EF Blog

ETH top background starting image
ETH bottom background ending image
Skip to content

Allocation Update: Q1 and Q2 2022

Posted by Ecosystem Support Program Team on September 7, 2022

Allocation Update: Q1 and Q2 2022

It's time to share the list of outstanding grantees who received funding in Q1 and Q2 of this year!

You can learn more about their projects below:

Q1

CategoryProjectRecipientDescription
Community & educationBlocksplitInternational conference focused on blockchain development and other use cases, held in Split, Croatia.
Community & educationDAOstar OneMetagovernance group developing, governing, and supporting interoperable standards for the DAO ecosystem.
Community & educationDeveloper BootcampsETHAnglia"Conversion" bootcamp offered through Tech Educators to provide web2 developers with a deep understanding of blockchain development tools.
Community & educationEthereum BogotáCommunity meetups in Bogotá, Colombia with introductory talks and workshops.
Community & educationEthereum CaracasMonthly community meetup with in-person and streamed content.
Community & educationEthereum Environmental Use Case ExplorationsBen WestResearch exploring and documenting climate-related use cases for Ethereum
Community & educationEthereum for AfricaFrank DeyaSupport for Ethereum ecosystem building efforts in Africa.
Community & educationEthereum for Developers CourseUniversidad Simón BolívarCreation of a course on developing on Ethereum at Universidad Simón Bolívar in Venezuela.
Community & educationETHGlobalSupport for ETHGlobal programming including hackathons and summits, among other developer onboarding and education initiatives.
Community & educationETHPragueHackathon and conference hosted at Paralelni Polis in Prague, Czech Republic.
Community & educationETHRioH.E.R. DAOEthereum-based workshops aiming to onboard newcomers to web3.
Community & educationEthereum LimaOne-day in-person event with talks on Ethereum basic concepts, applications, and roadmap among the community of university students and young software developers in Lima, Peru.
Community & educationEthereum.RioConference organized in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which highlighted local builders and organizers while bringing in other web3 opportunities and companies.
Community & educationFilosofía CódigoVideo series about Optimistic and ZK Rollups for Filosofía Código, a learning community of Spanish speaking blockchain builders.
Community & educationHonduras Community Quadratic FundingBUIDL HondurasQuadratic funding for public goods projects by local community members, using clr.fund.
Community & educationRender AtlantaConference with topics and experiences related to software engineering and culture, inviting engineers to learn from one another and advance their careers.
Community & educationSMT 2022SMT WorkshopWorkshop that aims to bring together researchers working on Satisfiability Modulo Theories (SMT) and users of SMT techniques and tools.
Community & educationSpaghettETHThree-day Ethereum conference and hackathon in Milano, Italy, with hacks focused on organizations, public goods, and micro-economies.
Community & educationSpanish Translation GuideJacobo BlandonOpen guide—published as a blog post—to translating Ethereum-related materials into Spanish and preparing them for publication.
Community & educationTE 360Token Engineering CommonsSessions discussing challenges and opportunities in token engineering and crypto-economic systems from many angles, based on writings of leaders in the space.
Community & educationZeitgeistCommunity of builders working on crypto-native products and protocols.
Consensus layerBeacon FuzzSigma PrimeDevelopment and maintenance of Beacon Fuzz, an Ethereum consensus-layer fuzzing framework, specifically targeting new Merge functionality.
Consensus layerBLS External Signer using a Hardware Security ModuleBLS External Signer using a Hardware Security Module (HSM). Aiming to complete full HSM staking prototype, get onto testnets, and get user/community feedback.
Consensus LayerFormal Verification of DV ProtocolConsenSysFormal specification and verification of the Distributed Validator (DV) protocol, which allows Ethereum validators to split their validator into multiple client instances for increased private key security and greater resilience against downtime and node operator attacks.
Consensus layerNimbus Consensus ClientStatusContinued development of the Nimbus consensus client.
Cryptography & zero knowledge proofsAuti.smKyokanDecentralized social protocol built on Ethereum and ENS as a public good, integrating ZK primitives including RLN, Interep and Semaphore.
Cryptography & zero knowledge proofsInterep with BrightIDDonghyun Jeong, Insun Yu, and Seohee ParkExpansion of login methods for the Interep reputation-proving service to include BrightID verification and clr.fund Contributor registration, as well as development of the onchain NFT ownership group using Semaphore.
