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The Ethereum Foundation is emerging from a period of budgetary restraint in 2026 and relaunching its Ethereum Protocol Fellowship (EPF7) program to recruit new developers. The initiative is designed to strengthen the Ethereum protocol and its broader ecosystem as the network seeks to maintain technological leadership in a market still dominated by Bitcoin.
In 2026, after a phase of austerity, the Ethereum Foundation is relaunching EPF7 with the goal of attracting talented developers to work on core protocol improvements. By Q1 2026, the Foundation had awarded 18 grants for core projects, including work related to security, cryptography, and protocol development.
Selected candidates are set to receive mentoring and a monthly grant. The program is positioned as an opportunity to contribute to projects such as the Fusaka transition and security tools.
Applications are open until May 13, 2026, with a smaller but more committed cohort.
Ethereum remains the second-largest cryptocurrency by market position, and the Foundation’s renewed emphasis on developer recruitment is intended to support ongoing technical progress. The article highlights potential areas of work including zero-knowledge proofs and scalability solutions, including layer-2 (L2) approaches.
The underlying objective is to reinforce mass adoption by improving performance and reducing friction for users and developers. With an expanding ecosystem, Ethereum is aiming to differentiate itself through continued innovation.
While Bitcoin continues to dominate in terms of capitalization and is described as the “undisputed store of value,” the article notes that analysts believe a “flippening” could occur by 2028–2030. This would depend on accelerated mass adoption of decentralized applications and scalability solutions—such as rollups—reducing costs.
At the same time, the article emphasizes that outcomes will likely be influenced by regulatory developments, institutional adoption, and Ethereum’s technological advances.
By betting on developer talent through EPF7, the Ethereum Foundation is aiming to consolidate its position and strengthen its competitiveness. Whether the program can materially shift Ethereum’s trajectory relative to Bitcoin remains open, but the initiative is framed as placing innovation at the center of the network’s next phase.
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