# Ethereum layer 2 grants compared: who still funds builders

> Layer 2 grants compared as of October 2026: open, paused and ended programs on Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, Starknet, Unichain, Ink, Polygon, Scroll and ZKsync.

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

Few Ethereum layer 2 grants are open as of October 2026. Of the L2s we checked, only Starknet, Ink and Unichain run open, chain-specific cash grant programs. Arbitrum's Foundation offers audit subsidies while its new grant program is "coming soon", Optimism's grants are dissolved or paused, Base's new round is unverified, and Scroll, ZKsync, Linea and Lisk have none.

## Key takeaways

- Three L2s run open cash grants for builders: Starknet Seed Grants (up to $25,000 in STRK), Ink Spark (500 to 20,000 USDC) and Unichain Grants (up to $7,500 in USD or USDC).
- Arbitrum's D.A.O. Grant Program closed on March 17, 2026 after approving 190 of 1,262 applications. The Arbitrum Foundation's Security Program for audit subsidies opened on September 28, 2026, and its new grant program was still "coming soon" on October 29.
- Optimism's Grants Council was dissolved on July 15, 2026, and Optimism Retro Funding has been paused since January 2026.
- Base's Builder Grant Program pays up to $5,000. Base posted around October 27, 2026 that Season 2 is live, but we found no deadline or docs page.
- Scroll, ZKsync, Linea, Mantle, Mode, Soneium, Lisk and Zircuit have no open builder grants, and Taiko's form asks which team member invited you.

## What counts as a layer 2 grant?

A layer 2 (L2) is a network that processes transactions outside Ethereum's main chain and settles back to Ethereum for security. In this guide, an L2 grant is money from a chain's foundation, DAO or a close partner for building on that chain. We cover 17 L2 networks, checked between October 1 and October 29, 2026, plus Polygon, which is often grouped with them.

Two things are not counted as grants here: in-kind credits, such as gas sponsorship or infrastructure credits, and venture investment. Both exist on several L2s and are noted where relevant. If the distinction is new to you, start with [what Web3 grants are](https://www.web3grant.com/guides/what-are-web3-grants).

## Which layer 2s still fund builders?

These are the L2 programs with a status we could confirm, open ones first:

| Program | Network | Status on Oct 31, 2026 | Size | Paid in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Starknet Seed Grants](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/starknet-seed-grants) | Starknet | Open, rolling | Up to $25K | STRK |
| [Ink Spark grants](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/ink-foundation-spark) | Ink | Open, rolling | $500 to $20K | USDC |
| [Unichain Grants](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/uniswap-foundation-unichain-grants) | Unichain | Open, rolling | Up to $7.5K | USD or USDC |
| [Arbitrum Security Program](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/arbitrum-security-program) | Arbitrum | Open since Sep 28, 2026 | Audit subsidy | Paid to auditors |
| [Livepeer Community Treasury](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/livepeer-community-treasury) | Arbitrum | Open, onchain vote | No published cap | LPT |
| [World One](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/world-one-residency) | World | Open, first cohort | $30K residency | USD |
| [Polymarket Builders Program](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/polymarket-builders-program) | Polygon | Open | $2.5M+ pool | USDC |
| [D.A.O. Grant Program](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/arbitrum-foundation-grants) | Arbitrum | Closed Mar 17, 2026 | Up to $50K | USDC |
| [Optimism Retro Funding](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/optimism-retro-funding) | OP Chains | Paused since Jan 2026 | $55 to $32.5K (past) | OP |
| Optimism Grants Council | Optimism | Dissolved Jul 15, 2026 | 150K to 1M OP (Season 9) | OP |
| Base Builder Grant Program | Base | Season 2 posted on X; unverified | Up to $5K | Not published |
| Polygon Community Grants | Polygon | Ended; last season closed Apr 15, 2025 | No published range | POL |

And these are the L2s where we found no open builder grant program:

| Network | Status | What we found |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Scroll | Discontinued | Community Grants pilot closed Dec 19, 2025; Scroll plans to become a private, app-specific network |
| ZKsync | No program | Grant pages return 404; the last DAO call was an RFP for events and content in March 2026 |
| Linea | No program | Docs say Linea offers no grants or stipends to apps not yet live |
| Mantle | No public program | Grants are handed out by the core team; its EcoFund is a venture fund |
| Mode | No program | Its developer page points to Optimism Retro Funding, which is paused |
| Taiko | Invite-only | Form still open but asks which Taiko team member invited you |
| Soneium | No program | Two one-off cohorts in 2024 and 2025; nothing announced for 2026 |
| Lisk | Discontinued | Lisk Chain shuts down Oct 31, 2026; the DAO fund closed in May 2026 |
| Zircuit | Discontinued | Its docs mark the grants program as deprecated |
| Metis | Unclear | Grants page content dates from 2024; no grant approvals found since late 2025 |

## Arbitrum: three programs and a gap

Arbitrum has more programs in our directory than any other L2, but its general grant program is between versions. For everything listed on Arbitrum, see [Arbitrum grants](https://www.web3grant.com/ecosystems/arbitrum).

