We’ve been hard at work getting to know so many amazing people and projects, and are extremely excited to announce the recipients of the Wave III of the Ethereum Foundation Grants Program!

We kicked off 2018 with a blog post to galvanize scalability research for first and second-layer solutions. Since then, we’ve committed over $11M to 52 projects dedicated to advancing the Ethereum ecosystem. Grants have funded multiple plasma and state channel implementations, diverse client research, enhanced developer frameworks, security audits, and so much more (find them all in the previous posts: Wave I & Wave II)!

A Look into the Selection Process

Since the Grants Program has picked up, we’ve received feedback requesting greater transparency into our processes and a deeper look into the various types of projects considered. Here’s a funding snapshot and grant process update:

Funding Snapshot

The EF Grant Program provided more than $11M in support to 52 projects since early 2018 (Waves I, II, and III).

Our funding allocation remains true to the program’s original purpose, awarding nearly $7M to scalability projects. After this, security has been granted almost$2M, #buidl projects (projects that improve user experience) received $1.6M, and DevEx projects (projects that improve developer experience) received$744K. While dollar allocation remains heavily focused on scalability, the number of projects funded are more evenly distributed between categories.

Grants Process Update

The EF Grants program is constantly evolving. With this round, we’ve refined our internal processes to ensure timely fund disbursement. We understand how quickly the space moves and believe in the importance of expedient fund dispersal to the front line. Eventually, we aim to award grants on a rolling basis in order to provide more immediate support to the projects and teams leading the charge for decentralization and transparency.

Ideal applicants come with strong technical knowledge, project roadmap, and show a commitment to fostering collaboration within the ecosystem. For more information about applicant expectations and process workflow, please see our Applicant Expectations and FAQs.

Wave III

With each round, the grants program evolves. Our goal is to effectively grease the wheels for projects building the critical infrastructure of our young community. There are many tracks to lay down before Ethereum “makes it” and it’s been incredible to see all the projects working to lay down these tracks.

The applicant pool for Wave III offered a record number of strong teams and innovative ideas. It’s fascinating and humbling to see the diversity of projects from around the world with a shared interest in fostering the development of Ethereum. These are folks spending their free time reading ethresear.ch, developing new libraries and wallet designs, and engaging in communities discussing the latest in DApp usability and security…and we love them for that.

Without further ado…

We are proud to announce our Wave III Finalists!

Scalability

• StarkWare — $4M with 6K ETH Performance-based Bounties. Development of standards report and production-quality software for optimized STARK-friendly hash functions and tooling
• Force Move Game Framework — $300K. Force move games state channel framework
• Harmony — $90K. Minimal sharding and random beacon chain

Security

Usability

Developer experience (DevEx grant)

Building for the end user (#buidl grant)

• DappNode — $250K. Mass full node adoption
• Uniswap — $100k. DEX framework
• Nethermind — $50K. .NET client implementation
• thaEth — $20K. Gnosis Safe UI Design

Education

Hackternhips

Scalability will continue to be a focus of EF grants, but we also look to fund other critical work. This includes better UX, new clients, high-level languages, better developer tools, and efforts to make Ethereum applications more secure. With Wave III, we expanded into education and community efforts in order to help bring new talent into the ecosystem.

Want to #BUIDL with us?  See the dev wishlist below and follow links to learn more. If you can imagine a project relating to the topics listed, submit an application and talk to us!

Wishlist for the next grant round

Scalability

1. More payment and/or state channel implementations
2. More plasma implementations
3. More shasper implementations
4. Improving efficiency of existing clients such as geth & parity
5. A tokenless “Lightning Network” for Ethereum
6. WebAssembly R&D

Privacy

1. STARKS R&D
2. BLS12-381 implementations in new languages
3. libp2p Python implementation

Usability

1. Improve private key management and transacting in Ethereum
2. Alternative wallet / client designs
3. Standards and portability between wallets
4. Tooling that improves developer experience
5. Improved documentation & developer/user education videos
6. Tokenless end user products
7. Vyper development
8. More security focused high-level languages
9. Non-transferable ID tokens

Security

1. Security audits for Vyper
2. Smart contract audits
3. Particularly, audits for ERC20, ERC223, ERC721, multisig wallets, vaults
4. Tooling that prevents vulnerable code
5. IDE with a visual debugger
6. Privacy Solutions

Hackternships

You already have a job (or school)? No problem! Suggest a problem you want to solve and we’re happy to fund a 10-week $10K externship for your spare-time working on Ethereum. (Successful projects will be featured at a developer conference. We are also looking to hire and fund from this pool of side projects. If you’re looking for where to start, look at the list above.)

—  Wave I / — Wave II / — Wave III / — New to wishlist

For more inspiration…

• Read the original DevGrant post.
• Read the post that kicked off the current program.
• Find the grantees from Wave I and Wave II.
• Keep up to date with research here and here.

Bonus: Grant Ops Contest!

