After funding tons of of initiatives with tens of millions of {dollars}, the Ethereum Basis is briefly pausing the Ecosystem Help Program’s (ESP) open grant utility course of to refocus on a extra proactive funding mannequin that’s higher aligned with the ecosystem’s strategic wants.
The transition comes as the muse faces challenges reviewing the excessive quantity of inbound functions, which it mentioned has left “restricted capability to pursue new strategic alternatives.”
In a Friday weblog publish, the Ethereum Basis confused that the ESP will proceed funding new initiatives, however below a refined method to grantmaking. Extra particulars are anticipated within the fourth quarter, together with a curated methodology outlining particular ecosystem priorities.
Ethereum Basis lays out ESP’s evolving priorities. Supply: Ethereum Basis
In 2024, ESP awarded practically $3 million throughout 105 initiatives and initiatives, supporting areas similar to developer tooling, information and analytics, analysis and schooling. Within the first quarter of 2025 alone, the Ethereum Basis distributed $32.6 million in whole grants.
As a nonprofit established in 2014 by Ethereum’s co-founders, the Ethereum Basis has traditionally performed a key position in offering funding, coordination and long-term imaginative and prescient for the blockchain’s improvement, together with main community upgrades.
In June, the muse launched a extra clear treasury coverage detailing operational prices and money necessities. As a part of the dedication, it pledged to publish quarterly and annual disclosures of its belongings, investments and any important developments.
Associated: No extra ETH dumps? Ethereum Basis turns to DeFi for money
Ethereum Basis’s evolving priorities
Because the world’s second-largest blockchain, Ethereum has robust backing from institutional traders and builders however faces rising competitors from quicker, lower-cost options similar to Solana, Avalanche and BNB Good Chain, which market themselves as extra scalable and user-friendly platforms.
As such, Ethereum is being steered towards a renewed concentrate on layer-1 scaling, lowering community prices and bettering the general person expertise.
These priorities have been highlighted in a separate basis weblog publish on Friday, which described interoperability as “the highest-leverage alternative inside the broader UX area over the subsequent 6–12 months.”
Interoperability has turn into a central focus given the fast proliferation of layer-2 protocols. Whereas these options lengthen Ethereum’s performance, in addition they introduce new challenges, notably fragmentation, the muse mentioned.
Earlier this 12 months, the muse additionally launched a $1 trillion safety initiative — a broad technique designed to strengthen Ethereum’s resilience and place the community for a wider, non-crypto viewers.
With $91.5 billion in whole worth locked, Ethereum stays the dominant participant in decentralized finance, together with stablecoins, DEX quantity and inflows. Supply: DefiLlama
Ethereum has already made inroads with monetary establishments, with VanEck CEO Jan VanEck calling Ether (ETH) the “Wall Road token.” On stablecoins, he argued that the successful blockchain would be the one that draws essentially the most builders: “It’s going to be Ethereum, or one thing that makes use of Ethereum’s methodology.’”
Associated: Ethereum ought to restrict transparency for a fairer blockchain
