Summary
The next allocation of the ENS Public Goods (PG) Working Group Strategic Grants programme is a $50,000 USDC grant to support Vyper, one of Ethereum’s most critical yet underfunded pieces of core infrastructure.
Following our previous allocations to Remix Labs, Fabric, and the DRC, this grant reaffirms our commitment to supporting projects that advance decentralization, security, and accessibility across the Ethereum ecosystem. In alignment with our strategic funding model, Vyper has also secured matching funds from the Ethereum Foundation, reflecting significant community recognition of its vital role.
Why This Funding Matters
Ethereum’s resilience depends on a strong, diverse, and secure foundation—one that isn’t overly reliant on any single tool, team, or approach. A multi-language Ethereum therefore would be stronger, safer, and more developer-friendly.
Vyper is the second most widely used smart contract language on Ethereum, powering over $4.7 billion in total value locked across major DeFi protocols like Curve, Lido, and Yearn. Despite its critical role, Vyper has often operated without sustained institutional support.
This funding helps towards changing that.
A multi-language Ethereum isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s essential. Diversity in compiler implementations mitigates systemic risk, encourages innovation, and makes Ethereum more accessible. Vyper’s secure, Pythonic approach opens Ethereum up to a new wave of developers and educators while pushing the boundaries of optimization and auditability.
Why ENS PG is Supporting Vyper
Vyper brings to Ethereum a secure, simple, and highly readable programming language tailored for safety-critical contracts. While it can be viewed as an alternative to Solidity, it’s also a different approach to smart contract development rooted in clarity, auditability, and reduced attack surface.
“We are deeply grateful for this support from the ENS Public Goods Working Group. This grant ensures Vyper’s continued development and sustainability, allowing us to double down on language-level improvements, compiler hardening, and onboarding efforts to grow the Vyper community.” — Vyper team
What Vyper Offers:
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A Pythonic smart contract language, approachable for new developers
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Security-first syntax that reduces common developer errors
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Lower gas costs and smaller bytecode by default
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Improved readability, facilitating formal audits and community trust
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A critical second compiler implementation, reducing reliance on Solidity
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Used in production by protocols holding $4.7B+ in TVL, with ongoing growth
Vyper’s roadmap includes continuing to improve compilation performance, maintain security hardening (including work on the IR and in-depth fuzz testing), enhancing formal verification capabilities, and deepening integration with the broader Ethereum dev stack.
Next Steps
The ENS PG Working Group’s grant to Vyper marks a significant step toward ensuring that the core infrastructure of Ethereum remains public, resilient, and community-governed while promoting developer accessibility.
We’ll work with the Vyper team to share ongoing updates and outcomes from this funding, including technical milestones, security improvements, and adoption impact consistent with our strategic grant deployment model.