With the growing number of applicants, we’ll be needing to create an official website for the Grants Program. Do you have any ideas on how to make the website fun, transparent, and useful to future grant applicants? (mmhmm) Great! Because we will be running a contest and crowdsourcing ideas from all of you. Selected ideas will receive some unicorn love and some ETH. Stay tuned for details on how to participate!

Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan said Solana could soon set new all-time highs, mirroring Bitcoin and Ethereum’s record runs earlier this year.

Hougan argued that SOL is set to benefit from the same forces that propelled BTC and ETH to new highs this cycle, namely exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows, large capital firms entering the market, and simple, compelling narratives that resonate with investors.

He wrote in a social media post:

“The formula is simple: ETF fund flows + fund companies + a simple story = all-time highs. It applies to Bitcoin, it applies to Ethereum, it applies to Solana.”

Path to institutional adoption

Solana, a blockchain known for its high-speed processing and low transaction costs, has seen increasing developer activity across payments, gaming, and consumer-facing applications.

The network’s efficiency has helped position it as a potential alternative to Ethereum for decentralized applications, fueling speculation about the eventual approval of a spot Solana ETF in the US.

So far, Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs have funneled billions of dollars into the market, with Bitcoin funds alone surpassing gold ETFs in daily volumes this summer.

Given its growing market capitalization and expanding ecosystem, many view Solana as the next logical step for institutional product offerings.

Hougan’s comments add weight to that view, suggesting that once fund vehicles are established, Solana could follow the same trajectory as its larger peers.

Outlook evolving

Bitwise has taken a long-term bullish stance on Solana, projecting in a detailed January report that the token could reach between $2,300 and $6,600 by 2030, depending on adoption scenarios. The firm based its estimates on Metcalfe’s Law, linking network growth to valuation.

To support investor access, Bitwise also launched a Solana Staking ETP in Europe, offering exposure to SOL with integrated staking rewards and signaling confidence in the blockchain’s scalability and growing ecosystem. It is also looking to launch a spot Solana ETF in the US, but the SEC has so far delayed its decision on the applications.

While the firm remains optimistic about Solana’s long-term role alongside Bitcoin and Ethereum, it has been more cautious on near-term price outlooks until now. Bitwise previously said it was unsure if SOL would reach new highs this year and called Bitcoin the “best horse in the race.”

This mix of ambitious long-range forecasts and tempered short-term expectations reflects Bitwise’s view of Solana as a high-potential but still maturing asset.

Mentioned in this article

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Pantera Capital is seeking to raise $1.25 billion for a Solana treasury, adding to the wave of institutional momentum building behind the asset.

Pantera Plans To Convert A Nasdaq-Listed Firm Into A Solana Treasury Vehicle

As first reported by The Information, Pantera Capital is planning to raise funds to create a Solana treasury vehicle. Initially, the firm intends to raise around $500 million from investors. It will then put these funds into a Nasdaq-listed company, which will use them to buy SOL and convert into a treasury vehicle called “Solana Co.”

Pantera Capital is an American venture capital and hedge fund specializing in digital assets and blockchain technology. The firm became the first to launch a cryptocurrency fund in the US back in 2013 and today, it manages over $4.8 billion in assets.

In a letter earlier in the month, Pantera disclosed it has invested over $300 million in digital asset treasury (DAT) companies. The firm said its investment thesis was based on a simple premise: “DATs can generate yield to grow net asset value per share, resulting in more underlying token ownership over time than just holding spot.”

Pantera is also an investor in medical firm Sharps Technology’s bid to create a $400 million Solana treasury, according to a press release from Sharps on Monday. And now, it seems the company is making a more direct push in the treasury space with its latest proposal. Beyond the initial $500 million, the firm also plans to raise another $750 million through warrants. If the plan comes to fruition, Solana Co. would become the largest SOL treasury in existence.

Interestingly, the report about Pantera comes just a day after another report revealed that Galaxy Digital, Jump Crypto, and Multicoin Capital are planning a $1 billion SOL treasury.

Upexi is currently the largest Solana treasury company with around 2 million tokens (about $383 million at the latest exchange rate), so the proposal from Galaxy and others would have already more than doubled the record. Now, Pantera’s plan could surpass even that.

The digital asset treasury model was popularized by Michael Saylor’s Strategy (formerly Microstrategy). Other companies soon followed by putting Bitcoin on their balance sheets, but recently, altcoins have started to get attention as well.

With Galaxy and partners, Pantera, and Sharps all unveiling Solana treasury plans, there now seems to be a real shift in institutional momentum behind the cryptocurrency.

So far, treasury companies have added around 0.75% of the SOL circulating supply to their holdings, according to data from institutional DeFi solutions provider Sentora (previously IntoTheBlock).

The breakdown of the treasury company holdings across BTC, ETH, and SOL | Source: Sentora on X

From the chart, it’s visible that the same figure sits at more than 9% for Bitcoin and about 3.4% for Ethereum. Thus, it seems SOL is still quite early in the treasury push.

SOL Price

At the time of writing, Solana is floating around $190, down over 3% in the last 24 hours.

The price of the coin seems to have suffered a plunge during the past day | Source: SOLUSDT on TradingView

Featured image from Dall-E, Sentora.com, chart from TradingView.com

Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.

