Grants

ETC Labs pioneers cutting-edge R&D programs with ETC Lab Grants.

Our grants program funds opensource R&D projects that meet the needs of a rapidly accelerating Ethereum Classic ecosystem. To help further propel advancements of the blockchain technology and ecosystem we pledge to support projects addressing scalability, storage, adoption, tooling, social-impact and interoperability.

Our research contributes funding for blockchain projects that support these areas and make this relatively new and innovative technology more accessible for all. In addition to these grants, these blockchain projects will also receive direct support from the ETC Core Developer team and gain access to a robust network of mentors, advisors and industry experts.

We believe in financial inclusion, social impact, interoperability and transparency and are dedicated to further developing applications within these verticals. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

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Research and Development Projects

Ledgerwatch

Ledgerwatch is a research project focused on the development of stateless clients, to help remove the requirement of access to the entire state when executing transactions in the block.

OpenGSN

OpenGSN provides a toll free road for Ethereum Classic and Ethereum smart contracts. Gas Station Network contracts can be used as plugins for existing smart contracts to enable a toll free experience for users.

Swarm

Swarm is a distributed storage platform and content distribution service, a native base layer service of the ethereum web3 stack that aims to provide a decentralized and redundant store for dApp code, user data, blockchain and state data. Swarm sets out to provide various base layer services for web3, including node-to-node messaging, media streaming, decentralized database services and scalable state-channel infrastructure for decentralized service economies.

Research and Development Priorities

Scalability

Including Stateless Clients, Light Clients, State Channels, Roll Ups, Decentralized Storage

Interoperability

Including LLVM-EVM, ETC Relay

Proof-of -Work

Including Miner-incentives, Gas Fees, Future Improvements for a POW Chain

Community Development

Including Public Goods, Cross-Chain Collaboration, OpenRPC

Social Impact

Enable emerging markets with access to better resources using blockchain

ETC Labs Grants FAQ

Once you have applied, you will receive a confirmation email. We have multiple internal review rounds and if your application passes we will then reach out to you for an interview.

After applicants apply, there are 3 steps to evaluating applications:

  1. Initial screen and program fit review
  2. Scoring
  3. Interview

In each stage, an application is moved forward to the next stage or denied. The applicant is only

notified during the process if their application does not move forward to the next round. The

acceptance is decided after the 3rd stage which is a scheduled interview.

The process is typically 2 months from application to acceptance.

Yes, private businesses are welcome to apply if what you are building is open source.

Yes.

Project delivery is contingent upon your milestones. Three months is standard, but we are open to supporting projects that extend past three months.

Projects are funded in USD, ETC, or ETH grants.

The grant size varies as some projects require more time and support.

Yes. We specialize in funding Ethereum and Ethereum Classic grants, however, if your project

is built on another blockchain and you can articulate how it can advance the Ethereum Classic

ecosystem then we believe you should apply.