such as other funding.
3. Match the format. The Tezos Foundation wants a single PDF with team background, technical detail, roadmap and a full budget; Canton takes proposals as GitHub pull requests.

Our guide on how to apply for Web3 grants walks through the process from first contact to payout.

FAQ

Does the Celestia Foundation give grants?

The Celestia Foundation had no grant program open to outside builders when web3grant checked on October 1, 2026. Its grant pages return 404 and neither the Celestia blog nor the forum announced a program. The Foundation's most recent funding-style initiative was the Ecosystem Delegation Program, a pilot that delegated TIA to 10 validators from July to December 2025 and has since ended.

Is the Celestia Ecosystem Delegation Program a grant?

No. The Celestia Ecosystem Delegation Program gave TIA delegations to 10 validators doing ecosystem work, which adds stake to those validators rather than paying cash to a project. It ran as a pilot from July 1 to December 31, 2025, and it was open only to validators, so app and tooling teams could never apply to it for funding.

Does Avail have a grant program?

Avail had no public grant program you could apply to as of October 1, 2026. The availproject.org/grants page returns 404 and the forum's RFP Grants Program threads date from December 2023. The Avail Foundation's Core Dev Programme, announced on July 30, 2025, posts paid tasks only on Discord and in its newsletter, and no public task list exists.

How will I know if Celestia launches a grant program?

Watch the Celestia blog and forum, where a new Celestia grant program would most likely be announced first. web3grant also rechecks programs that were missing or paused, and new programs are added to the directory once they have a working way to apply. Signing up for email alerts is the easiest way to hear about it.