Today, we are revealing over $2M USD in grants led by the Foundation and co-funded, focusing on advancing Serenity (Eth2.0) development as we approach the launch of the Beacon Chain.
Eth2.0 Client Grants
In recent times, the Ethereum Foundation has awarded significant grants to prominent client development teams currently engaged in delivering long-awaited multi-client testnets as the development nears the deployment of Phase 0.
We are thrilled to announce the beneficiaries of those grants.
Harmony
Grant Amount: $189k for the development of the Harmony beacon chain
Prysmatic Labs
Grant Amount: $725k for Prysm client development
Sigma Prime
Grant Amount: $485k for Lighthouse client development
*Co-funded by: Ethereum Foundation & ConsenSys
Status
Grant Amount: $500k for Nimbus client development
Networking
Status
Grant Amount: $150K for nim-libp2p development
*Co-funded by: Ethereum Foundation & Protocol Labs
The Nimbus team at Status is developing a native implementation of libp2p in nim-language for utilization in Nimbus and other initiatives. Additionally, the team intends to design an implementation suitable for devices with limited resources.
Whiteblock
Grant Amount: $184K
*Co-funded by: Ethereum Foundation & ConsenSys
Whiteblock is funded to continue network testing for Eth2.0 and to provide support for testnet/interoperability. They will assess the libp2p gossipsub implementation, collaborate with implementers to refine the networking stack and specifications, and promote interoperability efforts.
Research and Development
Dmitry Khovratovich
Grant Amount: $10K
Dmitry Khovratovich, a renowned cryptanalyst, has been awarded funding to create a report assessing the security of the Legendre PRF (as described by Grassi et al.) and the proof-of-custody protocol slated for Phase 1 of Eth2.0.
Chainsafe
Grant Amount: $217.5K for the Lodestar light-client and JavaScript development
Chainsafe is conducting R&D on the Eth2.0 light-client within their Lodestar JavaScript client while also maintaining support for the Eth2.0 JS/web-browser ecosystem through the development of libraries, tools, and educational materials.
Bounties
The following bounties are available to assist in promoting research and development initiatives for the future of Ethereum.
Phase 0 Consensus
The Ethereum Foundation is offering 5 ETH bounties (or 1000 DAI, whichever is greater) for any suggestions for significant modifications (bug fixes, optimizations, etc.) that are incorporated into the Phase 0 Eth 2.0 specification prior to the Eth 2.0 genesis. These include amendments for the state transition function, fork choice rule, or deposit contract. For further details, please refer to the open bounty issue on the specs repository.
Legendre PRF
The Legendre pseudo-random function is an exceptionally MPC-friendly one bit PRF. Currently, this PRF is intended for use in the proof of custody scheme for Phase 1 of Eth 2.0, as it is the sole known technique to enable proof of custody in a shared secret context. To stimulate further investigation into this PRF, the Ethereum Foundation has established a series of bounties at legendreprf.org/bounties
STARK-Friendly Hash Challenge
The Ethereum Foundation has requested StarkWare to propose a STARK-Friendly Hash (SFH). The StarkWare hash challenge is a public competition designed to assess the security of currently proposed SFH candidates. The challenge is conducted at four security tiers: low-security, medium-security, target-security, and high-security across multiple scenarios. Visit starkware.co/hash-challenge for more information about the competition and how to participate.