Ethereum staking grants: Lido, Rocket Pool and more

Lido Ecosystem Grants (LEGO)

LEGO is the Lido DAO's grants committee. It funds individuals, projects and organizations whose work benefits the Lido protocol or the wider Ethereum, proof-of-stake or DeFi space, and it pays in stablecoins on milestones.

There is no application form. You message a LEGO member on Telegram with a title, authors, purpose, short summary, timeline and cost estimate, agree terms with them, and the proposal is posted on the Lido research forum. Approval depends on size: one member can approve up to $1,000, two members up to $10,000, the Council up to $100,000, and anything larger needs a Lido DAO vote. Details are on the LEGO page.

LEGO's focus areas are integrations that bring new staking demand to Lido, security assessments and audits of staking tools, protocol development and infrastructure, governance services, and community content and education. Recent grants include 50,000 DAI to Launchnodes for a Canton-to-Lido bridge proof of concept and 20,000 DAI toward a security assessment of Vero, a multi-client validator tool. The budget is 250,000 DAI a quarter, but in 2026 the committee used 30% of it in Q1 and less than 1% in Q2.

Rocket Pool GMC grants

The Grants Management Committee (GMC) is a seven-member committee of the Rocket Pool Protocol DAO, funded by 25% of the Protocol DAO's share of RPL inflation. It pays three kinds of award: grants for work you propose and do yourself, bounties for open goals anyone can complete, and retrospective awards for Rocket Pool work already done.

Rounds are monthly. Each opens around the 7th with a call thread on the Rocket Pool governance forum, and you reply with the GMC template before the deadline, 23:59 UTC on the 7th of the following month. Round 42 runs from October 7 to November 7, 2026. The committee scores how far the work advances its goals, whether you can deliver, and the benefit relative to the cost. Results come two to three weeks after the deadline, followed by a two-week window in which anyone can dispute an award.

Expect a hard review. Round 41 declined every application, Round 40 approved 1 of 10, and since May 2026 nothing above $7,500 has been approved; recent approvals ranged from $680 (a Rescue Node top-up) to $7,500. The committee has said it favors applicants who engaged with the Rocket Pool community before applying. It funds work that makes running a node or minting rETH easier, ways to hold or use rETH, and governance and community tooling. Payment goes straight to a recipient address in RPL or USDC; the GMC cannot pay invoices. The Rocket Pool grants page links the current round.

Does the Ethereum Foundation fund staking?

The Ethereum Foundation's Ecosystem Support Program funds client and protocol work, and its past grantees include the Lighthouse and Lodestar consensus clients. But since November 2025 it no longer takes open proposals. You can apply only against a posted Wishlist item or RFP, and as of October 1, 2026 none was open, so there is nothing to apply to until ESP posts new items. ESP's Office Hours, a 20-minute feedback call, are still open.

The Foundation's Protocol Fellowship, a five-month program for developers moving into execution and consensus client work, is between cohorts: Cohort 7 runs until November 2026 and Cohort 8 has no dates. Our guide to Ethereum Foundation grants covers both in detail.

Client security, which every staker depends on, has one more route: TheDAO Security Fund, paid from TheDAO's staking yield, funds Ethereum client and L2 infrastructure security among other security work. Its Round Two is open until January 31, 2027.

Which Ethereum staking grant programs are paused?

Four staking-related programs we checked in early October 2026 had no open way to apply, so they are not in the directory:

• SSV Network: the Grants Committee suspended the program indefinitely on August 15, 2026, after pausing new grants on November 25, 2025 to conserve funds. Existing commitments continue, and the committee keeps limited capacity for micro-grants of about $5,000, but no regular grants will be made unless the committee or DAO votes otherwise; the decisions are posted on the SSV governance forum. SSV's "get funded" page still advertises a $5M grants program and is out of date.
• Obol: Obol's docs say its grants program is paused while it is redesigned, with no restart date. It ran one pilot wave in May and June 2025, and the Obol Association paused all governance in March 2026.
• EthStaker: its grants page says grants "have been available" and asks you to email the team, but it publishes no budget, amounts, criteria or recent awards, so it is an informal channel rather than an open program.
• Eigen Foundation: it announced Community Initiative grants in April 2025, but as of October 1, 2026 its grants portal was still "coming soon" and there was no way to apply.

How do you get a staking grant approved in 2026?

Ask small, scope tightly and show you are already part of the community. With Rocket Pool approving one application in ten or fewer and Lido spending under 1% of its Q2 budget, the programs are open but selective.

1. Engage before you apply. The Rocket Pool GMC says it favors applicants who have engaged with its community, and LEGO starts with a conversation with a member. Read the forum, answer questions, contribute a small fix.
2. Fit the approval tiers. At LEGO, a request under $10,000 needs two members, not the Council or a DAO vote. At Rocket Pool, every request above $7,500 has been declined since May 2026.
3. Show demand. GMC declines often cite cost or unclear demand. Name the node operators, rETH holders or Lido integrators who asked for the work.
4. Consider retro. Rocket Pool pays retrospective awards for work already done, which removes delivery risk for the committee. Our guide to retroactive public goods funding explains the model.
5. Write for a public forum. Both proposals end up on public forums. See how to write a DAO funding proposal and, for amounts, small Web3 grants.

For the wider process, start with how to apply for Web3 grants.

FAQ

Does Lido have a grant application form?

Lido Ecosystem Grants (LEGO) has no application form or deadline. You pitch your idea to a LEGO member on Telegram with a title, purpose, summary, timeline and cost estimate, agree terms, and the proposal is posted on the Lido research forum. One member can approve up to $1,000, two members up to $10,000, the Council up to $100,000, and larger grants need a Lido DAO vote.

When is the next Rocket Pool grant round?

Rocket Pool GMC Round 42 runs from October 7 to November 7, 2026, closing at 23:59 UTC. Rounds are monthly and open around the 7th with a call thread on the Rocket Pool governance forum, so Round 43 should open around November 7, 2026. Results come two to three weeks after each deadline, followed by a two-week dispute window.

Is the SSV Network grants program still open?

The SSV Network grants program is not open. Its Grants Committee suspended it indefinitely on August 15, 2026, after first pausing new grants on November 25, 2025 to conserve funds. Existing commitments continue and occasional micro-grants of about $5,000 are possible, but no regular grants will be made unless the committee or the SSV DAO votes otherwise.

Are there grants for solo stakers?

No program in web3grant's directory pays individuals to run their own validators. Rocket Pool's GMC funds tools and services that make it easier to become a node operator, and Lido's LEGO funds staking tools and their security reviews. EthStaker's grants page lists past grant types such as node cost subsidies, but as of October 2026 it publishes no open program, budget or criteria.