Ethereum Foundation grants in 2026: ESP and beyond

How does the Ecosystem Support Program work now?

ESP now funds work only against items that EF teams post, and none were posted when we checked on October 1, 2026. It funds free, open-source, non-commercial work that strengthens Ethereum's foundations: builder tools, infrastructure, cryptography research and community resources.

Until August 2025 you could send ESP an open proposal for any idea. ESP paused open applications on August 29, 2025 and relaunched on November 3, 2025 with two kinds of items:

• Wishlist items: a broad goal written by an EF team, where you propose the approach.
• RFPs (requests for proposals): a defined problem with set deliverables and its own application window.

Items come and go as EF priorities change. Earlier 2026 items, such as RFPs for Ethereum Community Hubs, a Road to Devcon 8 University Program and a Neutral DeFi Risk Intelligence Aggregator, now survive only in web archive snapshots. On October 1, 2026 the Wishlist, RFP and Open Rounds pages listed nothing active. You can check the current ESP Wishlist yourself.

Office Hours still run. They are a non-financial track: a 20-minute call for feedback on your project, or help matching it to a Wishlist or RFP item once items are posted.

What does ESP fund?

ESP's focus areas are:

• Cryptography and zero-knowledge proofs
• Privacy and security
• Protocol, client and developer tooling
• Application layer infrastructure
• Community growth and education

Past grantees include the Lighthouse and Lodestar consensus clients and L2BEAT.

Who can apply to ESP?

Individuals, teams and organizations can apply. A for-profit company qualifies if the funded work is open source, and every output must be free, open source and non-commercial. Your application must address a posted Wishlist or RFP item.

How much does ESP pay, and how fast?

ESP publishes no minimum or maximum. Amounts are set by scope and complexity unless an item states budget guidance. Grants are paid in ETH, onchain by default, in milestones. Third-party sites that quote $10,000 to $500,000 are not official.

ESP does publish quarterly totals: $5.5M allocated in Q2 2026. Its stated review time is 3 to 6 weeks. The Grant Management team and the EF team that owns the item review your application, sometimes with an interview, rescoping or budget talks. After that, a Grant Evaluator checks in at each milestone, and you publish a public report at the end.

What other Ethereum Foundation funding is there?

Besides ESP, the EF runs an audit subsidy and two fellowships, and it has ended two older programs.

Ethereum Audit Subsidy Program

Announced in April 2026 as part of the EF's Trillion Dollar Security initiative, this program pays up to 30% of a professional smart contract audit for teams building on Ethereum mainnet, from a $1M pool. It runs through Areta Market, an audit marketplace with more than 20 firms such as Zellic, Certora and Spearbit. You still choose your own auditor and quote.

A committee with representatives from the EF, Chainlink Labs and Nethermind Security reviews applications with Areta. Any mainnet team can apply, at any size or stage, but projects aligned with CROPS (censorship resistance, open source, privacy and security) get priority. We estimate about 3 weeks to a decision. Our guide to smart contract audit subsidies compares it with similar programs on other chains.

Ethereum Protocol Fellowship

The Ethereum Protocol Fellowship (EPF), formerly the Core Developer Apprentice Program, is a five-month cohort for developers moving into core protocol work: client development, testing and specifications, and protocol research. It does not cover smart contracts or apps. Fellows pick a project, often from ideas proposed by client teams such as Lighthouse, Reth, Erigon or Grandine, post weekly updates and present at an in-person event.

Anyone can follow the open program, but only selected applicants get a monthly stipend, set individually and paid in crypto or fiat after KYC. You should be able to commit at least 20 hours a week. Cohort 7 took applications from April 30 to May 13, 2026 and runs until November 2026. Cohort 8 dates have not been announced.

PhD Fellowship Program and the Academic Grants Round

From 2022 to 2025 the EF ran an annual Academic Grants Round. The 2025 round offered $2M and took applications from January 20 to March 24, 2025, and no 2026 round was announced. Instead, the EF's new Academic Secretariat ran a PhD Fellowship Program: $24,000 over one year as a supplement to an existing PhD stipend, for 9 to 10 fellows.

