An Optimism Delegate Mission Request for research into grant program structures, failure modes, success metrics, and recommendations for future governance funding. The completed call carried a fixed 20,000 OP grant.
Grant programs across
crypto, AI and open source.
Who funds them, what they fund and how to apply.
Aave Grants DAO was Aave's grant-making arm. TokenLogic confirmed on 2026-07-15 that the program has sunset and is not accepting or reviewing applications.
Arbitrum DAO Grant Program offered milestone-based funding to builders, dApps, technical infrastructure projects, adoption initiatives, and community growth efforts on Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Nova. Season 3's active submission phase closed on March 17, 2026. The program then entered a lower-capacity phase for remaining application reviews, milestone checks, and disbursements through September 2026.
The Arbitrum Foundation Grant Program provided milestone-based funding for projects supporting Arbitrum adoption, technical infrastructure, and sustainable communities. Arbitrum's official grants directory now labels this specific program inactive and complete.
Arbitrum's 2026 Mentorship Program was an eight-week cohort for 15 early-stage teams, with ecosystem mentorship, investor access, and a $100,000 Demo Day award pool. The program began April 13, 2026 and its application and cohort period have ended.
Arbitrum's NYC Founder House concluded in March 2026 after selecting 88 teams from 473 applications. Fifty-five projects submitted builds and competed for $340,000 in prizes and grants.
A concluded Arbitrum Foundation program distributing 5M ARB worth of grants to projects building with Stylus, marked "Program Complete" on the Foundation's grants page.
A concluded $1M Arbitrum Foundation grants pool for agentic DeFi on Arbitrum, paying up to $10,000 per project for deployed AI agents, Vibekit open-source templates, or capability integrations already live on Arbitrum chains. Marked "Program Complete" on the Foundation's grants page.
A concluded $1,000,000 Arbitrum Foundation initiative funding AI-related projects on Arbitrum, marked "Program Complete" on the Foundation's grants page.
The Bioregional Reforestation Round used quadratic funding to allocate roughly $100,000 across nine bioregional pools, followed by impact-based payouts for verified tree planting during the first half of 2026.
CeloPG's H2 2024 Regional DAO process allocated 200,000 cUSD for existing and new regional DAOs. The historical cycle used five-day steward votes and is no longer an open application round.
ChainGPT Builder’s Program Season 3 was announced as a Web3 builder intake offering API credits, technical support, and access to the ChainGPT AI stack. The only sourced evidence is a social announcement with no verified standing application route or later season, so the named season is recorded as concluded.
Gitcoin launched Citizen Grants in 2024 with Citizens Retro, Citizens Innovate, and Citizens Forward. After the initial pilot, Gitcoin concluded the Innovate and Forward formats and shifted toward selective RFPs and direct grants. The governance forum category remains available, but no current general application window has been confirmed.
Compound Grants is sponsoring three ETHGlobal events in 2023. Each event features a hackathon and a summit with popular builders in the Ethereum community. Hackathon sponsors are bolstering the grand prize with specific bounty prizes so participants have even more chances to win. Compound Grants will have a $5000 prize for builders that integrate Compound.
Compound DAO's completed 2025 RFP for a new security service provider. ChainSecurity and Certora were selected for audits, advisory, and formal verification, with zeroShadow selected for incident response and monitoring.
A former Sui Foundation liquidity-incentive program for DeFi builders. The moonshots URL now serves Sui marketing copy and the programs page no longer lists DeFi Moonshots as an open grant. Academic research awards and RFPs remain on the funding page as separate vehicles.
Ethereum runs on trust and now, that trust has rewards. The @ENS_DAO’s Contract Naming Season is funding projects that turn unreadable contract addresses into clear, verifiable names with Enscribe. 🏆 10,000 $ENS in incentives 🛠️ For builders, DAOs, L2s, and DeFi protocols 📅 Runs Nov 2025 → Apr 20
The ENS Public Goods Working Group funded projects and builders in the Ethereum and Web3 ecosystems. Applications are closed. The Working Group is sunsetting.
Status describes whether a program is running. Application methods are recorded separately. Read the funder’s terms before applying.