Cryptography & zero knowledge proofsMACIImprovements to MACI (Minimal Anti-Collusion Infrastructure) including security against more potential attacks, integrating a better Proof-of-Identity mechanism, and building a minimum quadratic funding infrastructure, as well as developing a trusted setup solution.
Cryptography & zero knowledge proofsMEV-resistant AMMFormula ZeroAutomated market maker demonstrating time-lock encryption as a core component to address Maximal Extractable Value in DeFi protocols, using Verifiable Delay Functions and ZK proofs.
Cryptography & zero knowledge proofsPompeu Fabra UniversityInvestigation into how to build an index hiding vector commitment that is memory efficient, aiming to provide a tool for SNARK applications needing one-time privacy preserving reveals.
Cryptography & zero knowledge proofsQuadrating Voting dAppJohnson ChenQuadratic voting dApp on top of MACI 1.0 as a proportional resource allocation mechanism based on quadratic voting.
Cryptography & zero nowledge proofsRLN Anonymous ChatNasi JofcheSpam-resistant instant messaging application for private and anonymous communication using the rate limiting nullifier (RLN) construct and Interep.
Cryptography & zero knowledge proofsTLS NotaryDan and sinui0Protocol using shared keys between two parties to send an encrypted authenticated request to a TLS webserver, allowing proof of provenance of web2 data without third-party access.
Cryptography & zero knowledge proofsZK EigenTrustFilip LazovicImplementation of EigenTrust, a reputation management algorithm for peer-to-peer networks, using the Halo2 proving system and the libp2p peer-to-peer networking framework.
Developer experience & toolingAutomated Security Audits ResearchWalden YanInvestigation into zero-spec, automated security audits of smart contracts using formal verification.
Developer experience & toolingETH.LIMOCloud infrastructure migration and development of open-source custom middleware for Skynet storage proxying.
Developer experience & toolingSign-In with Ethereum: Phase 2Spruce SystemsAuthentication that enables users to control their digital identity with their Ethereum account and ENS profile instead of relying on a traditional intermediary.
Execution layerDifficulty Bomb Estimation AnalysisOmni AnalyticsReview of code estimating timing of the next difficulty bomb, along with a public notebook running estimation and analyzing results for the next appearance of the bomb.
Execution layerDynamical Analysis of EIP-1559Protocol research to obtain in-depth understanding of the EIP-1559 mechanism and explore possible variations or improvements, as well as the bootstrapping of a standalone research group that can perform top level Ethereum-centric research.
Execution layerEIP-4444 PrototypingHenri DFPrototyping solutions for out of band historical data retrieval on Ethereum, a prerequisite to implementing EIP-4444 which would reduce the historical data that Ethereum nodes need to store.
Execution layerErigon Client and Protocol R&DErigonFunding for Erigon's continued work on the Ethereum mainnet, including their client implementation and applied R&D on performance optimizations.
Execution layerEthereum Execution Layer Executable SpecificationsDevelopment of definitive specifications for what constitutes a valid block or execution payload, in the form of a Python library written expressly for the purpose of clarity.
Execution layerNimbus Execution ClientStatusContinued development of the efficiency- and security-focused Nimbus execution client.
Execution layerFluffy Client/Portal Network DevelopmentNimbusDevelopment of the Fluffy ultralight client and contributions to Portal Network, aiming to enable resource-restricted devices to access and contribute to the Ethereum network without needing to sync the full state.
General researchDAO Research CollectiveInitiative to accelerate DAO functionality by procuring, open-sourcing, and organizing research foundational to effective DAO operation.
Indirect fundingBaseline ProtocolOpen CollectiveFunding for grants supporting research, development, and adoption of the Baseline protocol, which allows businesses to synchronize their systems of record and reduce costly errors in B2B transactions.
Indirect fundingTechnical Challenges in Enterprise EthereumContinued exploration of issues and solutions for enterprise users of Ethereum in areas including decentralized identity, NIST standards alignment, Baseline protocol specification, and Layer 2 standards and specifications.
Layer 2BLS Wallet ImprovementsImprovements to BLS Wallet, a Layer 2 smart contract wallet using BLS signatures and transaction aggregation.
Layer 2ETH.LIMO Infrastructure SupportETH.LIMOInfrastructure improvements for ETH.LIMO, a decentralized gateway for resolving ENS records and associated IPFS content.
User experienceDark Crystal for EthereumMagma CollectiveDevelopment of an Ethereum-specific implementation of Dark Crystal, a social key recovery protocol using Shamir's Secret Sharing, building from the previous standalone implementation to one that integrates with existing wallets.

