Every crypto grant worth applying to, in one place.

Innovate UK's Innovation Funding Service is the UK government's central portal for business and research innovation competitions, currently listing 34 open or opening-soon funding rounds. Individual competitions range from £50,000 (Commercialising Knowledge Assets Fund) to £10 million (Dual-use Aviation Systems and Autonomy), covering sectors including advanced materials, aerospace and defence, cyber security, farming technology, child welfare, and clean energy. Eligibility varies by competition: most require UK registration, though several Contracts for Innovation rounds accept EU, EEA, and international organisations. SME participation is frequently mandated in collaborative bids. Grants are non dilutive; no equity is taken. Deadlines are staggered across competitions, with the nearest closing 3 June 2026 and others running through September 2026, making this effectively a rolling portal. The case for applying is strong for UK registered businesses, universities, RTOs, and Catapults with a clear innovation project that fits one of the active themes. The main friction is competition specific eligibility and the structured multi stage application process typical of UKRI funded programmes, which demands meaningful preparation time.

The Stellar Community Fund Build Award is a recurring grant program run by the Stellar Development Foundation that funds projects building on the Stellar and Soroban blockchains. Awards go up to $150,000 in XLM, paid in tranches tied to development milestones: initial distribution, MVP, testnet, and mainnet launch. The program runs on a roughly six week cadence, with SCF #44 currently open and a submission deadline of June 14, 2026. Applicants must first submit an interest form before being invited to submit a full proposal. Three tracks exist: Open, Integration, and RFP, each with distinct criteria and review processes. Reviewers assess product market fit, use of Stellar, integration plan, submission quality, and budget structure. Beyond cash, accepted projects receive technical audits and access to accelerators and VCs. The program is genuinely global with no stated geography restrictions. The multi step process (interest form, prescreen, panel review, community vote) puts complexity at a moderate level. Teams with a validated concept and a clear Stellar integration story are well positioned. Projects without a meaningful on chain component or those early in ideation may struggle to pass the prescreen.

The ED/IES Small Business Innovation Research program is a federally mandated grant program administered by the Institute of Education Sciences within the U.S. Department of Education. It funds for-profit small businesses developing and evaluating new education technology products. Phase I awards $250,000 over 9 months for rapid prototype development and evaluation. Phase II awards $1,000,000 over 2 years for full-scale development and evaluation, bringing the total potential funding to $1.25 million per company. A Direct to Phase II pathway also exists. Solicitations are released annually with proposals due roughly 60 days after release and award notifications within 90 days of submission. The program targets technologies such as AI adaptive tutors, games, assessments, VR, AR, simulations, and assistive tools for K-12 and higher education settings. Applicants must be U.S. based for-profit small businesses. IES places strong emphasis on rigorous iterative research with end users and a clear commercialization path. The case for applying is strong for edtech firms with an R&D pipeline and research capacity. The multi-phase proposal process, federal contracting requirements, and research rigor expectations make this a complexity-4 effort best suited to teams with prior grant writing experience.

The European Innovation Council runs a suite of funding programs under the EIC 2026 Work Programme, targeting innovators and deep tech companies across Europe. The portfolio spans several instruments: EIC Pathfinder funds breakthrough research from lab to prototype; EIC Transition supports market readiness; EIC Accelerator provides grants and investments for commercialisation and scale-up; EIC STEP Scale Up offers equity investments to catalyse rounds of 50 million EUR or above for companies with existing investor pre-commitments; EIC Pre-Accelerator targets early stage teams in widening countries; and the Advanced Innovation Challenges pilot addresses high-risk demand-driven deep tech. The EIC Accelerator has six cut-off deadlines in 2026, with the next upcoming on 8 July 2026, followed by 2 September and 4 November. STEP Scale Up has four deadlines, with 9 September and 25 November 2026 still open. Grant amounts and equity investment sizes vary by instrument and are not stated on this overview page. The programs are open to innovators and SMEs, primarily in EU member states and associated countries. Application complexity is high, typically involving multi-stage submissions with technical and business components. Teams without prior EU grant experience should budget significant preparation time.

