PROBLEM AND IMPACT
What specific Ethereum problem am I addressing?
SPECIFIC PROBLEM: Ethereum faces a builder sustainability challenge, while we’re relying on the same tools, ecosystem thinking and generation of builders that have got us through the past decade, the challenges of the next decade demand a fresh wave of innovators equipped with new perspectives, skills, and infrastructure to build what’s next.
To unlock the next decade of growth, we must invest in a new generation of builders, developers, creators and more who are diverse, forward-thinking, and empowered with the education, infrastructure, and community they need to build on Ethereum and for Ethereum.
Why is this urgent and significant right now?
Funding a new Generation of Builders is significant now because global interest in blockchain continues to grow with Web2 Platforms like Shopify Accepting USDC.
Only 7% of the global population; people and businesses combined are currently part of the Ethereum ecosystem. As global blockchain adoption accelerates, we’re projected to reach 10% within the next two years. This impending surge presents both an opportunity and a challenge: if Ethereum is to support this growth sustainably, we must prepare today by building new human capital needed to drive this adoption push.
What evidence supports the importance of this problem?
Evidence 1 - The rise of Vibecoding
The next generation of Ethereum builders won’t 100% come from traditional CS backgrounds; they’ll be designers, artists, creators, and students who can remix code, grasp logic, and use AI to bring their ideas to life.
We’re entering an era where:
- Building is social, fast, and expressive not siloed or gatekept.
- AI-assisted onboarding shortens learning curves and opens doors to new creators.
- Public goods launch like TikTok trends fast, remixable, and community-driven.
- Developers become curators , while builders emerge as narrators of Ethereum’s development .
Over the next decade, some of the most impactful contributions may come not only from core devs, but from AI-native builders coding from dorm rooms, campus hubs, and online communities.
Evidence 2 - Developer Decline
Active blockchain developers dropped 25%, with new contributors down 50%, Ethereum still leads but saw a significant drop in monthly devs.
How do you know this matters deeply to users, not just captures attention or generates buzz?
Regular Users
New users enter Ethereum through NFTs, DeFi, or curiosity and quickly ask: “What now?”
There’s strong desire to go from user → contributor → builder , especially among students and young tech talent in Africa and emerging regions.
But without mentorship, hacker houses, or local support, many stall. They take free courses, join Discords, but hit a wall — no clear path forward.
Projects & Ecosystems
Protocols, DAOs, and infra teams all face the same problem: a builder gap .
They need contributors for tooling, integrations, community work — but their pipelines are dry.
Hackathons bring short-term energy, but not long-term builders.
Without mentorship, context, and connection, new devs don’t stick around.
Teams need specialized onboarding — developers who understand their stack, mission, and tools. Hacker houses and campus hubs deliver exactly that.
SENSEMAKING ANALYSIS
We used a mixed-method sensemaking model:
- Interviews & Field Reports
- On-chain activity data
- Analysis of Twitter spaces, forum posts , and essays by ecosystem leaders.
Data was aggregated through survey forms, Telegram communities, and public GitHub metrics. We also collected post-round reflections from Gitcoin grantees on what types of funding were most catalytic. Patterns revealed that the most sustainable contributors started in community-driven, often university-based spaces.
GITCOIN’S UNIQUE ROLE & FUNDRAISING
Gitcoin’s Unique Role & Fundraising
Gitcoin is uniquely positioned to fund and structure this domain for one reason: it already serves the layer between builders and ecosystems. Gitcoin knows what types of programs help people move from community member to contributor, from dreamer to dev. No other Public Goods funding platform has as much data on early-stage builders, nor as many tools to track attestation, impact, and momentum.
Unlike traditional education orgs, Gitcoin has quadratic funding, the Grants Stack, attestation integrations, and community governance. These tools can be bundled into a hub enablement model — where campuses or grassroots groups are given infrastructure to run training, maintain OSS tools, host events, and report progress.
Fundraising this domain is realistic: Yes I think we can raise 50k, we’d approach ecosystems like Celo, Base, Octant, Pond and others.
SUCCESS MEASUREMENT AND REFLECTION
Within 6 months, success will look like:
- 5 Ethereum Campus Hubs activated with micro-grants.
- 20 Projects launched into the Ethereum ecosystem using Builder tools.
- 50+ developers transitioned into contributing to OSS tools, DAOs, or Ethereum infra.
- Launch of 3-5 student-led OSS tools (e.g., dashboards, attestations, grant stack use-cases).
Beyond activity metrics, we will track:
- Sustained engagement (e.g., students continuing to contribute 3-6 months later).
- Cross-collaboration with funders and ecosystems (e.g., grantees building tools on Arbitrum, Base, or Scroll).
- Narratives captured — short-form documentaries, blog features, and podcast interviews.
Satisfaction Test: Ethereum’s long-term vitality comes from more people who can build and not only people who can use.
Domain Proposal Info
At the moment, none yet.
KarlaGod
PS: I’m still going to edit this, this is the first draft.