Total awarded in Q1: $9,374,133.93

Q2

CategoryProjectRecipientDescription
Community & educationBlockchain Pachuca MeetupBlockchain PachucaFirst meetup for a community group based in Pachuca, Mexico that studies Ethereum dApps.
Community & educationcity3 Quadratic Funding Experimentscity3Implementation of quadratic funding experiments in Oakland, California.
Community & educationCryptistOne-day conference exploring ZK technology and the Ethereum ecosystem, held in Istanbul, Turkey.
Community & educationDAO DropsdOrgSupport to execute the first round of DAO Drops, a retroactive public goods funding experiment that leverages on-chain data to empower participants to make fund allocation decisions.
Community & educationdApp LearningProject-based learning repo that enables developers with basic skills to learn dApp development using actively used OS contracts, taught in English and Mandarin Chinese.
Community & educationETHBarcelonaCommunity-led conference in Barcelona, Spain focusing on education, innovation, art, and creating positive social impact.
Community & educationETHEcuador Meetup: Blockchain and the Future of EthereumWorkingUpMeetup in Quito, Ecuador covering an introduction to blockchain and the future of Ethereum.
Community & educationLatAm Road to Devcon Community SupportAna BelénMonthly in-person meetups, weekly virtual talks in Spanish educating participants about Ethereum, and support with community activations during Devcon VI.
Community & educationEthereum TegucigalpaSupport for Ethereum community development in Honduras including meetups, developer events, and Ethereum content in Spanish.
Community & educationETHWarsaw MeetupsETHWarsawMonthly in-person meetups leading up to ETHWarsaw’s hackathon in September 2022. Attendees can learn from web3 engineers, exchange ideas, and network with like-minded blockchain enthusiasts.
Community & educationGovernance Learning Forum 2022Other Internet & OrcaTwo-day virtual governance summit bringing together web3 governance practitioners and experts on governance and coordination beyond the crypto ecosystem.
Community & educationDevconnectH.E.R DAOEthereum-based talks for womxn and other newcomers entering web3.
Community & educationH.E.R. DAO LATAM Meetups and EventsH.E.R DAOMonthly in-person meetups hosted across Mexico and weekly virtual talks catered towards womxn. Topics such as the basics of web3, using L2s, and smart contracts will be covered.
Community & educationOpen-Source Turkish Smart Contract Developer CourseITU BlockchainOpen-source and free smart contract developer course in Turkish, teaching topics such as Solidity basics, frontend and dApp development, and security.
Community & educationQuadratic Funding at ETHBarcelonaETHBarcelonaQuadratic funding at ETHBarcelona to support projects from the local community and fund public goods.
Community & educationQuadratic Funding at ETHPragueETHPragueQuadratic funding at ETHPrague to support projects from the local community and fund public goods.
Community & educationQuadratic Funding Rounds in TaiwanTaiwan Association for Blockchain Ecosystem InnovationRunning quadratic funding rounds for the Taiwan Presidential Hackathon and MeetTaipei's WAGMI pitch.
Community & educationSpanish Ethereum Developer ProgramPlatzi AcademyThree-month program in Spanish teaching developers how to create their first dApps through online courses, live classes, group mentoring, and community events.
Community & educationThe DAOist MeetupsThe DAOistLocal meetups in native languages to discuss and learn about topics including governance, coordination, and DAOs.
Community & educationUETH Chinese Community & Education ProgramUnitimesEthereum education platform targeted towards the Chinese community, with a focus on community building, course development, connecting Ethereum with Chinese enterprises, and promoting Chinese government recognition of Ethereum.
Consensus layerAccount Abstraction (EIP-4337)Alexander Forshtat, Shahaf Nacson, and Dror TiroshIndependent team working on EIP-4337: Account Abstraction via Entry Point Contract Specification, which circumvents the need for consensus layer protocol changes.
Consensus layerBeacon Chain Network Stress TestingCryptoManufakturBeacon chain network stress and scenario tests on cloud instances distributed across the globe. Initial development will assess viability, refine test tooling, and formulate a methodology for subsequent larger tests.
Consensus layerLighthouseSigma PrimeContinued development of the Lighthouse consensus client.
Consensus layerLodestar Consensus ClientChainsafeContinued development of the Lodestar consensus client, with a focus on light client R&D and JavaScript ecosystem tooling.
Consensus layerPrysm Consensus ClientPrysmatic LabsContinued development of the Prysm consensus client.
Consensus layerStereumRock LogicContinued development of Stereum, which enables solo stakers to install a beacon chain client and dependencies in a single setup with support for all production clients on testnet and mainnet.
