About ESP
We provide grants and other support for free and open-source projects that strengthen Ethereum's foundations, with a particular focus on builder tools, infrastructure, research and public goods.
Supporting Builders
ESP funding is generally directed toward supporting builders rather than directly impacting end users. We don't often fund dapps or front-end platforms, although this is not a hard rule and there are exceptions - for example, where an application serves as a research or educational tool, or a reference implementation of a new standard.
Our grantees come from all over the world and represent many different backgrounds, disciplines and levels of experience. We have supported individuals and teams of all kinds - companies, DAOs, nonprofits, institutions, academics, developers, educators, community organizers and more.
Our blog also features monthly roundups which showcase grantees' progress after their grants are awarded and go into more detail about their background and work.
Recent Grantees
This is only a small sample – we'll highlight a few at a time and rotate periodically, so make sure to check back once in a while for updates!
Community & education
Database and dashboard providing transparent and verifiable insights into ERC-4337 users, operators, and activity.
Ethereum conference in Guatemala to promote education of the Ethereum ecosystem and blockchain technology.
Conference in Lagos, Nigeria covering topics such as Ethereum upgrades, public goods, and account abstraction.
Free and open-source ZK course in Mandarin Chinese that covers cryptography basics, ECDSA multi-signatures, and proof systems.
Consensus layer
Implementation of the Discv5 specification in the C# programming language as a class library, with a long-term view on creating a user-friendly light client for the Ethereum network.
Self-hosted infrastructure tool that helps stakers and validators with Ethereum node/client maintenance by providing an overview of the upcoming duties of their active validators.
Continued development of the Lighthouse consensus client.
Series of articles describing the current proposer-builder separation (PBS) landscape and the latest developments around improving PBS and ePBS, such as optimistic relays, pepc-boost, MEV-Boost+, and MEV-Boost++.
Cryptography & zero knowledge proofs
Gas-efficient and scalable data structure for ZK membership proofs that combines HashList with Merkle trees.
Developer-friendly Groth16 Verifier written in Fe which can be used by Circom users to build ZK applications.
Developer experience & tooling
Extension of the EVM Gas Cost Estimator project, applying the method of estimating real-life computation costs of EVM opcodes to more EVM projects and execution layer clients.
Golang package for fast and lightweight transaction simulation and debugging with Mainnet forking capability.
TrueBlocks local-first and lightweight index of Ethereum blockchain data. Work tackles various improvements, such as porting their code to Go, completing an IPFS shareable index, and exploring layer 2 indexing.
Further development of the WhatsABI static analytics and decompile tool for Solidity bytecode.
Execution layer
Funding for Erigon's continued work on the Ethereum mainnet, specifically their execution client implementation, applied R&D on performance optimizations, and broader engagement with the client and research community.
Vet the bytecode of EIP-4788, which was scheduled for the Dencun upgrade.
Continued development of the Nimbus execution layer client, continuing to productionize by improving performance and stability as well as performing R&D on light clients and creating public documentation.
Support for OnlyDust community contributors to continue working on a Verkle Tries implementation for Hyperledger Besu.
General research
A Differentiable Circuit Intermediate Representation for ZK Machine Learning by Paul Wilson (Main Recipient)
Research applying ZKPs to machine learning models through the use of an intermediate representation for circuits which is differentiable, extensible, compositional, and scalable.
Proof-of-concept P2P network security monitoring system for the Ethereum blockchain for early detection of relevant incidents.
Dynamic analysis framework specifically designed for the EVM, utilizing a novel graphical structure to present the captured dynamic information, and leverages graph traversal techniques to identify smart contract attacks in real-time.
Research on the variable minimum validator deposit strategy to cap validator set size, assessing the feasibility of implementing this strategy.
Layer 2
Anlaysis of the Fiat-Shamir security of the proof systems and protocols that secure rollups, such as FRI, batched FRI, and SNARKs.
Dashboards that allow the community to visualize changes across key L2 metrics, enhancing transparency, inclusivity, and education in Ethereum's L2 space.
Open community that aims to research, educate, and drive the adoption of Ethereum's scaling solutions.
Establish a foundation for basic best practices and transparency for the unique features of rollups to assist new developers of these systems and enable the community to assess the security risks of a particular rollup before they use one.
Other
Organization that seeks to promote small and medium-sized professional node operators, while working on enabling node operators to run validators on behalf of people.
Free and open-source tool for revoking or updating token allowances, practicing proper wallet hygiene, and reducing the chances of users becoming the victim of allowance exploits.
Common good infrastructure for coordination between security professionals, protocols, and the community to collaborate on and launch ambitious and impactful security initiatives.
