Bangkok--16 Feb--Omise
Leading Ethereum-supporting projects Cosmos, OmiseGO, Golem, Maker, Global Brain Blockchain Labs, and Raiden today announced the creation of the "Ethereum Community Fund" (ECF), a unique, highly networked vehicle dedicated to the acceleration of infrastructure and decentralized application development.
Blockchains, crypto-assets, and decentralized applications are the most transformative innovations of our generation. While poised for substantial growth over the coming years, mainstream adoption remains at an early stage, and the appropriate public infrastructure to support billions of users is still a matter of deep R&D. Thus, the aim of ECF is to provide both funding and connectivity, while shaping the strategic direction of the space towards mainstream adoption through the development of infrastructure and compelling end-user applications.
The ECF's goal is to create an environment where teams and ideas can thrive, grow, and collaborate to become essential and functioning pieces of the broader Ethereum ecosystem. The ECF will reach this goal by fostering the creation and strengthening of the connective tissue between projects and companies looking to adopt blockchain technologies. The first step towards supporting the growth of the Ethereum ecosystem will be the Infrastructure Grant program. This program will be established as a permanent financial endowment to support and aid projects in building crucial open-source infrastructure, tooling, and applications.
The ECF will lead the way toward greater coordination among existing projects in the space who share a common interest of building out base infrastructure and supporting a more robust ecosystem of emerging projects. We anticipate ECF members and others will follow with their own category-specific onramps and support networks which can provide a continued pathway for new entrants into the Ethereum community.
"Ethereum has grown beyond my expectations over the last few years, but the work is clearly not finished. Delivering value that matches the hype should be the mantra of 2018; e orts such as the ECF which help organize the development of the ecosystem are going to help to make that possible." said Vitalik Buterin of the Ethereum Foundation.
"This technology has incredible promise, but only by laying a strong foundation can we hope to see this technology reach its full potential and gain mainstream adoption. This begins with investment now in public infrastructure that is scalable, versatile, and decentralized. One project in isolation can create a product to disrupt an industry, but by working together we can create a framework that will change the world." said Jun Hasegawa from OmiseGO.
"With the ECF, we are now able to build an onramp for new projects in the space who may simply be tip-toeing into some big idea and also provide those projects with connectivity and mentorship from more experienced Ethereum teams." said Rune from Maker.
The Infrastructure Grant program, with a substantial commitment from ECF members, will be the first to launch in a forthcoming announcement.
The founding team of the ECF consists of respected founders and advisors, and major stakeholders with experience and deep understanding of the dynamics of the blockchain space. Members include the Co-creator of Tendermint and Co-founder of Cosmos, Jae Kwon; the Founder of Golem, Julian Zawistowski; the Founder of OmiseGO, Jun Hasegawa; the Founder of Maker, Rune Christensen; and the CEO and Founder of one of Japan's largest VC's, Global Brain Blockchain Lab, Yasuhiko Yurimoto, among others. Advisors include the Founder of Ethere- um, Vitalik Buterin; the Executive Director of the Ethereum Foundation, Ayako Miyaguchi; and the Managing Director of OmiseGO, Vansa Chatikavanij.
The founding members of the ECF are only leading the way to create an ecosys- tem of shared value. To open up a world of possibilities for this ecosystem, like-minded contributors are necessary to add to the growth and continued progress. Established projects and parties interested in participating as members, please visit ecf.network