**The D.A.O. Grant Program** was the ArbitrumDAO's entry point for small grants, up to $50,000 in USDC paid in milestone tranches. Elected domain allocators each ran one domain, from dev tooling and Stylus to gaming, education and Orbit chains. Season 3 ran from March 2025 to March 2026 with a $6.75M budget, received 1,262 applications and approved 190. Submissions closed on March 17, 2026, and no Season 4 has been proposed. The [Arbitrum Foundation's grants page](https://arbitrum.foundation/grants) still said its new grant program was "coming soon" when we rechecked on October 29, 2026.

**The Arbitrum Security Program** opened on September 28, 2026 with a 12-month budget of 1.76M USDC and 25M ARB, about $7.8M. It pays part of a third-party smart contract audit for projects launching, migrating or shipping new code on Arbitrum, or launching their own Arbitrum chain. Approved projects are matched with one of 13 auditors, including OpenZeppelin, Trail of Bits, Certora, Cyfrin and Nethermind. The subsidy goes to the auditor, and its size depends on the agreement reached for each project. Our guide to [smart contract audit subsidies](https://www.web3grant.com/guides/smart-contract-audit-subsidies) compares it with similar programs.

**The Livepeer Community Treasury** funds work on Livepeer, a video and real-time AI network whose protocol runs on Arbitrum. Bonded LPT holders vote on each request; you need 100 LPT to submit, a 33% quorum and a vote of about nine days, and most money goes to teams with a defined scope of work.

Arbitrum also has in-kind support that is not cash: ArbiFuel sponsors up to 1,000,000 user transactions in the first year, capped at $10,000 in gas credits per team, and Alchemy offers up to $500,000 in infrastructure credits to teams launching an Arbitrum Orbit chain.

## Optimism and the OP Stack chains

Optimism itself no longer takes grant applications. Token House delegates dissolved the Grants Council in a vote that ended July 15, 2026, and the Optimism Foundation paused Retro Funding in January 2026 for at least 12 months. Our guide to [Optimism grants](https://www.web3grant.com/guides/optimism-grants) has the full timeline.

Several other OP Stack chains do fund builders:

- **Ink**, the L2 started by Kraken, funds live products through Spark grants of 500 to 20,000 USDC. Priority goes to work around Tydro (Ink's lending market), Nado (its perps DEX), real world assets and AI agent infrastructure. Ideas, testnet-only projects and marketing are unlikely to be funded.
- **Unichain** grants come from the Uniswap Foundation: up to $7,500 plus product and go-to-market help for DeFi projects with at least $250,000 in TVL on Unichain, or infrastructure partners such as routers and solvers.
- **World** funds builders through World One, a three-month San Francisco residency paying $10,000 a month to solo builders using World ID. It is not a World Chain grant, and we found no World Chain grant program with an open application.
- **Base** describes a Builder Grant Program of up to $5,000 for teams live only on Base. Round 1 closed, and the Season 2 announcement around October 27, 2026 had no deadline or docs page when we checked; see our guide to [Base grants](https://www.web3grant.com/guides/base-grants).

The other OP Stack chains we checked have nothing open. Mode's developer page sends open-source apps to Optimism Retro Funding, which is paused. Soneium ran two one-off cohorts, Spark Incubation (closed September 30, 2024) and Soneium For All (June 2025), and announced nothing for 2026. Lisk announced on August 4, 2026 that its chain shuts down on October 31, 2026, and offers projects a migration path to Celo instead of funding.

## Starknet: Seed and Growth Grants

Starknet's Seed Grants Program pays up to $25,000 in STRK to early-stage teams with an MVP or proof of concept who have not yet gone to market. You need to be active in the Starknet community or a past Starknet hackathon or builder program, and not live on mainnet for over three months with an established user base. You also need a plan for how you'll use the money over the next three months, and you must be willing to complete KYC or KYB.

There are no deadlines. Applications are reviewed in rounds, and the Foundation checks in with grantees three months after funding. Teams already live with a core group of users are pointed to Growth Grants, which range from $25,000 to $1M in STRK. The [Seed Grants page](https://www.starknet.io/grants/seed-grants/) was still live when we checked on October 1, 2026, though it has not changed since August 2025.

