Ethereum Foundation releases Q1 funding list: Continuing support for ZK, cryptography, and protocol infrastructure

The Ethereum Foundation has announced the list of grants and ecosystem support projects for the first quarter of 2026, focusing on cryptography, zero-knowledge proofs (ZK), protocol security, and core infrastructure development, continuously strengthening the Ethereum underlying technology stack and long-term scalability.

This quarter's funding covers several key areas. At the protocol and client level, projects include optimizations for the Geth and Erigon clients, upgrades to the Lighthouse client, and the development of network monitoring tools after the Pectra upgrade, with a focus on improving network performance and attack resistance. Additionally, projects such as HSM key management, the validator security tool Vero, and the DISC-NG node discovery mechanism have also received support to enhance node-level reliability and institutional compliance capabilities.

In the areas of cryptography and ZK, the foundation continues to invest in projects such as the analysis of the Poseidon hash function, research on Gröbner basis attacks, exploration of quantum-resistant and homomorphic mixed encryption, and formal verification of RISC-V zkVM, further strengthening the security boundaries of zero-knowledge proofs and cryptographic infrastructure.

In terms of the developer ecosystem, the BuidlGuidl education system upgrade, ERC standard community building, WalletConnect clear signature library, and Open Creator Rails toolchain are continuously advancing to lower development barriers and enhance user interaction security. Meanwhile, L2BEAT continues to provide transparency analysis for Layer 2, strengthening the data infrastructure for scaling ecosystems.

Furthermore, the foundation supports privacy technologies (such as Tor integration and Privacy Pool SDK), decentralized identity (did:ethr standard upgrade), DAO governance research, and public goods experimental projects, covering a complete ecological structure from the protocol layer to the application layer. Overall, this round of funding continues Ethereum's long-term investment in the three core directions of "cryptography + ZK + protocol engineering," emphasizing the support for future multi-layer scaling and institutional-level application implementation through infrastructure and standardization development.