Today we will be releasing over $2 million in foundation-led and co-funded grants to accelerate the development of Serenity (Eth2.0) as we approach the launch of Beacon Chain.
Eth2.0 Client Subsidy
In recent months, the Ethereum Foundation has awarded significant awards to key client development teams tasked with delivering a long-term multi-client testnet as development approaches Phase 0 launch.
We are proud to announce the recipients of these grants.
Harmony
Award: $189,000 for Harmony beacon chain development
Github
Prism Lab
Award: $725,000 for Prysm client development
Website | Github
sigma prime
Prize money: $485,000 for Lighthouse client development
*Co-funders: Ethereum Foundation and ConsenSys
Website | Github
situation
Award: $500,000 for Nimbus client development
Website | Github
networking
situation
Prize: $150,000 for nim-libp2p development
*Co-funded by: Ethereum Foundation and Protocol Lab
Website | Github
Status’ Nimbus team is building a native nim language implementation of libp2p for use by Nimbus and other projects. The team also aims to create an implementation suitable for devices with limited resources.
white block
Prize money: $184,000
*Co-funders: Ethereum Foundation and ConsenSys
Website
Whiteblock is funded to continue Eth2.0 network testing and testnet/interoperability support. Whiteblock will analyze the libp2p gossipsub implementation and continue to work with implementers to improve the networking stack and specifications and advance interoperability efforts.
research and development
Dmitry Khovratovich
Prize: $10,000
Dmitry Khovratovich, a professional cryptographer, was funded to write a report on the security of the Legendre PRF (as described by Grassi et al.) and the proof-of-custody scheme to be used in phase 1 of Eth2.0.
chain safe
Award: $217.5K for Lodestar light client and JavaScript development
Website | Github
Chainsafe is working on Eth2.0 light client R&D within the Lodestar JavaScript client and continues to provide support for the Eth2.0 JS/web browser ecosystem by developing libraries, tools, and training resources.
prize
The following bounties are open to help further research and development efforts for the future of Ethereum:
Step 0 Agreement
The Ethereum Foundation is offering a 5 ETH bounty (or 1000 DAI, whichever is greater) for recommendations for substantive changes (bug fixes, optimizations, etc.) included in the Phase 0 Eth 2.0 specification prior to Eth 2.0 Genesis. This includes changes to state transition functions, fork selection rules, or deposit agreements. For more information, please see: Public bounty issue in spec repository.
Legendre PRF
The Legendre pseudo-random number function is a very MPC-friendly 1-bit PRF. This PRF is currently scheduled to be used in the custody proof scheme in Phase 1 of Eth 2.0. This is because it is the only known method that enables proof of custody in a shared secret setting. To encourage more research into this PRF, the Ethereum Foundation has set up a series of bounties here: legendreprf.org/bounties
STARK-Friendly Hash Challenge
The Ethereum Foundation asked StarkWare to recommend STARK-Friendly Hash (SFH). The StarkWare Hash Challenge is an open competition to evaluate the security of currently proposed SFH candidates. This challenge is proposed in four security levels: low security, medium security, target security, and high security in several scenarios. see starkware.co/hash-challenge Find out more about the competition and how to get started.