Ethereum Foundation Unveils New Incentive Program for Developers

The Ethereum Foundation (EF) has announced the launch of a new incentive program for its client teams. Dubbed the Client Incentive Program, EF says the initiative is designed to encourage software development teams such as Besu, Erigon, Geth, and Lighthouse, among others, to continue to develop secure software and maintain the Ethereum network over the long term, according to a blog post on December 13, 2021.

EF Rewarding Dedicated Client Team

As part of efforts to reward dedicated software development teams for their hard work over the years and motivate them to keep giving their best, the Ethereum Foundation has launched an incentive program.

As stated in a blog post by the Ethereum Foundation, the new Client Incentive Program is aimed at ensuring that Etherem client development teams have a strong incentive to maintain the Ethereum mainnnet over the long term.

EF has made it clear that the program offers client teams ETH rewards that get unlocked over time, provided they continue to develop highly functional software that meets the high-security standards of the Ethereum mainnet.

“While clients provide an essential service to the network (without them, there is no network!), it has historically been difficult for them to capture value. Recently, more avenues have become available for these teams to build sustainable businesses, but most of those focus on mainnet-adjacent opportunities rather than the main Ehereum network. Additionally, these opportunities generally do not scale proportionally to the amount of value created,” EF explains.

Ethereum Client Teams to Receive 4,608 ETH Each

A total of nine Ethereum client teams are eligible to receive the rewards, including Besu, Erigon, Go-ethereum, Lighthouse, Lodestar, Nethermind, Nimbus, Prysm, and Teku, with each of these teams receiving 144 validators (ETH 4,608) to operate on mainnet. 

EF says validator deposits are made up-front to be operated by the chosen eams immediately, however, withdrawals will be vested over several years, with the first tranche scheduled to be unlocked once the withdrawal feature goes live on the Beacon Chain. 

To access these funds, client teams are required to continue to maintain their software, meet Ethereum mainnet performance benchmarks, and generally contribute their bit towards the successful delivery of the Ethereum community’s roadmap.

What’s more, EF has made hinted that the incentive program will serve as an additional income stream for client teams once the Eh1 and Eth2 Merge get executed, as they will also be earning transaction fees. As the funds vest, client teams will be able to make withdrawals or stake it to earn more.

Talking about transaction fees, Participating in Ethereum-based DeFi platforms such as Uniswap, Bancor and others is currently only possible for those with deep pockets, as transaction fees for even a simple token swap of $100 way supersede the amount being swapped.

While there is a host of L2 networks that claim to slash these fees for users, the fact remains that only a handful of people really understand how to use these L2 networks. As the Ethereum team continues to work towards the transition to proof-of-stake (PoS), it remains to be seen whether the issue of crazy gas fees will end soon enough.