Decentralized AI grants for open models and onchain agents

Which programs fund decentralized AI?

Thirteen programs in the directory carry the AI category. The table groups them by the kind of AI work they fund.

Grants for open-source AI models and tools

Three programs fund open AI as a public good rather than as a feature of one blockchain.

Sentient Foundation. The nonprofit behind the Sentient open AGI network runs a $42M program with two tracks behind one application: grants with no equity, lockups or claim on your work, and investments for companies built to scale. You do not have to open-source your whole stack, but at least one essential part (model, weights, code, data or evals) must be openly available. Grant applicants choose a request of 10k, 25k, 50k or more than 50k, and a named technical panel reviews every application on a rolling basis. The foundation's published requests include on-device personal AI, model verification, agent identity and private compute.

Spiral. Block's open-source group rebranded around open-source Bitcoin and AI in July 2026, after the core developers of goose, Block's open-source AI agent, joined it. Spiral says the goose grant program will become part of its broader grants, so open-source AI proposals are now in scope. There is no form or deadline: you email a detailed proposal to grants@spiral.xyz, and sizes are not published.

Tether. Tether pays for code libraries, documentation and apps on its open stack, including QVAC for local-first AI that runs on the user's device. Most funding is a defined task with a fixed payout; at launch Tether said payouts run from roughly $1,500 to $4,000, paid in USDT or bitcoin. Tether may not tell you if it rejects your application.

Grants for AI on decentralized compute

Compute networks fund AI work that runs on their hardware. Nosana is the clearest: $5,000 to $50,000 per project for model hosting, inference, agent systems and data pipelines that run on its GPU network, scored partly on how much Nosana compute you use. Akash and Livepeer fund AI work through token-holder votes on their community treasuries, and Livepeer's network handles real-time AI and video processing. The Golem Ecosystem Fund, not tagged AI in our data, also funds apps that use Golem compute for AI inference.

These programs are covered in detail, with their deposits and vote rules, in our guide to DePIN grants.

Grants for onchain agents and agent payments

Agent payment work is funded mostly by payments companies and chains that want agents to settle on their rails.

• Circle Developer Grants lists "AI agents that contract and settle in stablecoins" first among its focus areas. Funding is tiered, paid in USDC on milestones, and centered on Arc, Circle's stablecoin settlement chain. Its first 2026 cohort, including Blockradar, Hurupay and RebelFi, worked on agent commerce, payments, treasury and FX. Finalists must pass Circle's screenings.
• Prezenti Grants on Celo has a Frontier pool for AI and agent infrastructure on Celo mainnet. Agent projects need an ERC-8004 registration and a Self Agent ID. Grants run $3,000 to $50,000 in USDm, 20% on signing and 80% after verified milestones. As of October 29, 2026, Prezenti's site says both that Season 3 is open until December 29 and that it has concluded, so confirm with Prezenti before you apply.
• Ink Spark gives 500 to 20,000 USDC to live products on Ink, Kraken's layer 2, with priority for AI agent infrastructure such as payments, trading agents and wallet frameworks. Idea-only and testnet-only projects are unlikely to be funded.
• HTX DAO Genesis Grant, launched in September 2026 with a $10M fund, pays in HTX tokens per verified milestone and prioritizes early-stage teams validating a prototype for AI agents, AI services and onchain payments.
• Stacks Endowment Grants funds payments and agent infrastructure on Bitcoin rails, but its Q3 2026 cycle closed on September 23 and Q4 dates have not been announced.

Two programs outside the AI category also fund agent work: the Horizen Builder Ecosystem Fund has an RFP for private agentic trading vaults (up to $150,000 in USDC), and the dYdX Grants Program lists AI agents among its 2026 priorities. Stablecoin-first programs are compared in our guide to stablecoin grants.

Grants for AI data and storage

Two storage networks fund the data side of AI. The Walrus Foundation funds verifiable data for AI, DeFi and data markets on Walrus, its storage network on Sui. Anyone can answer its RFPs, while its grants go to teams it already knows from Discord, events and referrals.

The Subspace Foundation funds AI dApps, onchain agents, AI compute and research on privacy-preserving AI, ZK and FHE on the Autonomys Network, paying per milestone in AI3 and stablecoins. Its first public grantee, Momento (March 2026), lets people capture and verify human-made content as tamper-proof records. Expect up to 8 weeks for screening.

Which decentralized AI grant programs are paused?

Several AI programs we checked in October 2026 are not in the directory because they were closed or too thinly documented:

• Olas Accelerator: it awarded $1M in USDC, up to $100,000 per team, to 10 teams building agents for Pearl, Olas's agent app store. As of October 1, 2026 it was not accepting new applications, and the OLAS Dev Rewards program was paused.
• 0G Guild: the 0G Foundation's support program for AI apps on the 0G chain showed "Applications Closed" on October 2, 2026, with no date for a new intake.
• ChainGPT Web3-AI Grant: it was taking applications on October 2, 2026, but its grants are mostly ChainGPT API credits with limited cash, and we left it out for too little verified information.

The Ethereum Foundation's PhD Fellowship, which listed decentralized AI as a research area, closed its 2026 call in April and has announced no 2027 call. BNB Chain Builder Grants lists AI as a focus, but its last winner announcement dates from 2023.

How do you write a strong decentralized AI grant application?

The programs above ask for the same two things in different words: what is actually open or onchain, and whether the work exists yet.

1. Name the open part. Sentient requires at least one essential component to be open. Say which one, under which license, and where it lives.
2. Prove it runs on the network. Nosana scores compute usage, Ink asks for contract addresses and dashboards, and Prezenti asks for evidence behind every usage claim.
3. Show the money flow for agents. Circle's grant page asks for Arc to be core to how value, liquidity or settlement moves in your product. Describe who pays whom, in what token, and on which chain.
4. Write it yourself. Some programs reject proposals that read as machine-written; the Compound Grants Program, for example, rejects low-quality or LLM-generated proposals. Our guide to AI grant proposal writing covers where AI helps and where it hurts.

For the full process from shortlist to submission, see how to apply for Web3 grants.

FAQ

Do decentralized AI grants require open-source code?

Most decentralized AI grants require some openness, but not always the whole codebase. Sentient Foundation asks that at least one essential part, such as the model, weights, code, data or evals, be openly available. Spiral and Tether fund open-source work by design. Chain programs such as Circle, Ink Spark and HTX DAO focus on live products and onchain usage and do not list open source as a requirement in web3grant's data.

Can an AI startup get a grant without giving up equity?

An AI startup can get non-dilutive funding from several decentralized AI grant programs. Sentient Foundation's grant track takes no equity, lockups or claim on the work, though the same application can be routed to its separate investment track. Circle, Nosana, Ink Spark and Prezenti pay grants against milestones. Token-paid grants such as HTX DAO's still carry no equity, but the payout value moves with the token price.

Which AI grant pays in stablecoins?

Circle Developer Grants and Ink Spark pay in USDC, Prezenti pays in USDm on Celo, and Tether pays in USDT or bitcoin. Nosana pays a mix of USDC, NOS tokens and GPU credits, and the Subspace Foundation pays in AI3 tokens and stablecoins. HTX DAO, Akash, Livepeer and Stacks pay in their own tokens. Sentient, Spiral and Walrus do not publish a payout currency.

Is the Olas Accelerator still open?

The Olas Accelerator was not accepting new applications when web3grant checked on October 1, 2026, and no new round had been announced. It had awarded $1M in USDC, up to $100,000 per team in milestone tranches, to 10 teams building AI agents for Pearl. Olas's build page also said the OLAS Dev Rewards program was paused and not accepting new claims.