EF Ecosystem Support Program

6/ Key details:

🕓 Project duration: 1 - 4 months (depending on scope)
⏳ Applications close January 3, 2026

Join us in building the future of decentralized identity! 🌐

5/ Share your proposal that details a plan to:

📄 Update the specification

🔗 Improve conformance & interoperability across chains

⚙️ Modernize tooling & libraries

✅ Guide the method through the Decentralized Identity Foundation's “Recommended” process

4/ Although it has seen broad adoption, did:ethr faces gaps that

1️⃣ Reduce compatibility with other DID methods, and
2️⃣ Complicate integration across modern EVM and L2 systems

Ready to tackle this challenge? 💪

3/ A brief introduction to did:ethr 🆔

🪶 Lightweight decentralized identifier system

⚙️ Leverages ERC-1056 smart contracts

📖 Provides onchain identity layer readable by smart contracts and external systems

Apply for Advancing the did:ethr Method Specification | Ethereum Foundation ESP Submit your application for: Advancing the did:ethr Method Specification - An RFP to modernize and advance the did:ethr method specification, a lightweight decentralized identifier (DID) system widely...

2/ Learn more about our requirements and submit your application here:

esp.ethereum.foundation/applicants/r...

1/ As decentralized identity grows in importance, Ethereum needs a current, well-documented, and verifiable identity standard

That’s why we’re aiming to bring did:ethr to full maturity in our RFP:

⚡ Advancing the did:ethr Method Specification ⚡

Apply by January 3, 2026 👇

🎊 Grant Announcement: Kaggle Competition for AI/LLM Detection of Smart Contract Vulnerabilities by OneSavie Lab!

Dataset curation & preparation, development of evaluation methods, & promotion to onboard crypto security talent & non-crypto AI/LLM talent.

Learn more below 👇
x.com/onesavielab/...

Allocation Update - Q3 2025 | Ethereum Foundation Blog

Q3 2025 was full of fresh ideas and community momentum 🌐✨

Explore the projects @ethereum.foundation teams awarded grants to last quarter and the work they’re driving forward in our blog post below!

blog.ethereum.org/2025/12/02/a...

Nethermind Security on X: "The Nethermind Formal Verification team is introducing CertiPlonk, a framework for extracting Plonky3 constraints & verifying their correctness in @leanprover. CertiPlonk verifies circuit correctness without code changes. Supported by a grant from @ethereumfndn. More info ⬇️ https://t.co/Dm8ri53pdV" / X The Nethermind Formal Verification team is introducing CertiPlonk, a framework for extracting Plonky3 constraints & verifying their correctness in @leanprover. CertiPlonk verifies circuit correctness without code changes. Supported by a grant from @ethereumfndn. More info ⬇️ https://t.co/Dm8ri53pdV

💥 Check out the latest progress from one of our Q1 2025 grantees!

The Nethermind Security team is unveiling CertiPlonk, a framework for extracting Plonky3 constraints and verifying their correctness in Lean.

Dive into their full update in the thread below 👇
x.com/NethermindSe...

4/ Key details:

🕓 Project duration: 4–6 months (depending on scope)
⏳ Applications close February 3, 2026

Let’s push the frontier of AI + Ethereum security together 🚀

3/ Here's what we're looking for:

🔹 Concrete implementation that integrates with at least 1 Ethereum client repo or spec

🔹 Open-source code + clear docs

🔹 Practical value in real research or audit workflows

🔹 Secure handling of sensitive data + reproducible results

2/ Show us how LLMs can be used for:

🧠 Understanding,
🔍 Comparing, and
✅ Verifying protocol specifications and codebases

We're interested in tools that integrate into existing workflows (e.g. CI pipelines, audit systems), rather than research-only explorations

Apply for Integrating LLMs into Ethereum Protocol Security Research | Ethereum Foundation ESP Submit your application for: Integrating LLMs into Ethereum Protocol Security Research - An RFP to design and implement tools that apply large language models (LLMs) to Ethereum protocol security rese...

1/ 🤖 Can AI make Ethereum safer?

We're exploring how LLMs can automate auditing, specification compliance, and code analyses in our RFP:

⚡️ Integrating LLMs into Ethereum Protocol Security Research ⚡️

Dive deeper and apply by February 3, 2026 👇
esp.ethereum.foundation/applicants/r...

💡 Academic Grants Round Announcement: Open-Source Tool Development for Automated Vulnerability Detection in Ethereum Transaction Propagation by Yibo Wang & Yuzhe Tang!

