Priorities – Earlybirds Invest

Why the Ethereum Foundation is pausing grants

The organization said Ethereum’s rapid growth in size and complexity has created pressure to adapt its funding model. Instead of continuing with a system that reacts to grant requests as they come in, the Foundation wants ESP to shift toward proactively backing projects that address strategic needs.

This transition will ensure resources are deployed where they can have the most lasting impact on Ethereum’s usability and resilience.

It added:

“This change will enable us time to redesign in a way that redirects our focus toward strategic initiatives, moving from a reactive model to a more proactive one that also supports the priorities of other EF teams.”

Meanwhile, the Foundation emphasized that its values remain unchanged. These include funding open-source infrastructure, research, and developer tools; supporting community initiatives; and strengthening resources that benefit the wider Ethereum network.

Since its creation in 2018, ESP has evolved from a simple grants program into a broader initiative providing financial and non-financial backing for Ethereum builders.

In 2024 alone, it distributed nearly $3 million across 105 projects, spanning developer tooling, data analytics, education, research, and community events.

Some of the past beneficiaries include Commit-Boost, BundleBear, Web3Bridge, ZK Playbook, and the Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress.

Mentioned in this article

Coinbase’s

$4.23B

Layer-2 blockchain, Base, is facing criticism after a recent token experiment sparked a debate about who the network is really built for.

The discussion was triggered by Jesse Pollak, the lead behind Base, who defended its focus on creators and developers, rather than traders, after a one-day token minting event caused prices to spike and then collapse.

The event involved Base’s X post on April 17 being created into a tradable token using Zora, a minting protocol. The token briefly reached a market value of $16.9 million before quickly falling by 92%. This raised concerns that the campaign encouraged hype without considering market stability.

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Alon Cohen, co-founder of Pump.fun, stated in a post on X, “Traders are easily the most important user group in crypto”. Cohen added that without market demand, creative efforts cannot last, since creators need a strong trading base to support their work.

However, Pollak stated that the project’s main focus is supporting people who build things on the platform.

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In a separate post on X, he also said that he appreciates traders but sees them as part of a larger system that depends on creativity. He added that his focus will remain on helping creators and developers succeed.

Tomasz Stańczak, a co-executive director at the Ethereum Foundation, discussed plans to improve the core Ethereum network. What did he say? Read the full story.