## Polygon, Scroll, ZKsync, Linea and the rest

**Polygon** ended its Community Grants after Season 2 closed on April 15, 2025 and moved its treasury into investment funds; see [Polygon grants](https://www.web3grant.com/guides/polygon-grants). The open Polygon option is the Polymarket Builders Program, for apps that route orders to Polymarket.

**Scroll** closed its last grant round, a Community Grants pilot paying $200 to $10,000 in USDC for events and hackathons, on December 19, 2025. Its Security Subsidy Program page still says "Apply Now", but the DAO's coordination role ended on April 30, 2026, so it is unclear whether applications are processed. More in our guide to [Scroll grants](https://www.web3grant.com/guides/scroll-grants).

**ZKsync** runs no open builder grants program. Its only recent DAO-funded call, an RFP pool for events and content, issued its last RFP on March 9, 2026; see [ZKsync grants](https://www.web3grant.com/guides/zksync-grants).

**Linea's** docs say it runs a performance-based model and does not offer grants or stipends to apps that are not live. Its last builder competition, Linea Exponent, ended on January 30, 2026 with no successor; see [Linea grants](https://www.web3grant.com/guides/linea-grants).

**Taiko's** grants page still describes a $25 million 2025 Grant Fund and its Airtable form accepts submissions, but the form now requires the name of the Taiko team member who invited you. Treat it as invite-only. **Mantle**, **Metis** and **Zircuit** have no open application we could confirm.

## Funding that works on any L2

Some programs fund L2 work regardless of which chain it runs on:

- [TheDAO Security Fund](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/thedao-security-fund): TheDAO Security Fund. Grant size: Up to $640K (USD equivalent). Open: apply by 2027-01-31, end of day UTC (91 days left).
- [The Graph Grants Program](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/the-graph-grants): The Graph Foundation. Grant size: $1K–$325K (USD equivalent). Always open: no deadline, applications reviewed as they arrive.
- [CoW DAO Grants](https://www.web3grant.com/grants/cow-dao-grants): CoW DAO. Grant size: Not published. Always open: no deadline, applications reviewed as they arrive.

TheDAO Security Fund's Round Two, open until January 31, 2027, co-funds work that makes Ethereum or its L2s measurably safer, including L2 infrastructure security, with grants of up to about $640,000. The Graph and CoW DAO fund tooling and integrations for their own protocols, where the fit with the protocol matters more than the chain.

Three well-known routes are not options right now: Gitcoin Grants has run no round since October 2025, the Ethereum Foundation's ESP had no Wishlist or RFP items open on October 1, 2026, and the EF's audit subsidy covers Ethereum mainnet only. If you plan to apply to several of these at once, read our guide on [applying for multiple grants](https://www.web3grant.com/guides/applying-to-multiple-grants) first: Base's grant, for example, requires you to build only on Base.

## FAQ

### Which layer 2 has the largest grants?

Starknet publishes the widest range of any layer 2 we checked: Seed Grants of up to $25,000 in STRK for early teams, which were open in October 2026, and Growth Grants of $25,000 to $1M in STRK, which Starknet's site lists for teams already live. Arbitrum's D.A.O. Grant Program paid up to $50,000 but closed on March 17, 2026, and Optimism's Grants Council was dissolved in July 2026.

### Are Arbitrum grants open right now?

Arbitrum's cash grants are not open. The ArbitrumDAO's D.A.O. Grant Program closed submissions on March 17, 2026, and the Arbitrum Foundation's grants page still called its new program "coming soon" on October 29, 2026. The Arbitrum Security Program, which subsidizes smart contract audits and pays the auditor directly, has been open since September 28, 2026.

### Do layer 2 grants pay in tokens or stablecoins?

Layer 2 grants pay in both. Ink Spark grants pay USDC, Unichain Grants pay USD or USDC, and the closed Arbitrum D.A.O. Grant Program paid USDC. Starknet Seed Grants pay STRK, Optimism paid OP, and Livepeer pays LPT. Token-paid grants change in dollar value with the token price, so check the payment currency before you budget.

### Does Scroll or ZKsync still offer grants?

No. Scroll's last grant round, a Community Grants pilot for events and hackathons, closed on December 19, 2025, and in September 2026 Scroll announced plans to become a private, application-specific network. ZKsync has no builder grants program: its grant pages return 404, and its only recent DAO funding was an RFP pool for events and content.

### Is the Lisk grants program still running?

No. Lisk announced on August 4, 2026 that it is becoming a finance operations product for businesses. The Lisk Chain shuts down on October 31, 2026, the Lisk DAO that allocated grants is winding down, and the Lisk DAO Fund closed in May 2026. Projects on Lisk Chain are offered a migration path to Celo instead of funding.

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From web3grant: https://www.web3grant.com/guides/ethereum-layer-2-grants. Program details change often: confirm on each program's official site before applying.