Exact match for MCP + crypto intelligence at the AI x crypto intersection. CAVEAT: dilutive at $5M post.

Foresight Institute runs the AI for Science and Safety Nodes program, offering grants of $10,000 to $100,000 to researchers and builders who use AI to advance science and safety. The program distributes roughly $3M annually and pairs funding with office space, community programming, and local compute resources at hubs in San Francisco and Berlin. Individuals, teams, nonprofits, and for profits worldwide can apply, though the program strongly prioritizes applicants who plan to work from one of the two physical hubs. Funding only applications are accepted only in exceptional cases. Focus areas include AI security, private AI, decentralized and cooperative AI, AI for science and epistemics, brain computer interfaces, longevity biotechnology, and molecular nanotechnology. Evaluation weighs impact on existential risk reduction, feasibility within short AGI timelines, team capability, and open source orientation. Applications are reviewed monthly on a rolling basis, with deadlines on the last day of each month. The review process takes approximately two months per cycle. The case for applying is strong for mission aligned teams already based in or willing to relocate to San Francisco or Berlin. Remote or funding only applicants face a higher bar and should expect lower odds of success.

NLnet Foundation funds open source software projects serving the public good, offering non dilutive grants between €10,000 and €100,000. The foundation operates a rolling application process with calls reviewed on a quarterly basis, so there is no single hard deadline, but submissions close per funding round and early entry into a cycle improves review timing. Funding is denominated in euros and disbursed in milestones. Eligibility criteria beyond the open source and public benefit framing are not fully stated in the source, though NLnet historically funds individual developers, small teams, and nonprofits globally, with no stated revenue or headcount cap. Projects must release work under an open license. NLnet's core interest is internet infrastructure, privacy, security, and decentralized systems, areas where commercial incentives are weak and public funding fills the gap. They reward concrete technical deliverables over research abstractions. For a founder in crypto or AI building open source tooling, the strategic case is real: NLnet alumni carry credibility in the European technical community, and the foundation connects grantees to the NGI (Next Generation Internet) ecosystem, which can open doors to follow on EU funding. The application is moderately detailed, requiring a project plan and milestone breakdown. At the upper end of the range, the effort is justified. Below €25,000, weigh carefully against opportunity cost.

NLnet Foundation runs a rolling grant program that funds free and open source software, hardware, data, and standards projects aimed at building a more open, resilient, and privacy respecting internet. Awards range from EUR 5,000 to EUR 50,000 per project, with deadlines on the first of every even numbered month; the next deadline is August 1, 2026. Virtually any entity type can apply, including individuals, nonprofits, research organizations, companies, and public institutions, provided the work is released under a recognized free and open source license and any scientific outputs are published open access. Active funding tracks include NGI0 Commons Fund (broad open internet commons), NGI TALER (GNU Taler electronic payments), and NGI Fediversity (hosted cloud services with service portability). The program is backed in part by the European Commission Next Generation Internet initiative. The case for applying is strong: the application form is intentionally short, intake is continuous, and the scope covers a wide range of open technology work. The main constraint is the strict open source licensing requirement across all outputs, which rules out proprietary or mixed license projects. Teams already building in the open internet or federated infrastructure space will find this a natural fit.

NLnet Foundation, a Dutch philanthropy backed by the European Commission's Next Generation Internet programme, runs rolling open calls funding free and open source software, hardware, data, and standards projects that strengthen the open internet. Grants range from 5,000 to 50,000 EUR per project, with scale-up possible for proven work. Deadlines fall on the first of every even month; the next cutoff is August 1, 2026. Currently active calls are NGI Taler, focused on deploying the GNU Taler privacy-preserving digital payment system, and NGI Fediversity, targeting easy-to-use hosted cloud services built on federated, portable infrastructure. Anyone can apply: individuals, companies, nonprofits, research institutions, and public bodies are all eligible, provided all outputs are released under recognised free and open source licenses. The application form is intentionally short and low-threshold, making complexity modest. A note of caution: a June 12, 2026 news item signals that the broader NGI Zero open calls are temporarily paused during a transition to the Open Internet Stack programme, so applicants should confirm current fund status before investing time. Support services including security audits, accessibility reviews, and licensing advice are available to grantees at no extra cost.

