# DeFi protocol funding: grants, audit subsidies and more

> DeFi protocol funding in 2026: which protocol DAOs and chains still give grants, three audit subsidies, retro rewards, and DeFi programs that closed.

Last reviewed 2026-10-31. Dates are UTC.

DeFi protocol funding from grants comes in four forms as of October 2026: grants from protocol DAOs, grants from chains that want DeFi on their network, audit subsidies, and retro or growth rewards paid for usage. In web3grant's directory of 99 programs, 36 are in the DeFi category, but several well-known protocol programs, including Aave Grants DAO, Balancer, Curve and Sky, no longer take applications.

## Key takeaways

- As of October 31, 2026, 36 of the 99 programs in web3grant's directory are in the DeFi category.
- Protocol DAOs still funding outside teams include CoW DAO (500,000 xDAI plus about 6.55M COW through January 31, 2027) and 1inch's Aqua incubator (up to $50,000 in exchange for a revenue share); Compound has paused its main dapps domain and the Uniswap Foundation is spending down its budget.
- Some of the largest published grants for new DeFi protocols come from chains: the Stellar Community Fund and Horizen pay up to $150,000, and Palladium Labs up to 1M Canton Coin (about $148,000).
- Three open audit subsidies cut launch costs: Ava Labs covers up to 75% of an audit, the Ethereum Foundation's pool up to 30%, and the Arbitrum Security Program pays approved auditors directly.
- Aave Grants DAO, Balancer Grants, Curve and Sky (formerly MakerDAO) have no program you can apply to as of October 2026.

## Where does DeFi protocol funding come from?

Grant money for DeFi comes from four kinds of funders, and each wants something different from you:

| Source | What it pays for | Examples |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Protocol DAOs | Integrations, tooling and research that help their protocol | CoW DAO, Lido LEGO, 1inch Aqua |
| Chain programs | New DeFi protocols that bring liquidity and users to the chain | Stellar Community Fund, Cardano PRIME, Horizen |
| Audit subsidies | Part of a security audit, usually paid to the auditor | Ava Labs, Ethereum Foundation, Arbitrum |
| Retro and growth programs | Usage you have already created, or marketing to get it | Ronin Proof of Distribution, SDF Marketing Grants |

The first question is which of these fits your project. A new lending protocol will rarely get a protocol DAO grant, because those pay for work on that DAO's protocol. A team building tooling for an existing protocol will rarely get a chain grant, because chains want new activity on their network. For the full list, browse [DeFi grants](https://www.web3grant.com/categories/defi).

## Which DeFi protocols still run grant programs?

Fewer than you might expect. Here is where the main protocol programs stood as of October 31, 2026:

| Program | Status | Size and payment |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [CoW DAO Grants](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/cow-dao-grants) | Open, rolling | Paid in xDAI and COW by milestone |
| [Lido Ecosystem Grants (LEGO)](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/lido-ecosystem-grants) | Open, but granting slowed in 2026 | Under $1,000 to over $100,000 |
| [1inch Aqua incubator](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/1inch-aqua-incubator) | Open, rolling | Up to $50,000 in USDC, for a revenue share |
| [Compound Grants Program](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/compound-grants-program) | Dapps domain paused since April 14, 2026 | Up to $100,000 in COMP |
| [Uniswap Foundation Open Grants](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/uniswap-foundation-grants) | Open, spending down before closing | No published cap |
| [Unichain Grants](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/uniswap-foundation-unichain-grants) | Open, rolling | Up to $7,500 |

The details that matter:

- **CoW DAO** funds SDKs, integrations with protocols that use CoW Protocol's MEV protection, programmatic orders, cross-chain trading and solver tooling. You post publicly on the CoW forum and the committee votes on Snapshot over three days.
- **Lido's LEGO** has no form: you pitch a LEGO member on Telegram, then the proposal goes on the Lido research forum. In 2026, Q1 used 30% of the quarterly budget of 250,000 DAI and Q2 less than 1%.
- **1inch's Aqua incubator** is not a plain grant. You share revenue with the 1inch DAO from the first dollar; approved teams so far agreed to between 10% and 50% of a defined revenue base.
- **Compound** says its other domains are still open but fund only exceptional teams, and the program's future is under review.
- **The Uniswap Foundation** plans to close once its remaining budget is committed; it had $87.5M left to commit at the end of 2025. It does not fund token launches, liquidity mining or standalone audits.
- **Unichain Grants** are only for DeFi projects live on Unichain with at least $250,000 in TVL, or infrastructure partners such as routers and solvers.

