The Ethereum Foundation doubles down on one of the ecosystem’s most critical needs: security.
On Tuesday, the organization unveiled a new initiative aimed at tackling an ongoing challenge in crypto development — the high cost of smart contract security auditing.
Through its “Audit Subsidy Program,” the Foundation partners with leading audit providers and ecosystem firms to make professional security reviews more accessible to builders.
Backed by a $1 million grant pool, the program is designed to lower financial barriers that have historically prevented many teams from undergoing comprehensive audits, despite their importance as industry best practices.
The initiative is part of the foundation’s broader Trillion Dollar Security Initiative, which focuses on strengthening Ethereum as it scales to support increasingly complex applications and larger amounts of on-chain value.
The program includes partners such as Nethermind, Chainlink Labs, and Areta, and connects builders with more than 20 top-tier audit firms that help streamline access to trusted security expertise across the ecosystem.
Alongside the rollout, the foundation also introduced a new framework it calls the “CROPS Principles,” short for anti-censorship, open source, privacy and security. The framework is intended to guide how applications are built and evaluated across the Ethereum ecosystem.
Builders can submit their projects for consideration, after which an expert committee reviews applications. Selected teams receive grants that can be used directly for auditing services through Areta’s platform. The program is open to all Ethereum mainnet builders, regardless of size or stage.
“The grant program makes audits available and strengthens the Ethereum ecosystem,” the foundation wrote on X.
Read more: Ethereum Foundation publishes new mandate defining its role, core principles