The Taipei Ethereum Meetup recently hosted Crosslink Taiwan 2019. It was a wonderful event and a perfect opportunity for the Ethereum Foundation’s Ecosystem Support Program (ESP) to provide a Taiwan-specific wave of grants! The recipients are as follows.

Group 1: Ethereum-based Technical Projects: USD$5,000 awarded to each project

• Eauth (License: MIT): An OAuth-compatible service based on Ethereum credentials to authenticate users on a website.
• Ethereum Wallet SDK (License: LGPL-3.0): An SDK enabling Dapps to connect with different wallets.
• SOLL (License: Apache-2.0): A new compiler for generating Ewasm code from Solidity code.

The ceremony at Crosslink Taiwan. The pineapple is a pun of good luck in Taiwanese. Thanks to Vitalik for giving away pineapples.

• Ironman-Blockchain: New Web3.js and Solidity tutorials for 30 consecutive days!
• Open teaching materials: Open sourcing the materials for an Ethereum DApp Development course at National Chengchi University (NCCU).

Free Devcon Ticket Award

This award was designed to recognize long-term contributions made by local community members. Juin Chiu and Kimi Wu have interpreted and translated numerous hard research ideas from English to Mandarin, helping greatly with reducing language barriers and accelerating the spread of Ethereum knowledge. We were delighted to host Juin and Kimi at Devcon in Osaka and to see both of them again in Taipei shortly thereafter.

What’s Next?

One of Ethereum’s superpowers is the independent flourishing that occurs throughout its vast and vibrant ecosystem. Countless local Ethereum communities around the world are a big part of why Ethereum feels simultaneously global and personal for so many people.

Accordingly, the EF is continuously experimenting with ways to support communities around the world. We’re excited to apply what we’ve learned with our recent Korea, Japan, and now Taiwan focused grants programs in order to expand this concept even further.

Thank you to all of the community contributors who help make blockchain knowledge more accessible, thereby facilitating innovation, Ethereum adoption, and sharing Ethereum’s spirit around the world!

Thanks to Ethereum Foundation Special Projects team for the regional logo!
(From the back row, left) Albert (EF), Chang-Wu Chen (Open teaching materials), Vitalik Buterin (EF), Hung-Ying Tai (SOLL), and Ping Chen (Eauth). (From the front row, left) Juin Chiu, Anderson Chen (Ethereum Wallet SDK), and Ailin Liou (Ironman-Blockchain).

The world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, should not be allowed to launch a Solana exchange-traded fund (ETF) simultaneously with the US-based issuers who have already filed for one, says ETF analyst James Seyffart.

“That’s messed up,” Seyffart told ETF analyst Nate Geraci in a video published to YouTube on Saturday, discussing a hypothetical scenario where BlackRock — despite no filing so far — jumps in at the last minute with a spot Solana (SOL) ETF and launches alongside firms that applied months ago.

The smaller firms put in all the hard work, Seyffart says

“That shouldn’t happen,” Seyffart said. “These smaller issuers, these guys have spent so much time working with the SEC getting the paperwork right,” he added.

VanEck was the first US firm to apply for a spot Solana ETF in June 2024. Other Solana ETF bidders include Bitwise, Grayscale, Invesco, 21Shares, CoinShares, Canary Capital, Franklin Templeton and Fidelity Investments.

Since the initial filing, the SEC has issued several delays in its approval decision and requested amended application forms to gain greater legal clarity on the proposed products.

However, Seyffart is leaning toward the view that BlackRock will instead launch a crypto index product tracking the spot prices of several cryptocurrencies beyond the two largest, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).

BlackRock may swoop in if demand is high

“That’s what I would do if I were BlackRock,” Seyffart said.

NovaDius president Nate Geraci said BlackRock may be waiting for its competitors to launch other crypto products first in order to gauge market demand. “If the demand looks like it’s going to be really good, perhaps they can just swoop in,” he said.

Related: Traders bet on $200K year-end Bitcoin, but real odds tell a different story

Geraci also said that if BlackRock chooses not to file, they may be “making a market call that it is just going to be Bitcoin and ETH and nothing else.”

However, Seyffart says it’s not a major risk for BlackRock if they don’t file for another crypto ETF as approximately 90% of the crypto market cap is in Bitcoin and Ethereum. “Even if they don’t, I don’t think it is that big of a miss,” he said.

“It obviously is not going to be what it is and was for Bitcoin, and like I said, I’m pretty bullish on the demand I see for index products,” Seyffart said.

Magazine: How Ethereum treasury companies could spark ‘DeFi Summer 2.0’

]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/blackrock-launching-a-sol-etf-in-first-wave-would-be-messed-up-analyst/feed/ 0 52294 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/sui-sol-and-more-686m-token-unlock-wave-set-for-this-week/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/sui-sol-and-more-686m-token-unlock-wave-set-for-this-week/#respond Mon, 28 Jul 2025 23:20:05 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/sui-sol-and-more-686m-token-unlock-wave-set-for-this-week/