Cryptography & zero knowledge proofsBattleZipsZK arithmetic circuit implementation for an on-chain battleship game.
Cryptography & zero knowledge proofsBuilding a ZKP Second BrainFormula ZeroSupport for publishing a series of ZK proof articles in the Zettelkasten method.
Cryptography & zero knowledge proofsDifferential Privacy and ZK Proofs ResearchGonzalo Munilla GarridoResearch in the field of privacy-enhancing technologies which seeks to bridge the gap between their theoretical specifications and the implementation of data sharing and analytics applications on Ethereum.
Cryptography & zero knowledge proofsGitcoin GR13 ZK Tech Side RoundGitcoinSupport for Gitcoin’s GR13 ZK Tech side round, which focused on funding ZK applications, tooling, open-source contributions, and projects improving the usability of ZK technology.
Cryptography & zero knowledge proofsProofs, Arguments, and Zero Knowledge Study GroupZKHackZKHack’s education group to implement a suite of ZK cryptographic protocols in Rust and Python.
Cryptography & zero knowledge proofsTLS NotaryBrowser add-on which allows users to prove that HTTPS requests and responses originated from a given certificate subject through secure sockets layer (SSL) and transport layer security (TLS) cryptography.
Cryptography & zero knowledge proofsZK Circuit Performance and Security Data on EthereumBrian WilkesData collection on the performance and security characteristics of ZK circuits being verified on Ethereum, with the goal of displaying pertinent circuit information within chain explorer tools like Otterscan.
Cryptography & zero knowledge proofsZK-KeeperBrowser plugin which enables ZK identity management and proof generation. Improving its functionality creating a Firefox version, enhancing UI/UX, and getting it ready for production.
Cryptography & zero knowledge proofsZK Proofs for Neural Net Classification and AccuracyProject to design and implement ZK proofs for neural net classification, which would allow the owner of a neural net to reveal classifications or detections produced by a model from their private information without having to disclose that private information.
Developer experience & toolingBuidlGuidlSupport for BuidlGuidl, a developer community and series of educational initiatives focused on onboarding developers to Ethereum.
Developer experience & toolingFlorida State University FoundationR&D on coverage and automated test case generation for Solidity smart contracts.
Developer experience & toolingMerge Client Combination TestingSea MonkeyExtensive testing of all execution and consensus layer client pairs leading up to The Merge.
Developer experience & toolingNode LauncherDecentralized AuthorityOpen-source node deployment engine written in TypeScript that enables the easy creation of node deployment applications, with the goal of supporting all major execution and consensus layer clients.
Developer experience & toolingPython-Simulation Engine & Testing SuiteDevelopment of Python contract testing tool with a full suite of functionalities to serve as a primary testing library or companion to Hardhat/Foundry with optimized backtesting and parallelized chain simulations.
Developer experience & toolingSolidiKeY - Solidity Asset Flow Verification at ScaleChalmers University of TechnologySolidity verification tool based on the KeY project verification system for Java with an emphasis on usability, scalability, and functional correctness properties specifying the relation of the asset flow with contract data.
Developer experience & toolingWeb3JS Library MaintenanceChainsafeCollection of libraries that allows users to interact with a local or remote Ethereum node using HTTP, IPC, or WebSocket.
Execution LayerEthereum Execution SpecificationsGuruprasad KamathDeveloping a Python implementation of Ethereum, that will serve as an executable specification for the execution layer. The specification is a Python implementation of Ethereum that prioritizes readability and simplicity.
General ResearchAcademic Grants RoundProactive grants round funding formal research that aims to create more knowledge about Ethereum, blockchain technology, and related domains.
General ResearchThe Grants (grants.xyz)Ethereum Community NetworkResearch exploring different public goods funding mechanisms for the overall Ethereum open-source community in China.
Layer 2ETH.LIMO Infrastructure SupportETH.LIMOInfrastructure improvements for ETH.LIMO, a decentralized gateway for resolving ENS records and associated IPFS content.

Total awarded in Q2: $8,255,293.37

Are you working on something you think could change Ethereum for the better? Head to our grants page to learn more about what we look for in the projects we fund.

Subscribe to Protocol Announcements

Sign up to receive email notifications for protocol-related announcements, such as network upgrades, FAQs or security issues. You can opt-out of these at any time.


Categories