The Octant Ecosystem has announced that applications for its Epoch 8 round will close tomorrow, 3rd June 2025, at 11:59 pm PST.

In an earlier information, the team emphasized that Epoch 8 is a core Ethereum alignment epoch. 

“It’s a special one because it’s a major step in our broader roadmap to contribute to Ethereum’s growth.”

Following the success of  Epoch 7, which had matchings as high as 61 times, the team confirms that there will be no snapshot for Epoch 8. Instead, internal reviewers will select projects based on impact and relevance.

What Will Be Evaluated

Projects for this round will be selected based on core strong factors that includes, 

• Direct impact on Ethereum mainnet security, scalability, or sustainability.
• Critical infrastructure needs for the larger ecosystem.
•  Long-term public goods.
•  Technical innovation and strategic importance to Ethereum’s roadmap, and 
•  Clear, verifiable deliverables.

The allocations process remains the same. Ethereum (ETH) rewards are time weighted and allocating to projects increases project’s matched fundings.

Who Can Apply?

Octant is a community driven platform focused on rewarding experiments in decentralized governance. Builders advancing Ethereum in the following areas are encouraged to apply:

1) Direct protocol improvements (consensus, execution, data availability, core networking)

2) Shared infrastructure (clients, testnets, tooling, P2P networking stacks, security and formal-verification frameworks, transparency tools)

3) Open dashboards, datasets, or studies (on roll-ups, bridges, MEVs etc, as long as they offer  insights that strengthen Ethereum)

4) Protocol-level research and specification work (that advances Ethereum’s long term roadmap)

During each 90-day epoch, a range of public good projects are selected as potential donation recipients. This is based on the team’s evolving hypothesis around sustainable financing for public goods and infrastructure.

Based on inputs from the Octant community, Golem Foundation will curate the final list of projects eligible to receive funds from the Octant reward pool. 

Exclusion Criteria

To be considered, projects should meet the eligibility criterias, and avoid the following exclusion criterias:

• DeFi financial products (e.g, lending, trading, etc.).
• Purely educational content, community events, or marketing initiatives.
• General-purpose grant platforms that mainly collect funds and re-allocate funds through user voting.
• Direct-aid charities without technical deliverables.
• Projects whose primary contribution lie outside Ethereum’s protocol or its immediate roll-up.

If your project advances Ethereum in any of its core areas and meets the eligibility criteria, this is your chance to get rewarded. Apply here.