Ethereum Foundation halts open grant submissions to refocus ESP on curated funding, shifting its open source model to balance grassroots innovation with strategic priorities.
The Ethereum Foundation has paused open grant submissions for its Ecosystem Support Program (ESP), marking a major shift in its open source funding model. The decision follows an overwhelming influx of applications that created “limited capacity to pursue new strategic opportunities,” the foundation said in a recent blog post.
While the open submission process is being suspended, ESP will continue to fund projects under a more refined, curated approach. A detailed methodology outlining ecosystem priorities is expected in the fourth quarter of 2025.
The funding initiative has been significant. In 2024, ESP awarded nearly $3 million across 105 projects covering developer tooling, analytics, research, and education. In just the first quarter of 2025, $32.6 million in grants were distributed.
Founded in 2014 by Ethereum’s co-founders, the foundation has played a central role in funding blockchain development and coordinating major network upgrades. In June 2025, it introduced a transparent treasury policy, committing to publish quarterly and annual disclosures of its assets, investments, and operational costs.
Looking ahead, the foundation is steering Ethereum toward a renewed focus on layer-1 scaling, lowering network costs, and improving user experience.
Interoperability has been identified as “the highest-leverage opportunity within the broader UX domain over the next 6–12 months,” particularly as the rise of layer-2 protocols introduces challenges of fragmentation.
Earlier this year, the foundation launched a $1 trillion security initiative to strengthen Ethereum’s resilience and expand its appeal to a broader audience beyond crypto.
Despite competition from Solana, Avalanche, and BNB Smart Chain, Ethereum remains the dominant open source smart contract platform, with $91.5 billion in total value locked across DeFi, according to DefiLlama.
VanEck CEO Jan Van Eck summed up Ethereum’s market influence, calling Ether the “Wall Street token” and adding, “It’s going to be Ethereum, or something that uses Ethereum’s methodology.”