ECLIPSE is a meta-program run by the U.S. National Science Foundation that funds translational research and workforce development at the intersection of fundamental plasma science and real-world engineering or societal needs. No per-grant dollar amounts are published; award sizes follow the norms of the participating NSF programs, which typically range from tens of thousands to several million dollars depending on project scope. Eligible applicants are US-based researchers at universities, HBCUs, minority serving institutions, and EPSCoR-eligible institutions. NSF explicitly welcomes collaborations involving underrepresented groups and institutions. The program spans multiple directorates including Engineering, Geosciences, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, STEM Education, and Integrative Activities. Proposals must address a plasma science challenge relevant to more than one NSF program and connect that challenge to a concrete societal or technological need. Submissions go to one of the listed related programs (e.g., Plasma Physics, CBET, CMMI) with the title prefix "ECLIPSE:" and are subject to each program's own deadlines, the nearest of which is August 11, 2026. The case for applying is strong for researchers whose plasma work crosses disciplinary lines and lacks a natural home in a single NSF program. The complexity is real: proposers must navigate multiple program offices, match submission windows, and satisfy dual intellectual merit and broader impact criteria.

The Regional Innovation Ecosystems (RIE) program is a federal funding stream administered by PacifiCan, the Government of Canada's economic development agency for British Columbia. The program supports the creation, growth, and nurturing of inclusive regional innovation ecosystems across B.C., targeting the full innovation continuum from early stage entrepreneurship through to growth and competitiveness. No specific grant amounts are published on this page; applicants must visit PacifiCan's website for funding details. Eligible applicants include incorporated businesses, not-for-profit organizations, and Indigenous organizations and businesses. The program is open and continuous, meaning there is no fixed deadline and applications are accepted on a rolling basis. PacifiCan's focus is on fostering entrepreneurial environments and diversifying B.C.'s economy. The case for applying is strong for ecosystem builders, accelerators, and Indigenous economic development organizations operating in B.C. The main drawback is the lack of published funding amounts, which makes it harder to assess fit before investing time in an application. Complexity is moderate given the federal government intake process.

The Fund for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) runs a multi-track grant program supporting freelance journalists, staff reporters, and media outlets producing high-impact investigative stories for print, online, broadcast, books, documentaries, or podcasts. Regular grants go up to $10,000 and are reviewed three to four times per year, with the next deadline on September 14, 2026. Seed funding grants of $1,000 to $2,500 support preliminary reporting. Follow-up grants of up to $2,500 are available to prior FIJ grantees on an expedited basis. The Alicia Patterson Fellowship awards $20,000 for six months or $40,000 for twelve months of travel, research, and reporting. Applicants for full proposals must provide a Letter of Commitment from a news outlet agreeing to publish the work. International proposals must carry a strong US angle and be published in English in a US outlet. FIJ actively encourages proposals from journalists of color and stories targeting ethnic media. The application is submitted via Submittable and requires a detailed budget with line-item rationale, making complexity moderate. The program is well suited to independent journalists with a concrete story and outlet commitment; those without a publishing home or with a previously declined proposal face meaningful barriers.

The James A. & Faith Knight Foundation, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, runs an annual grant program for nonprofits with a 2026 application window open from January 31 through September 30, 2026, via the NonProfit Portal. Applications received after the deadline are deferred to Q1 2027. No per-grant dollar amounts are published on the page. The foundation funds three priority areas: general operating support, which provides unrestricted funds for nonprofit sustainability and growth; animals and the natural world, covering animal care, ecosystem protection, and ecological education; and women and girls, targeting economic self-sufficiency, public policy advocacy, and human rights. The funder explicitly values general operating support, noting it signals trust between funder and grantee. Eligible applicants are nonprofits, likely with a Michigan or regional focus given the Ann Arbor address, though geography is not formally restricted on the page. The case for applying is strong for Michigan-based nonprofits in these focus areas, particularly those seeking flexible unrestricted funding. The case against is the absence of published grant amounts and the relatively narrow thematic scope. Application complexity appears low, relying on a standard nonprofit portal submission.

