The Ethereum Foundation is doubling down on its efforts to address one of the ecosystem’s most critical needs: security.
On Tuesday, the organization unveiled a new initiative aimed at addressing a persistent challenge in crypto development: the high cost of smart contract security audits.
Through its “Audit Grant Program,” the foundation partners with leading audit providers and ecosystem companies to make professional safety reviews more accessible to manufacturers.
Supported by a $1 million grant pool, the program is designed to reduce the financial barriers that have historically prevented many teams from undergoing comprehensive audits, despite their importance as an industry best practice.
The initiative is part of the foundation’s broader $1 billion security initiative, which focuses on strengthening Ethereum as it scales to support increasingly complex applications and greater amounts of on-chain value.
The program includes partners such as Nethermind, Chainlink Labs and Areta, and connects builders with more than 20 leading auditing firms, helping to streamline access to trusted security expertise across the ecosystem.
Along with this rollout, the foundation also introduced a new framework it calls the “CROPS Principles,” short for censorship resistance, open source, privacy and security. The framework is intended to guide how applications are built and evaluated in the Ethereum ecosystem.
Builders can submit their projects for review, after which a committee of experts reviews the applications. Selected teams receive grants that can be applied directly to audit services through the Areta platform. The program is open to all Ethereum mainnet builders, regardless of size or stage.
“The grant program makes audits accessible and strengthens the Ethereum ecosystem,” the foundation wrote on X.
Read more: Ethereum Foundation publishes new mandate defining its role and fundamental principles
