According to Cointelegraph, the Ethereum Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the Ethereum blockchain's development, distributed $32.6 million in grants during the first quarter of 2025. This funding was part of the Ecosystem Support Program (ESP), aimed at fostering various initiatives within the Ethereum ecosystem. The grants were allocated across several categories, including community and educational projects, zero-knowledge and cryptography, execution layers, developer experience and tools, layer-2 networks, and overall ecosystem growth and support.
The foundation awarded 101 grants, with 32 specifically targeting community and education-focused initiatives. These grants supported educational content creators, conference organizers, bootcamps, and hackathons such as ETHPrague and ETHiopia. Sixteen projects aimed at enhancing the developer experience and tooling received funding, focusing on software-development kits (SDKs), analytics platforms, and validator tooling. Additionally, several projects addressed Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) accessibility, ecosystem tools, and language support libraries.
In the cryptography and zero-knowledge proofs (ZK-proofs) category, 14 grants were awarded to projects developing cryptographic techniques, building ZK-proof technology, and researching security and post-quantum cryptography. Seven grant beneficiaries concentrated on execution layer projects, while another seven focused on the consensus layer. Nine grants supported protocol, general growth, and ecosystem support. An additional 13 grants were categorized under "other," covering areas such as decentralized finance, DApps, stablecoin infrastructure, and business development.
On May 7, Ethereum's Pectra upgrade was launched on the mainnet, marking a significant milestone for the network. The upgrade, which went live at approximately 10:00 am UTC during epoch 364032, included three Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs): EIP-7702, EIP-7251, and EIP-7691. These proposals aim to enhance layer-2 scaling data storage, improve validator user experience, and refine smart account wallet user experience features. Following the upgrade, Ether (ETH) prices rebounded from a previous slump, reaching $2,000 and peaking at a 30-day high of $2,400 on May 9. As of the latest update, ETH is trading at $2,345.