Design & implement an automated, stateful fuzzing framework to detect vulnerabilities in Ethereum’s transaction propagation layer.

2/ The @ethereum.foundation Funding Coordination team brought together co-funders to accelerate this effort.

Huge thanks to QuickNode and Chainlink for helping advance the open infrastructure that powers Ethereum! ⚙️💜

1/ 🎊 Grant Announcement: OpenRPC!

Co-funding a 6-month sprint to update OpenRPC, making it easier for developers, tooling, and infrastructure providers to build on Ethereum with consistent, open standards.

open-rpc.org

GitHub - mratsim/constantine: Constantine: modular, high-performance, zero-dependency cryptography stack for verifiable computation, proof systems and blockchain protocols. Constantine: modular, high-performance, zero-dependency cryptography stack for verifiable computation, proof systems and blockchain protocols. - mratsim/constantine

🎊 Grant Announcement: Constantine PeerDAS by Mamy Ratsimbazafy!

Replicating the interfaces defined in c-kzg-4844 v2.1.1 and making them available in C, Go, Nim, and Rust, along with extending Constantine's existing Ethereum KZG support to include PeerDAS.

github.com/mratsim/cons...

💡 Academic Grants Round Announcement: Protecting Block-Validation Service Against DoS Attacks by Yuzhe Tang!

Building automated tools to detect denial-of-block-building-service vulnerabilities, and designing secure, lightweight validation mechanisms resilient to resource exhaustion attacks.

4/ Let’s make decentralized, verifiable and censorship-resistant RPC access the default way users and developers connect to Ethereum 💪

3/ Possible directions include:

🔹 Improving light client usability & integration

🔹 Building hybrid systems that combine verification with distributed RPC routing

🔹 Supporting new infrastructure that prioritizes openness, neutrality, & public availability

2/ Our focus is on exploring efforts that help Ethereum move towards open, verifiable, and decentralized RPC access for everyone, from developers to end users! 🔓

Apply for Decentralized RPC Access for Developers and End Users | Ethereum Foundation ESP Submit your application for: Decentralized RPC Access for Developers and End Users - Ethereum’s default access layer still relies heavily on centralized RPC providers, which serve most wallets, dapps,...

1/ Ethereum’s strength comes from decentralization, but RPC access hasn’t fully caught up yet

We’re looking for builders to dive into this with our Wishlist item:

⭐️ Decentralized RPC Access for Developers & End Users ⭐️

Learn more and apply below 👇
esp.ethereum.foundation/applicants/w...

Unveiling ESP's New Grants Program | Ethereum Foundation Blog

4/ Want the full details about the updated grants program and where we’re headed?

Learn more in our blog post 👇
blog.ethereum.org/2025/11/03/n...

3/ Our current Wishlist items and RFPs span the following domains and more:

🛡 Privacy & Security
🧩 Cryptography
🌍 Community Growth
🌐 Decentralized Identity
🛠 Application Layer
💻 Nodes & Clients

2/ These target the ecosystem’s most pressing needs, identified by @ethereum.foundation teams

Here’s how it works:

💡 Wishlist – Broad themes for builders to propose innovative solutions

🎯 RFPs – Specific problems or opportunities with clear deliverables, inviting targeted proposals

Applicants Overview | Ethereum Foundation ESP Information about the Ecosystem Support Program's mission, scope, and support we offer.

1/ ESP’s grant applications are now OPEN! ✨

Our new grants program is structured through two pathways:

💡 Wishlist
🎯 Requests for Proposals (RFPs)

Explore the new opportunities and apply below!
esp.ethereum.foundation/applicants

Phantom Zone Phantom Zone has 17 repositories available. Follow their code on GitHub.

2/ These two complementary efforts are critical to Ethereum's long-term vision of secure, private, and decentralized computation.

github.com/phantomzone-...

1/ 🎊 Grant Announcement: Phantom Zone!

Building Phantom (encrypted RISC-V virtual machine that executes encrypted RISC-V binaries on encrypted inputs), and Poulpy (fast and modular FHE library written in Rust).

🎊 Grant Announcement: PBS Foundation!

Continued stewardship of the MEV ecosystem, including coordination across the MEV ecosystem for current and future hard forks, along with R&D for mev-boost and mev-boost-relay that supports hard fork development.

2/ Extending that model to quantify how changes to the reward curve impact overall staking levels, then further extending the framework to distinguish between solo vs liquid staking.