Ethereum Foundation Launches $1M Audit Subsidy Program to cut Smart Contract security costs. On April 14, 2026, the Ethereum Foundation unveiled a $1 million Audit Subsidy Program partnering with Areta and over 20 top audit firms including Nethermind and Chainlink Labs. The initiative subsidizes up to 30% of audit costs for Ethereum mainnet builders as part of the Trillion Dollar Security push. By JUAN MENDE April 15, 2026 * Program launch: Ethereum Foundation announced the $1 million Audit Subsidy Program on April 14, 2026, to address high costs of smart contract security audits. * Subsidy details: Pool covers up to 30% of audit fees for selected Ethereum mainnet projects, with funds applied directly through Areta's platform. * Audit access: Connects builders to more than 20 leading firms including Nethermind and Chainlink Labs via an expert committee review process. * Eligibility focus: Open to all Ethereum mainnet builders; prioritizes projects advancing new use cases and CROPS principles (censorship resistance, open source, privacy, security). * Ecosystem goal: Part of the foundation's Trillion Dollar Security initiative to strengthen Ethereum as it scales to handle larger on-chain value. The Ethereum Foundation has introduced a targeted measure to lower one of the biggest barriers facing crypto developers: the expense of professional smart contract audits. On April 14, 2026, the foundation launched its $1 million Audit Subsidy Program, designed to subsidize a portion of security review costs and broaden access to top-tier auditors. The program operates in partnership with Areta, which handles applications and disbursement, and connects approved projects to more than 20 leading audit firms including Nethermind and Chainlink Labs, according to CoinDesk. Eligible teams - open to Ethereum mainnet builders of any size or stage - submit proposals for review by an expert committee. Approved subsidies are applied directly to audit services, with some reports indicating coverage of up to 30% of fees. The initiative forms part of the foundation's ongoing Trillion Dollar Security effort, which aims to enhance protocol resilience as Ethereum supports more complex applications and higher-value activity. In its announcement on X, the Ethereum Foundation stated: "The subsidy program makes audits accessible and strengthens the Ethereum ecosystem." The post links to application details via Areta and underscores the program's role alongside the newly introduced CROPS principles framework guiding development priorities around censorship resistance, open source, privacy, and security. Industry observers note that comprehensive audits remain an industry best practice yet are frequently skipped by smaller teams due to cost. By reducing that financial hurdle, the foundation hopes to raise overall security standards and reduce the risk of exploits across DeFi, NFTs, and other Ethereum-based projects. No cap per project was specified, but the $1 million pool will be allocated based on committee decisions. The move arrives amid continued growth in Ethereum's ecosystem and follows the foundation's earlier mandate updates defining its core role in supporting long-term network health. While the subsidy does not eliminate all audit-related expenses, it provides a practical step toward making professional security reviews more attainable for a broader range of builders. Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute advice of any kind. Readers should conduct their own research before making any decisions. 2026 (C) Cryptopress. For informational purposes only, not offered as advice of any kind. Discover more Mobile Payments & Digital Wallets Financial Markets News Distributed & Cloud Computing Lo último. * Linux Foundation Launches x402 Foundation to Govern Coinbase's Open AI Payments Protocol On April 2, 2026, the Linux Foundation announced the x402 Foundation, taking stewardship of Coinbase's x402 protocol for embedding payments into web interactions. The neutral, open-source body - backed by Google, Stripe, Visa, Mastercard, Shopify, Cloudflare, Solana Foundation and others - targets seamless AI-agent... * Tether Taps Big Four Accounting Firm for Inaugural USDT Reserve Audit Tether has engaged an undisclosed Big Four accounting firm to conduct a full independent audit of its $184 billion USDT reserves, marking a major transparency shift... * Plasma: The Blockchain Challenging DeFi's Stablecoin Status Quo Plasma aims to offer zero-fee USDT transactions and lightning-fast settlement by leveraging Bitcoin's security and an EVM-compatible environment... * Balancer DeFi Protocol Suffers $128M Exploit in V2 Pools Amid Smart Contract Vulnerability Ethereum-based DeFi platform Balancer experienced a major exploit draining over $128 million from its V2 Composable Stable Pools, with chains like Berachain halting operations to limit damage...