The Build to Scale Program is a federal grant administered by the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), offering awards between $500,000 and $5,000,000 per project. The program runs on an annual cycle with the current deadline set for October 25, 2026. Eligible applicants include nonprofits, state and local governments, and institutions of higher education based in the United States. The EDA uses this program to support regional innovation ecosystems, technology commercialization, and entrepreneurial scale up efforts that drive economic development. The funding levels are substantial and the federal review process typically spans three to six months post submission, so applicants should plan accordingly. The case for applying is strong for organizations with established regional innovation infrastructure and measurable economic impact goals. The case against: federal grant applications at this scale require significant preparation, including detailed project narratives, budget justifications, and organizational capability statements, making this a high complexity undertaking. Success rates for federal programs typically fall in the 10 to 30 percent range. Note that this listing appears on a third party aggregator site; applicants should verify all details directly at the official EDA grants portal before submitting.

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science runs a rolling portfolio of Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) and DOE National Laboratory Announcements covering basic and applied scientific research. As of May 2026, three active solicitations are listed. The Genesis Mission (DE-FOA-0003612) targets AI for science and energy applications and remains open through December 17, 2026, with Phase II applications from FY26 Phase I awardees due that same date. The Accelerator Stewardship FOA (DE-FOA-0003620) closes May 21, 2026. A lab-only announcement on Robotics and Automation Testbeds for Autonomous Scientific Discovery closes July 24, 2026. Award amounts are not stated on the index page and vary by program. Eligibility depends on the specific FOA: universities, nonprofits, and national labs are typical recipients, though some announcements are restricted to DOE laboratories. Applications require pre-applications or letters of intent, full proposals via Grants.gov or PAMS, and multi-stage review, making complexity high. The strongest near-term opportunity for non-lab applicants is the Genesis Mission AI solicitation. Teams without prior DOE relationships should budget significant lead time for PAMS registration and institutional sign-off.

Hemi Labs runs a rolling grants program for builders developing applications and services on the Hemi Network, a Bitcoin-aware EVM-compatible Layer 2. No grant amounts are published on the page, and no deadline is stated, indicating an open intake process. Eligible applicants include teams building Bitcoin-aware decentralized apps using Hemi's hVM or hBK tooling, AI-integrated on-chain applications, and general DeFi or infrastructure projects such as DEXes, lending markets, bridges, oracles, and NFT platforms. The funder is particularly interested in non-custodial Bitcoin DeFi, ZK-verified machine learning services, decentralized compute marketplaces, and portfolio management agents. The application is a simple form submission, making the barrier to entry low. The main case for applying is Hemi's differentiated Bitcoin introspection capability, which opens novel product categories not possible on standard EVMs. The case against is the absence of published funding amounts, which makes it hard to size the opportunity before investing time in an application. Builders already working with Bitcoin-EVM primitives or AI on-chain tooling are the strongest fit.

Emergent Ventures is a rolling fellowship and grant program run by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, administered by economist Tyler Cowen. Grant amounts vary by project scope and are not publicly capped, though a related listing for the AI-focused track cites a typical range of $10,000 to $100,000. The program is open globally to anyone aged 13 or older, including early career researchers, entrepreneurs, students, and public intellectuals, with no institutional affiliation required. The funder prioritizes bold, scalable "zero to one" ideas in technology, science, social change, and policy that are unlikely to attract conventional funding. Dedicated tracks exist for projects focused on India, Africa and the Caribbean, and Ukraine. The application process is intentionally lightweight with no rigid requirements, and decisions are typically made within weeks, making the time cost low relative to most grant programs. The case for applying is strong for unconventional thinkers with ambitious ideas who would struggle to fit traditional funding molds. The main uncertainty is that award amounts are not disclosed upfront, so applicants cannot easily size the opportunity before investing time in a proposal.