## Which chains fund new DeFi protocols?

If you are launching a protocol rather than building for one, chain programs are where the larger grants are. These are open as of October 31, 2026:

- [Stellar Community Fund](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/stellar-community-fund): Stellar Development Foundation. Grant size: Up to $150K (USD equivalent). Closing: apply by 2026-11-08, end of day UTC (7 days left).
- [Cardano PRIME](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/cardano-prime-defi-grants): AlphaGrowth. Grant size: Not published. Always open: no deadline, applications reviewed as they arrive.
- [Horizen Builder Ecosystem Fund](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/horizen-builder-ecosystem-fund): Horizen Foundation. Grant size: Up to $150K (USD equivalent). Always open: no deadline, applications reviewed as they arrive.
- [Palladium Labs Canton Grants](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/palladium-labs-canton-grants): Palladium Labs. Grant size: Up to $148K (USD equivalent). Always open: no deadline, applications reviewed as they arrive.
- [Flare Grants Program](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/flare-grants-program): Flare Foundation. Grant size: Not published. Always open: no deadline, applications reviewed as they arrive.
- [RootstockCollective Grants](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/rootstock-collective-grants): RootstockCollective. Grant size: Up to $35K (USD equivalent). Always open: no deadline, applications reviewed as they arrive.
- [Circle Developer Grants](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/circle-developer-grants): Circle. Grant size: Not published. Always open: no deadline, applications reviewed as they arrive.
- [Ink Spark grants](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/ink-foundation-spark): Ink Foundation. Grant size: $500–$20K (USD equivalent). Always open: no deadline, applications reviewed as they arrive.
- [Starknet Seed Grants Program](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/starknet-seed-grants): Starknet Foundation. Grant size: Up to $25K (USD equivalent). Always open: no deadline, applications reviewed as they arrive.

- **[Stellar Community Fund](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/stellar-community-fund):** up to $150,000 in XLM; its Open Track funds new financial protocols and primitives. SCF #46 closes on November 8, 2026. Awards are paid in four parts, 10% on acceptance and the rest as you hit MVP, testnet and mainnet.
- **[Cardano PRIME](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/cardano-prime-defi-grants):** milestone grants from a $5.6M grants budget within a 120M ADA treasury program, for missing primitives such as lending, CDPs, yield-bearing stablecoins, perps, oracles and RWAs. Teams moving from other chains can apply.
- **[Horizen](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/horizen-builder-ecosystem-fund):** up to $150,000 in USDC for privacy-first DeFi on Horizen, an EVM chain built on Base, with RFPs for a private borrow-lend protocol and private agentic trading vaults.
- **[Palladium Labs Canton Grants](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/palladium-labs-canton-grants):** up to 1M Canton Coin from a 10M CC fund for DeFi and RWA protocols on Canton that use Palladium's Alpend stack. See [Canton grants](https://www.web3grant.com/ecosystems/canton).
- **Flare, Rootstock, Circle, Ink and Starknet** all list DeFi or lending among their categories or focus areas. Circle pays in USDC for lending, FX and treasury products built on Arc and Circle's stack.

Stacks Endowment Grants also fund Bitcoin-native DeFi, but its Q3 2026 cycle closed on September 23 and no Q4 cycle had been announced when we rechecked on October 29, 2026.

## Audit subsidies: the cheapest money for a DeFi launch

An audit subsidy pays part of a smart contract audit instead of giving you cash. For many DeFi launches the audit is a large single cost, so these programs are worth checking alongside any grant. All three below are open:

- [Ava Labs Security Audit Program](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/ava-labs-audit-subsidy): Ava Labs. Grant size: Not published. Always open: no deadline, applications reviewed as they arrive.
- [Ethereum Audit Subsidy Program](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/ethereum-audit-subsidy-program): Ethereum Foundation. Grant size: Not published. Always open: no deadline, applications reviewed as they arrive.
- [Arbitrum Security Program](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/arbitrum-security-program): Arbitrum Foundation. Grant size: Not published. Always open: no deadline, applications reviewed as they arrive.

- **[Ava Labs Security Audit Program](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/ava-labs-audit-subsidy):** for Avalanche projects. You describe your scope once and get private quotes from 18 whitelisted firms within 10 days; the program can pay up to 75% of the cost.
- **[Ethereum Audit Subsidy Program](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/ethereum-audit-subsidy-program):** up to 30% off an audit for teams on Ethereum mainnet, from a $1M pool, booked through Areta Market. Projects aligned with censorship resistance, open source, privacy and security get priority.
- **[Arbitrum Security Program](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/arbitrum-security-program):** pays approved auditors for projects launching, migrating or growing on Arbitrum, from a 12-month budget of 1.76M USDC and 25M ARB (about $7.8M) starting September 28, 2026.

Several grant programs also build audits into their terms. Horizen ties part of each grant to a security audit, paid half before the audit and half after you pass it. Compound requires an OpenZeppelin audit before later milestones for contracts that interact with Compound, and the Tezos Foundation requires a third-party audit of all smart contracts for DeFi projects. Our guide to [smart contract audit subsidies](https://www.web3grant.com/guides/smart-contract-audit-subsidies) compares the programs in depth.

