Ecosystem

AERE Developer Grants: Build and Get Funded

AERE Network's grants program is funded from the Ecosystem allocation, 560 million AERE (20% of total supply) set aside specifically to grow the chain. If you're building something useful for the AERE ecosystem, you can apply for a grant. There's no equity involved, no token clawback clause, and no gatekeeping committee, applications go public as Gitea issues and anyone can review the process.

This article covers who the program is for, what gets funded, how the three tiers work, and what a strong application looks like.

Who It's For

The grants program is open to anyone, solo developers, small teams, open-source projects, research groups, and technical content creators. There is no geographic restriction, no requirement to be incorporated, and no preference for teams with prior blockchain experience over those without. The evaluation criteria are about the work, not the résumé.

The program funds work that makes AERE more useful. That means:

• dApps that deploy to AERE mainnet and serve real users
• Infrastructure: indexers, oracles, bridges, wallets, RPC tooling
• Developer tooling: SDKs, CLI tools, testing frameworks, deployment helpers
• Security research: audits, formal verification, vulnerability disclosure
• Technical content: written tutorials, video courses, translated documentation
• Integration adapters: connectors between AERE and third-party platforms

The program does not fund marketing campaigns, generic NFT collections, projects with no working prototype at application time, or work that has nothing to do with the AERE ecosystem.

The Three Grant Tiers

Grants are paid in a combination of AERE and stablecoins depending on tier and applicant preference. Payment method is discussed during the review process. The Quick Build and Project tiers are approved by the Foundation; Strategic tier grants require a governance vote.

What a Strong Application Looks Like

The most successful grant applications share a few qualities that have nothing to do with the size of the ask:

• Concrete scope. A precise description of what will be built, how long it will take, and what the deliverable is. "An NFT marketplace for AERE" is weak. "An ERC-721 marketplace with EIP-2981 royalty enforcement, open-source, with a deployed frontend at [URL], using the AereNFTMarketplace contract as a reference" is strong.
• Evidence of ability to ship. Prior work, deployed projects, open-source repos, published articles, design portfolios, matters more than educational credentials. The question reviewers are asking is: can this person deliver what they're proposing?
• Realistic milestones. Break the scope into verifiable checkpoints. This protects both parties: you get paid at each milestone, and the Foundation can verify progress before releasing the next tranche.
• Clear connection to AERE. Explain why the ecosystem needs this thing and how it specifically takes advantage of AERE's properties (EVM compatibility, 1-second finality, existing deployed contracts).

The Application Process

Applications are submitted through the form at /grants.html. The form pre-fills a Gitea issue on the public grants repository, which you confirm and submit. Once submitted, the issue is public, anyone can comment, ask questions, or express support. This transparency is intentional: it lets the community provide input and holds the Foundation accountable to its own stated criteria.

The Foundation reviews the issue, may ask clarifying questions directly on the Gitea thread, and posts an approval or rejection decision as a comment. For Quick Build tier, this takes under a week. For Strategic tier grants, the DAO vote adds additional time.

Questions

If you have questions about scope, eligibility, or whether your idea is a good fit before applying, open a discussion issue on the grants repository. The Foundation checks it regularly and responds publicly so the answer is useful to others with similar questions.

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