Ethereum Foundation Unveils $2M Worth Funding for Development of Serenity (ETH2.0)
As reported, the very first stage of the transition from Ethereum network’s to Ethereum 2.0 is expected to take place on January 3, 2020.
As we near the launch of Ethereum’s Beacon Chain, the open-source blockchain developer unveiled grants of over $2M. The grants are to be allocated to development teams worldwide aiming at furthering the Serenity (Eth2.0) project.
According to a blog post from the company, it has partnered with Protocol Labs and ConsenSys for the allocation of the grants. The announcement says that significant awards will be granted to the leading client development teams, who, at the moment, have been currently tasked with creating long-standing multi-client Test Networks (Testnets) as the launch of Phase 0 draws near.
The said funds are going to be distributed among nine companies and researchers. Companies that have received funding for client development include Harmony ($189K for Harmony beacon chain development), Prysmatic Labs ($725K for Prysm client development), Status ($500K for Nimbus client development), Sigma Prime ($485K for Lighthouse client development), Chainsafe ($217.5K for Lodestar light-client and javascript development), Whiteblock ($184K for ETH2.0 testing), Status ($500K for Nimbus client development). Status has also received $150K for nim-libp2p development. The team is creating a native nim-language implementation of libp2p for use in Nimbus and other projects.
The Ether Foundation, alongside these awards, has also declared allocation of 5 ETH bounties (or 1,000 units of DAI, USD-pegged decentralized stablecoin) for any technical recommendations that will enhance the functionalities of ETH 2.0 before the chain is launched.
A series of bounties have also been offered for the Legendre pseudo-random function, which is expected to be a part of the forthcoming proof of custody scheme in Phase 1 of ETH 2.0. The winners of the StarkWare hash (SFH) challenge will also be rewarded. The challenge aims at evaluating the security of currently proposed SFH functions. It is proposed at four security levels: low-security, medium-security, target-security, and high-security in multiple scenarios.
Cryptocurrency analyst Dmitry Khovratovich was awarded $10K to present a report regarding the security of some aspects of the first version of ETH 2.0. Also, Chainsafe received $217.5K for developing its Lodestar light client and javascript.
A lot of other initiatives have also been undertaken by Ethereum Foundation towards the development of decentralized protocols and tools that empower developers to produce avant-garde decentralized applications (dapps) that would result in an internet that’s more globally accessible, freer and more trustworthy.