Emergent Ventures is a fellowship and grant program run by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, directed by economist Tyler Cowen. It funds high-risk, high-reward ideas across virtually any domain, from scientific research to media to social ventures, with the goal of advancing prosperity, opportunity, and well-being. Grant amounts are entirely project specific with no published minimum or maximum; some recipients receive a few thousand dollars while others land substantially more. Anyone aged 13 or older from any country can apply, with no formal education or sector requirements. Both for-profit and nonprofit projects are eligible, and revenue self-sufficiency is actively encouraged. The application is a 1500-word proposal answering three core questions, with no business plan or supporting deck required. Decisions typically come within one week, and shortlisted applicants can expect a direct Zoom call with Tyler Cowen shortly after submission. The rolling intake and low application burden make this a strong candidate for builders with genuinely novel ideas who can articulate a clear vision concisely. The main risk is that funding amounts are opaque and selection is highly subjective, resting on a single decision maker. Note: this page is a third-party Grantaura listing, not the official Mercatus program page.

This is a funding overview page for Secret Network, an L1 privacy-focused blockchain, listing multiple parallel funding tracks available to builders and community members. The tracks include SCRT Labs Grants (GitHub issues based, targeting pre-seed developer funding and tooling), Secret Foundation SNACs for marketing and event campaigns, Shade Grants for projects building on Shade Protocol, community code bounties ranging from $500 to $2,500 USD for open source work estimated at one to five days, and a Community Curated Bounty List funded via on-chain governance. The page does not publish a single unified grant amount; the only concrete figures cited are the $500 to $2,500 bounty range for community code repositories. No application deadlines are stated, and all tracks appear to operate on a rolling basis. The program suits developers at early stages who want non dilutive funding to build privacy tooling, Secret Contracts, or ecosystem infrastructure. The main case against applying is that the page is a directory rather than a single program, so applicants must navigate to sub-pages to find specific requirements. Amounts for the main SCRT Labs grant track are not disclosed here, which adds uncertainty for larger funding needs.

Secret Network runs a rolling grants program for builders who want to develop privacy-preserving applications on its Cosmos-based Layer 1 blockchain. Applications are submitted through a GitHub repository, which is a standard open intake model with no stated deadline. No specific grant amounts are published on the page, so the funding range is unknown. The program targets developers building across several verticals: decentralized apps, NFTs, DeFi protocols, infrastructure, developer tooling, and private integrations with other chains. Secret Network's core value proposition is confidential smart contracts, and the funder clearly prioritizes projects that leverage on-chain privacy rather than generic Web3 builds. Cosmos IBC compatibility and bridges to four or more ecosystems are cited as reasons to build here, suggesting cross-chain privacy tools would be well received. The case for applying is straightforward for teams already working with privacy-first architectures or looking to add confidential data handling to a multi-chain app. The case against is the lack of published funding amounts, which makes it hard to size the opportunity before investing time in an application. Complexity is low given the GitHub-based submission process.

FLOSS/fund is a grant program initiated in 2024 by Zerodha, the Indian brokerage firm, dedicated to funding Free/Libre and Open Source Software projects worldwide. The fund distributes up to $1 million per year across individual developers and organizations of any size. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis via a directory submission form. The program has already deployed capital in two tranches: $325k to 9 projects in May 2025, with a second tranche announced in October 2025. There is no stated per-grant minimum or maximum, meaning awards vary by project. Eligibility is broad, covering any FLOSS project deemed critical, impactful, or valuable, with no geographic restriction. The funder cares about the health of open source infrastructure and the communities that sustain it. The case for applying is strong: rolling intake, no equity taken, and a clear track record of disbursements. The main uncertainty is award size per project, as the fund pools its annual $1 million across multiple recipients. Teams maintaining foundational open source tools or libraries are the most natural fit.

Anchor non-dilutive Canadian R&D grant. Frame the MCP hybrid-citation architecture or hallucination-mitigation work as the R&D project. 5/5 fit if BCA is Canadian-incorporated (confirmed).

Cheapest near-term win. $7.5k cash exposure. Mitacs funds a graduate intern working on a BCA R&D problem (hybrid citation grounding, hallucination measurement, on-chain anomaly detection).

BCA is a Claude/MCP-native crypto layer. Gated on whether DEXT Force Ventures qualifies as institutional equity round (confirmed multi-LP fund — likely yes).