Web3 is known for its numerous projects aimed at driving innovation in various sectors. Every new idea has the potential to revolutionize the blockchain landscape, but it cannot always be implemented through force of will alone. Grants are generally the best solution for early financing. Projects get money, of course, but more importantly, they get an opportunity to connect with their peers, a springboard with potential investors, and free publicity and reputation.
Some well-known protocols started with grants or became successful in part because of the grants they received. For example, Chainlink has benefited from early funding and grants from various sources, including the Web3 Foundation. Likewise, Uniswap has become one of the most popular DEXs in the crypto space with early support from the Ethereum Foundation, among others.
On the other hand, you probably haven’t heard of projects like Koinex, Confido or NanoHealthCare Token. Many projects have not been able to continue due to lack of funding or opportunities.
While new projects can greatly benefit from a grant program, established platforms are also interested in launching such programs due to their ability to attract new developers.
Here there are 10 such platforms offering a wide variety of grants: at least one of them may suit your idea.
1 Vara’s Gear Foundation Grant Program
The Gear Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to nurturing the Vara Network ecosystem through research and education initiatives. Vara Network is a high-performance substrate-based decentralized network powered by the Gear protocol, enabling very fast execution and superior UX.
The Gear Foundation carries out an attractive activity
The Gear Foundation is open to funding a wide range of Web-3 based projects that range from niche DeFi to GameFi, as well as projects focused on developing tools, infrastructure nodes, and APIs .
2 COTI Builders Program
Following the recent launch of COTI V2, privacy-centric Layer 2 on Ethereum introduced a
The grant will support projects in the devnet, testnet, mainnet launch or growth phases, not only with financial assistance but also with technical support from the team, visibility through marketing campaigns, opportunities for new partnerships and access to educational workshops and webinars.
Grant amounts range from $1,000 to $100,000 in COTI, depending on the stage of the applicant’s project.
3 EOS Network Foundation Grant Framework
Individuals, small teams, and businesses looking to build on EOS, whether for public good or profit, have the opportunity to obtain
- New Proposals: This covers a wide range of new projects proposed by members of the EOS community.
- Maintenance Grants: Dedicated to those that specifically aim to revive and support libraries, SDKs, or tools in the EOS channel that are no longer under maintenance.
- RFP Response: In this category, the EOS Network Foundation issues work requests to the community in the form of a Request for Proposal.
4 DOT Grant Program
The Polkadot ecosystem is full of new and modular projects. Some of these projects can obtain funding through the Polkadot Treasury, which consists of on-chain funds raised through transaction fees and certain staking rewards.
Besides the Treasury and various alternatives
The Web3 Foundation, the organization leading the development of Polkadot, Kusama and Substrate, is currently
5 Pyth Ecosystem Grant Program
Pyth Network, an Oracle solution providing developers with access to low-latency, high-frequency, and high-fidelity pricing data, is intended to drive growth and innovation within the Pyth ecosystem through a comprehensive grant program .
Operated by a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), Pyth allocates 50 million PYTH tokens for its
Its developer grant category encourages the creation of new tools to support protocol operations and innovative integrations with Pyth products. These grants cover new applications and services designed to improve existing infrastructure and tools such as SDKs, APIs and documentation.
Other types of grants include community grants for organizing events, content and activities related to the Pyth network, as well as research grants designed to improve the efficiency of the Oracle system.
6 Astar Studio: a development console with a $200,000 grant program
Following its announcement of collaboration with
This new partnership accompanies the launch of
7 Stacks Grant Programs
Stacks, the open source blockchain network that leverages Bitcoin security and equity for decentralized applications and smart contracts, is focused on supporting projects that improve the Bitcoin environment through different
- Critical bounties support the development of Bitcoin’s underlying infrastructure, tools, research, and other initiatives that advance the growth of its network.
- DeGrants is a community initiative in which members distribute grants for projects they find important or intriguing and which are not covered by critical awards.
- Chapters are led by local community groups who are responsible for driving engagement in specific geographic areas.
- The residency program helps experts experiment, conduct open research and long-term projects.
8 Tezos Foundation Grants Program
Tezos, the open source blockchain known for its unique smart contract platform, has launched a
The grants are dedicated to projects aligned with Tezos’ ongoing research areas, including advancements in the banking ecosystem, development of additional developer tools, user-centric applications, and initiatives focused on confidentiality and security.
9 programs from the Cronos ecosystem
Cronos, the blockchain ecosystem committed to driving widespread adoption of Self-Custody, DeFi and Web3 Gaming, is accelerating widespread adoption of Web3 with its
Their ecosystem grants program enhances Cronos development by fostering projects dedicated to infrastructure components, development tools, product integration, and education. The grants, typically between $10,000 and $50,000, are often distributed as bonuses when specific milestones are reached, such as transaction volumes, and also include technical and marketing assistance.
The Cronos Ecosystem Program also offers an Incubation Program and an Acceleration Program, structured as a 10-week project.
10 BNB channel creation grant
BNB Chain, Binance’s decentralized blockchain ecosystem dedicated to decentralized data management, layer 2 scaling and pioneering solutions for DeFi, is committed to supporting non-profit projects that aim to serve the public good.
The main strength of
The amount of grants will be determined based on the characteristics and roadmap of the projects, and they will be allocated in the form of bonuses based on milestones.
Grants are the best way to start
Searching for grants can be incredibly lucrative for startup developers. Even though grants are intended to improve an existing product, it can still be a valuable commitment to start earning money that can then be spent on your product. And as always, experience and connections are even more important: you never know which door might lead to the next big thing.
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