Ethereum Foundation disburses $8.5M in grants for Q2, backing 98 projects

The Ethereum Foundation Ecosystem Support Program (EFESP) allocated a total of roughly $8.5 million to support 98 projects, according to the foundation’s inaugural grants allocation report published on Aug. 30.

Although the report breaks down the projects by type, recipient, and contact, it does not provide a detailed breakdown of how much each project received.

Most of the projects that received support from the EFESP are labeled “Community & Education,” with 41 getting boosted by the Ethereum Foundation (EF), including events such as ETH conventions and small meetups worldwide.

Moreover, the EFESP supported 28 projects dedicated to “Cryptography & zero-knowledge proofs,” the category with the second-largest number of projects backed by the foundation.

This second category includes projects such as a protocol using zero-knowledge technology to prove ownership of an Indian Residence ID on Ethereum, the creation of a domain-specific language to write zero-knowledge circuits, and the production of educational content.

The EFESP also supported seven projects dedicated to “Developer experience and tooling,” two projects focused on enhancements destined to the “execution layer,” two projects aimed at “general growth & support,” and three “general research” initiatives.

Additionally, the grants batch for the second quarter also included efforts to boost advancements in staking and protocol growth.

Reporting amid controversy

Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin praised the initiative on social media and highlighted that the report was a good way to find out “the kinds of things that EF spends money on.”

Buterin’s remarks come following the EF being questioned after sending 34,000 ETH to a Kraken address, likely in a selling movement. The amount is equivalent to $94 million using the price of the transfer’s day.

Given the significant amount, the crypto community on X questioned where the EF would allocate the funds.

EF contributor Josh Stark addressed some of the past two years’ spending on social media on Aug. 27. So far, the EFESP has spent over $20 million in grants this year, which is nearly 33% of the amount destined as grants for projects last year.

According to on-chain data, the Ethereum wallet address tied to the foundation holds over $751 million in various cryptocurrencies, with the largest amount being 273,532 ETH.

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