The Ethereum Foundation has opened applications for EPF7, its latest protocol fellowship, and this round will be smaller than past cohorts. The stated goal is to give each participant closer mentorship and deeper involvement in active projects rather than expanding the number of fellows.
According to the announcement, the program is aimed at applicants with a strong software engineering background, a high degree of self-direction, and an interest in open-source development. Selected fellows will work on client applications, testing workflows, technical documentation, and core protocol research. The foundation’s protocol support team said this round is focused on the impact of participants’ contributions, not the size of the intake. Applications close on May 13, and the final composition of the cohort will be decided after that date.
EPF remains a recruiting path into Ethereum client teams
The foundation said that in previous years, most participants went on to continue with Ethereum client teams as long-term developers. That makes the fellowship more than a training program. It is also a practical channel for bringing new contributors into work tied to Ethereum’s roadmap, especially in areas like client engineering, testing, and protocol research where onboarding can take time.
Treasury changes come after earlier spending cuts
Earlier this year, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said the foundation would temporarily reduce spending. At that point, the organization held around 172,000 ETH, while annual spending could at times reach $100 million. After a major sale six days ago, the foundation’s ETH holdings now remain above 92,000 ETH. The move was presented as part of a broader effort to use resources more efficiently and support the long-term sustainability of the Ethereum ecosystem.
Buterin has also committed 16,384 ETH personally over the next five years to support the ecosystem. Taken together, the message is fairly clear: spending on core development is being handled with more restraint, but funding for ecosystem work has not been pulled back across the board.
Q1 grants extend across cryptography, ZK, security, and clients
One day before the EPF7 announcement, the foundation published its Q1 2026 Ecosystem Support Program grants. Ongoing support continues in cryptography, zero-knowledge proofs, protocol security, and fundamental research. Projects named in the disclosure include the TypeScript-based EthereumJS infrastructure, performance testing for network sizes ten times larger than mainnet, and client development in Lighthouse for the Fusaka transition.
The foundation is also still recruiting interns for its 2026 program, with work centered on protocol consensus, cryptography, and protocol security. At the same time, it has launched a new global civil society initiative called the Ethereum Applications Guild, designed to expand Ethereum-based applications and back projects with real-world impact. Foundation officials said innovative efforts in both protocol and application domains are still receiving funding even as core development resources are being managed cautiously.