Ethereum could fund soon projects with up to 10% of staking rewards

Validators are entities that keep Ethereum running by locking up ether (ETH), checking transactions and earning staking rewards for doing so. Funding, in this context, means paying for the shared work Ethereum relies on, such as developer tools, security research, public infrastructure and other projects that help the network but do not always have a direct business model.

The proposal seeks to shift that burden toward validators, who earn ETH rewards for securing the network and benefit when Ethereum becomes more valuable.

It argued that validators are natural long-term stakeholders because better ecosystem funding can increase network activity, ETH burn and the value of staked ETH.

Validators could also select preferred funding recipients under the proposal. Those preferences would be combined into a ‘splitter’ contract that distributes redirected funds among chosen addresses. The design is meant to let validators “set and forget” their preferences rather than vote on every grant.

At current staking levels, the post estimated that validators receive roughly 700,000 ETH a year in rewards. A 5% to 10% redirect could send about 50,000 to 70,000 ETH a year toward ecosystem funding. That equates to about $120 million at ether’s current market prices.

The idea is likely to be controversial, however.