The largest Web3 grants, ranked by grant size

Why are treasury ceilings not typical awards?

Treasury ceilings are the maximum one on-chain vote can release, not a grant size anyone is offered. Polkadot and Kusama sort spending requests into tracks, and the track you pick sets your cap, your deposit and how much support the vote needs.

Polkadot's treasury tracks run from 250 DOT up to 10M DOT. The $12,000,000 figure is the 10M DOT Treasurer track converted at about $1.20 per DOT; according to our research notes, the 1M DOT Big Spender track, about $1.2 million, is the practical ceiling for most project requests. The decision deposit runs from 1 DOT on the Small Tipper track to 1,000 DOT on the Treasurer track.

Kusama works the same way in KSM, with caps from 8.25 KSM to 333,333 KSM. The $1,750,000 ceiling is the Treasurer cap; Big Spender, at 33,333 KSM or about $175,000, is the practical ceiling for most projects. In both treasuries anyone can submit, but you need a public proposal with a budget, timeline and deliverables, and token holders decide. Blockchain treasury funding covers how to prepare one.

Which large figures are observed rather than published?

Three of the top figures in the table come from actual awards or requests rather than a published cap. They show what has been funded, not what you can expect.

• Zcash Community Grants publishes no floor or cap. The $750,000 figure is the largest grant approved since October 2025, for Pretty Good Policy for Zcash on August 31, 2026. A five-person elected committee votes in public, and KYC is required for approved grants above $50,000.
• The Graph Grants Program publishes no official range. $325,000 is the largest single grant in its 2025 report, which shows about $1.08M to 26 grantees that year.
• TheDAO Security Fund has no published ceiling either. Round Two initiatives ask between $10,000 and $640,000, and the fund expects about a quarter or more of each goal to come from other backers. It funds shared Ethereum security work, not a single project's own audits.

What do the other large programs fund?

The rest of the top 12 publish a ceiling, and most attach conditions that matter more than the number.

• SDF Marketing Grants pay up to $500,000 for user acquisition and marketing, not development, and only for products already live on Stellar.
• BNB Chain Builder Grants go up to $200,000. The directory carries a notice: the last winner announcement on the BNB Chain blog is from 2023, so it is unclear how many grants are still being made.
• Gravity Developer Grants pay up to $200,000 in G tokens to projects that run only on Gravity or treat it as their primary network.
• Horizen Builder Ecosystem Fund pays up to $150,000 in USDC for core RFP apps, with typical payouts of 10% at approval, 20% on the first milestone and the rest across audit and mainnet usage milestones.
• Maelstrom Bitcoin Grants pay $50,000 to $150,000 per developer for a year of open-source Bitcoin work, monthly, with total grant income from all funders capped at $400,000 a year.
• Stellar Community Fund pays Build Awards of up to $150,000 in XLM in four tranches. SCF #46 is open until November 8, 2026.
• SDF Academic Research Grants are gifts of up to $150,000 to a university for a year of research led by a principal investigator, with a historical average of about $75,000. The current review round runs to December 31, 2026.

Which programs fund large work without a published ceiling?

Some of the largest funders in Web3 publish no maximum at all, so they do not appear in a ranking by ceiling. Their budgets and past awards are the better guide.

• Ecosystem Support ProgramEthereum FoundationOpen proposals ended in 2025. As of Oct 1, 2026 no Wishlist or RFP items are open, so there is nothing to apply to until ESP posts new ones. Office Hours are still open.UndisclosedAnytime
• Solana Foundation grantsSolana FoundationUndisclosedAnytime
• Uniswap Foundation Open GrantsUniswap FoundationThe Foundation is spending down its remaining grants budget and plans to close once it is committed. Check the site before you apply.UndisclosedAnytime
• Cardano TreasuryCardano governanceUndisclosedAnytime
• dYdX Grants ProgramdYdX FoundationUndisclosedAnytime
• Bitcoin Quantum Readiness GrantsGalaxyUndisclosedAnytime

• The Ethereum Foundation's Ecosystem Support Program (ESP) allocated $5.5M in Q2 2026. As of October 1, 2026 it had no Wishlist or RFP items open, so there was nothing to apply to.
• The Solana Foundation publishes no grant range; in March 2026 it said open-source grants average about $40,000. Mainly commercial projects are pointed to convertible grants.
• The Uniswap Foundation had $87.5M left to commit at the end of 2025, but it is spending down its remaining grants budget and plans to close once it is committed.
• The Cardano Treasury takes withdrawal requests from anyone with a 100,000 ada deposit, refunded after the vote, and DReps and the Constitutional Committee decide.
• The dYdX Grants Program received about $9.2M in funding in August 2025, and many of its grants are ongoing service contracts paid monthly.
• Galaxy's Bitcoin Quantum Readiness Grants has up to $5M for developers and researchers preparing Bitcoin for quantum computing.

What do large grants ask of you?

Large grants ask for more evidence, more paperwork and more public scrutiny than small ones. The pattern across the programs above is consistent.

1. A track record. Stellar Community Fund wants significant user traction or an experienced Stellar team; Maelstrom wants open-source Bitcoin contributions and at least one reference.
2. Milestones tied to money. Horizen, Stellar Community Fund and Zcash all release funds in stages, so your plan needs dated, checkable deliverables. See milestone-based grants.
3. Identity checks and agreements. Zcash requires KYC above $50,000, Gravity has successful applicants sign a funding agreement, and Stellar requires KYC or KYB for every contributor.
4. A public case. Treasury and DAO proposals are posted for anyone to read and challenge before a vote.

If you have not won a grant before, a smaller first award is often the faster route to a large one. Small Web3 grants lists programs that fund under $10,000, and how to write a Web3 grant proposal covers the budget and milestone sections reviewers read most closely.

FAQ

What is the largest Web3 grant you can apply for?

The largest ceiling in web3grant's directory as of October 31, 2026 is the Polkadot OpenGov Treasury's $12,000,000, the 10M DOT Treasurer track. That figure is a governance cap rather than an offer. Among programs that publish a per-project cap, SDF Marketing Grants is highest at $500,000, while Zcash Community Grants has approved a single $750,000 grant without publishing any cap.

Are the largest Web3 grants paid in tokens?

Many of the largest Web3 grants are paid in tokens. Kusama pays in KSM, The Graph in GRT, Gravity in G and the Stellar Community Fund in XLM, so the dollar value moves with the price. Polkadot can pay in DOT, USDC or USDT, and Horizen pays in USDC. Dollar figures for token-paid programs here use late-September 2026 prices.

Do large Web3 grants require a company?

Large Web3 grants do not always require a company. Polkadot and Kusama accept proposals from anyone with an account, Maelstrom pays individual developers, and Zcash funds independent individuals and teams. Larger awards usually add KYC or KYB checks and a signed agreement, and some programs, such as SDF Academic Research Grants, pay only institutions.

How long does it take to get a large Web3 grant?

Large Web3 grants often take longer to decide than the median of 4 weeks across web3grant's 99 programs. Our estimates put the Cardano Treasury at about 12 weeks and BNB Chain Builder Grants at about 8, while Zcash Community Grants often decides in about 3. Most review times are estimates from process descriptions or past rounds, not published commitments.