The 2026 call was open from February 2 to April 22, 2026. Its RFP topics leaned toward institutional design, governance, political economy, decentralized AI and enterprise use of Ethereum, and research had to lead to formal, open-access publication. No 2027 call has been announced. Our guide to blockchain research grants for academics covers other options for researchers.

Next Billion Fellowship: ended

The Next Billion Fellowship supported people using Ethereum in underrepresented communities, with mentorship and a stipend. It ran five cohorts between 2021 and 2025. The last intake closed on January 12, 2025, a promised Cohort 6 did not run, and the program site now says the Next Billion programs have concluded.

How to get ready for the next ESP item

Because ESP only funds posted items, preparation matters more than timing. These steps follow ESP's own process:

1. Check the Wishlist, RFP and Open Rounds pages regularly. RFPs have their own windows, and some may be short.
2. Book Office Hours now, for feedback on your project and on which kinds of items might fit it.
3. Keep the work free and open source, with a public repository. ESP funds nothing else.
4. Draft the core of an application in advance: approach, methodology, timeline, milestones and deliverables.
5. Be ready for identity verification and a formal grant letter if you are selected.

Our guide on how to write a grant proposal covers the drafting, and Web3 RFP grants explains how answering a defined request differs from pitching your own idea.

Ethereum funding outside the Ethereum Foundation

If you need money for Ethereum work now, the open options come from DAOs and protocols, not the EF. These four in our directory fund Ethereum work directly:

• TheDAO Security FundTheDAO Security FundUp to $640K91 days
• Lido Ecosystem Grants (LEGO)Lido DAOUp to $100KAnytime
• Rocket Pool GMC grantsRocket Pool DAOFunds are tight. Round 41 declined every application, Round 40 approved 1 of 10, and nothing above $7,500 has been approved since May 2026.Undisclosed6 days
• Octant funding epochsOctantEpoch 13 applications have closed. Community allocation for its 100 ETH pool runs Oct 14 to Oct 21, 2026, and Epoch 14 has no date yet.$500–$27.6KClosed

TheDAO Security Fund's Round Two is open until January 31, 2027 for work that makes Ethereum or its L2s measurably safer. Vitalik Buterin is one of its seven curators, but it is not an EF program. Rocket Pool's Round 42 closes November 7, 2026, though funds are tight: Round 41 declined every application. Octant's Epoch 13 has closed and Epoch 14 has no date yet.

FAQ

Is the Ethereum Foundation still giving grants in 2026?

Yes. The Ethereum Foundation's Ecosystem Support Program allocated $5.5M in Q2 2026, according to its report of August 18, 2026. But since November 2025 the EF only funds applications that answer a posted Wishlist or RFP item, and none were open on October 1, 2026. The Ethereum Audit Subsidy Program is the one EF route taking applications year-round.

Can a for-profit company get an Ethereum Foundation grant?

Yes, if the funded work is open source. The Ecosystem Support Program accepts individuals, teams and organizations, including for-profit companies, but every output must be free, open source and non-commercial. A company cannot use an ESP grant to build a closed product. Grantees also complete identity verification and sign a formal grant letter before any payment.

What happened to Ethereum Foundation small grants?

Ethereum Foundation small grants of up to $30,000 belonged to ESP's open-application model, which ESP paused on August 29, 2025. The relaunch on November 3, 2025 replaced open proposals with Wishlist and RFP items and has no separate small grants track. ESP now publishes no grant range, and amounts depend on the scope of each item.

How are Ethereum Foundation grants paid?

ESP grants are paid in ETH, onchain by default, in tranches tied to agreed milestones. A Grant Evaluator checks progress at each milestone, and grantees publish a public report at the end. The 2026 PhD Fellowship paid a $24,000 stipend over one year, and the Ethereum Protocol Fellowship pays its stipends in crypto or fiat after KYC.

Is the Ethereum Community Foundation part of the Ethereum Foundation?

No. The Ethereum Community Foundation (ECF) is a separate organization. It announced two small grant rounds in late 2025, BETH Builder Grants and BlobKit Builder Grants, each with $50,000 in total. When we checked on October 2, 2026, the ECF blog had posted nothing since November 2025, so it was unclear whether either round still accepted applications.