The Ethereum Foundation has launched an Audit Subsidy Programme with a $1 million pool to help developers cover smart contract security audit costs. An expert committee will review applications, with selected builders receiving subsidies for services through Areta's platform, which connects projects with over 20 audit firms. The programme runs through Areta's marketplace, where developers can obtain multiple competitive quotes. Partners include Nethermind and Chainlink Labs. Subsidies are paid in full only after teams address audit findings, linking funding to implementation. Foundation-led audit subsidies have become a common strategy in blockchain platform competition, with ecosystems like Uniswap and Scroll using similar marketplace setups. The initiative forms part of Ethereum's broader Trillion Dollar Security Initiative.

Boundless' verifier is live on Stellar. Zero-knowledge proof verification is now live on Stellar. Nethermind has implemented the RISC Zero Groth16 verifier for Stellar smart contracts. The Stellar network's most recent protocol upgrade X-Ray (Protocol 25) also adds native cryptographic primitives that make modern proof verification practical onchain. Together, these primitives lay the groundwork for configurable, privacy-preserving applications on Stellar, a key requirement for institutions that want to scale real payment flows without exposing sensitive transaction data by default. What's new. This integration has two parts, and they work together: 1) A Groth16 verifier on Soroban Nethermind has implemented the RISC Zero Groth16 verifier to Soroban, enabling Stellar contracts to verify SNARK proofs directly onchain. 2) Native BN254 + Poseidon support (X-Ray / Protocol 25) X-Ray adds native support for BN254 and Poseidon, core primitives used across modern ZK systems. This reduces the overhead of implementing ZK cryptography purely at the contract layer and makes proof-heavy applications viable for production deployments. Privacy primitives on Stellar. The direction for privacy on Stellar is clear: keep the network transparent by default, but make privacy configurable when the use case demands it. At Meridian 2025, SDF's Chief Product Officer Tomer Weller described this trajectory as giving developers the primitives to build privacy-preserving applications while still meeting the visibility requirements of compliance-forward institutions. Boundless fits this model by letting applications prove conditions without revealing the underlying inputs. A contract can accept a proof as a cryptographic receipt: learning that a rule was satisfied, without revealing the data behind it. "Stellar has already proven itself as the go-to network for global payments. By introducing configurable privacy designed with compliance in mind, we're enabling new categories of applications and features that weren't possible before. The ability to choose transparency or privacy without compromise changes everything" shared Tomer Weller, Chief Product Officer at the Stellar Development Foundation. "What makes our recent protocol upgrade particularly exciting is the foundation it creates for builders to develop privacy solutions on Stellar and we're glad to be working alongside exceptional partners like Nethermind and Boundless, who bring deep expertise in onchain privacy. Together, we're delivering infrastructure that institutions and developers can adopt in the real-world at scale, which will take blockchain adoption to the next level." What this enables on Stellar. Private payment flows: Prove a transfer is valid without exposing amounts, counterparties, or internal business logic useful for payroll, B2B settlement, and regulated asset movement. Compliance-aware access controls: Attach authorization to flows without doxxing identity data. Prove "this party is allowed" and "this condition is met," and let Soroban enforce it as a verified input. Trust-minimized interoperability: Since Stellar can now verify proofs, developers can build workflows where proof outputs generated elsewhere are verified natively on Stellar, creating a cryptographic link between ecosystems without relying on multisigs. This is the first transaction that updates Stellar's view of Ethereum through proof verification What's next. The verifier deployment is step one. Next, the Boundless and Stellar teams are focused on marketplace integrations and repeatable patterns that make configurable privacy easy to ship on Soroban, especially for institutional flows where privacy and compliance need to coexist. As Stellar's privacy roadmap advances, these primitives become the baseline: applications can prove policy, authorization, and correctness onchain without defaulting to full data disclosure. Getting started. The verifier is live on Stellar Mainnet. Developers can begin verifying proofs. * Boundless documentation: docs.boundless.network * Boundless on Stellar: https://github.com/boundless-xyz/signal-on-stellar * Stellar Soroban documentation: developers.stellar.org * Boundless marketplace data LIVE: explorer.boundless.network * RISC Zero verifier contracts: dev.risczero.com