Q1 2025 Ethereum Foundation Grant Recipients Announced
Q1 2025 Ethereum Foundation Grant Recipients Announced
🎁 Fresh Grants Just Dropped
The Ethereum Foundation has announced its Q1 2025 grant recipients, continuing its tradition of supporting innovative projects within the ecosystem.
This quarterly funding initiative demonstrates the Foundation's ongoing commitment to fostering development and growth in the Ethereum space.
- Grants focus on technical infrastructure, research, and community development
- Recipients were selected based on potential impact and alignment with ecosystem needs
- Full list of grantees available on the Ethereum Foundation blog
Note: This marks the first grant round of 2025, following the established quarterly distribution schedule.
Pectra Upgrade Successfully Activated on Ethereum Mainnet
The Pectra network upgrade has been successfully activated on Ethereum mainnet at epoch 364032 (10:05:11 UTC). Key improvements include: - Enhanced smart account wallet user experience - Doubled L2 scaling data storage blob capacity - Improved validator user experience Community monitoring will continue for 24 hours to ensure stability. The upgrade marks a significant milestone before the upcoming Fusaka upgrade. For detailed information: [Full Upgrade Notes](https://blog.ethereum.org/2025/04/23/pectra-mainnet)
Ethereum Community Acknowledgments and Collaborations
**Key Contributors Recognized** - Marius Van Der Wijden created crucial test cases and statetests, supporting Besu team verification - Collaboration between Besu team, EF security team, and Kevaundray Wedderburn highlighted - Notable contributions from Justin Traglia **Additional Team Efforts** - @davidchuETH, @talbert_leon, @LucemansNL, @Esk3nder - @mvcura, @domicoeth, @gregskril worked with @dentityme *This collaborative effort demonstrates the ongoing development and security maintenance of the Ethereum ecosystem.*
Ethereum Community Growth Faces Retention Challenges
The Ethereum ecosystem continues to attract thousands of new builders annually through various entry points: - Community events and hackathons - Educational courses and bootcamps - University campus clubs However, **retention remains a key challenge** as newcomers struggle to find structured pathways for continued engagement. This mirrors broader trends seen at events like Devcon SEA, where 93 scholars recently gathered in Bangkok to explore integrating Ethereum across different disciplines and communities. The ecosystem now faces the critical task of developing sustainable onboarding processes to convert initial interest into long-term builder engagement.
Ethereum Core Devs Launch Checkpoint Series for Development Updates
A new 'Checkpoint' series has been introduced to provide condensed updates from Ethereum's weekly All Core Developer calls. - Series will cover 4-5 calls per update - Focus on high-level development progress - Aims to make technical discussions more accessible The initiative comes as Ethereum continues to evolve, with recent discussions including the Dencun upgrade coordination among core developers. *Follow the Checkpoint series to stay informed about Ethereum's technical development without getting overwhelmed by weekly details.*