## Retro, usage-based and growth funding

Some programs pay for results rather than plans. They suit protocols that are already live:

- **Ronin Proof of Distribution** pays monthly RON rewards, from a pool of 410,958 RON per 30-day season, to games and DeFi protocols on Ronin based on a Builder Score from onchain activity.
- **SDF Marketing Grants** pay up to $500,000 for user acquisition for projects live on Stellar, but nothing that promotes token prices or promises yield.
- **The Kaia IOK Fund** pays up to about $20,000 in KAIA for go-to-market and reward-matching campaigns for dApps on Kaia.
- **Optimism Retro Funding**, which rewarded onchain apps for measured impact on the Superchain, has been paused since January 2026 for at least 12 months.

Several programs draw the line at liquidity: Ink Spark grants do not cover subsidized trading, and the Uniswap Foundation does not fund liquidity mining. Cardano PRIME is an exception: its program includes liquidity provider incentives alongside grants. Our guide to [retroactive public goods funding](https://www.web3grant.com/guides/retroactive-public-goods-funding) explains how retro funding works.

## What DeFi grant reviewers ask

DeFi reviewers focus on risk, because a failed protocol can lose user funds. From the published criteria of programs in our directory, expect these:

1. **Security.** Cardano PRIME wants "a realistic audit plan." Stacks Builder grants require no unremediated major security breaches, and RootstockCollective asks you to disclose past security incidents.
2. **Real liquidity.** Cardano PRIME looks for TVL that is verifiably new rather than recycled from elsewhere. Unichain requires $250,000 in TVL, and Ink wants claims about users, volume or TVL backed by data reviewers can verify.
3. **Fit and novelty.** The Uniswap Foundation wants work that could not be submitted unchanged to another protocol, and 1inch says novelty is its first screen. Compound rejects low-quality or LLM-generated proposals outright.
4. **Measurable targets.** RootstockCollective asks for targets on TVL, transactions and active wallets, and Compound wants three to five milestones, mostly tied to measurable outcomes.
5. **Economics and compliance.** Expect KYC or KYB (1inch, Horizen, Starknet and the Stellar Community Fund all require it), and in some cases a revenue share (1inch) or joining a staking rewards pool, for example by sharing protocol fees (most Horizen grantees).

Our guides to [writing a grant proposal](https://www.web3grant.com/guides/how-to-write-a-web3-grant-proposal) and [grant impact metrics](https://www.web3grant.com/guides/grant-impact-metrics) show how to answer these in an application.

## DeFi grant programs that have closed

Several DeFi grant programs you will still find in old lists no longer exist. From our October 2026 checks:

| Program | What happened |
| --- | --- |
| Aave Grants DAO | Paused new grants on August 19, 2024; sunset confirmed on the Aave forum on July 15, 2026 |
| Balancer Grants | Last ran as Wave 14 (October to December 2024); BIP-928, passed September 29, 2026, winds Balancer down |
| Curve | No program; the old grants site does not resolve and the Telegram channel in its docs shows no channel |
| Sky (formerly MakerDAO) | Maker Foundation Development Grants ended March 23, 2021; new projects are pointed to the Sky Agent framework |
| Morpho DAO | Ran one grants pilot under MIP 93; no second round or committee announced |

The Aave case is documented in the forum thread [asking whether Aave Grants DAO is still active](https://governance.aave.com/t/aave-grants-dao-is-the-program-still-active-and-accepting-applications/25319); our guide to [Aave Grants DAO](https://www.web3grant.com/guides/aave-grants-dao) has the full story.

## FAQ

### Can I get a grant to launch my own DeFi protocol?

Yes, but usually from a chain rather than a protocol DAO. Chain programs such as the Stellar Community Fund, Cardano PRIME, Horizen and Palladium Labs on Canton fund new DeFi protocols that bring activity to their network. Stellar and Horizen publish maximums of $150,000, and Palladium Labs about $148,000. Protocol DAOs such as CoW DAO and Lido mostly fund integrations and tooling for their own protocol.

### Do DeFi grants pay for liquidity?

Few DeFi grants in web3grant's directory pay for liquidity, and some rule it out. Ink Spark excludes subsidized trading, and the Uniswap Foundation excludes liquidity mining and token launches. Exceptions exist: Cardano PRIME offers liquidity provider incentives to qualifying protocols, the Canton Development Fund lists DeFi liquidity seeding where needed for early utility, and CoW DAO pays volume incentives to partners that bring measurable trading volume.

### Do DeFi grants require a security audit?

Many DeFi grants require or fund a security audit. RootstockCollective's Strategic tier ($10,000 to $35,000) needs a full audit, the Tezos Foundation requires a third-party audit for DeFi projects, and Compound requires an OpenZeppelin audit for contracts that interact with Compound. Separate audit subsidies from Ava Labs, the Ethereum Foundation and the Arbitrum Foundation pay part of the audit cost directly.

### Do DeFi grants take equity or tokens?

Most DeFi grants are non-dilutive: you keep your equity and tokens. The 1inch Aqua incubator is the clearest exception in web3grant's directory, because it asks for a share of your revenue, between 10% and 50% of a defined revenue base for teams approved so far. Accelerators and ecosystem funds that invest are a different arrangement and usually do take equity or tokens.

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From web3grant: https://www.web3grant.com/guides/defi-protocol-funding. Program details change often: confirm on each program's official site before applying.