BeInCrypto Institutional Research: 10 Chain Foundation Programs Driving Web3 Ecosystem Development

Best Web3 Ecosystem Development Program is a category within the BeInCrypto Institutional 100, an annual research-driven program recognising institutional digital asset excellence across 26 categories and six pillars.

This category sits under Pillar 6: Tokenization & Enterprise Blockchain. The 10 programs below are listed alphabetically by parent chain and are not ranked. A shortlist will be named in May 2026, with the winner announced at Proof of Talk in Paris on June 2–3, 2026.

Key Facts

• Long list: 10 named programs across grants, accelerators, hackathons, retroactive funding, gas rebates, incubators, AI-focused programs, and strategic ecosystem funds
• Initial pool: More than 25 chain-foundation programs screened; 10 advanced to the long list
• Order: Listed alphabetically by parent chain, not ranked
• Scoring: 30% quantitative data · 50% Expert Council · 20% disclosed company data
• Criteria assessed: Capital deployed, graduate impact, institutional focus, program quality, ecosystem growth, transparency
• Boundary scope: This category evaluates a specific named program, not the underlying chain or the chain’s wider ecosystem

Program	Parent Chain	Program Scale & Structure	Representative Outcomes
Aptos $50M Markets and Machines Commitment	AptosRun by Aptos Foundation and Aptos Labs	Announced May 7, 2026$50M+ strategic capital commitment across on-chain markets, protocol infrastructure, research, AI agents, and trading partners	Decibel surpassed $1B cumulative volume after Feb 2026 mainnet launchShelby supports AI-agent workloads through hot storage and licensed dataset exchange
Arbitrum Trailblazer AI Grant Program + Trailblazer 2.0	ArbitrumRun by Arbitrum Foundation	Trailblazer AI launched Nov 2024; Trailblazer 2.0 launched Jun 2025$2M total budget across immediate grants and Vibekit-based agentic DeFi tooling	Onboarded AI projects including Allora, ARC Agents, Eternal AI, Hyperbolic, Ora, and ElizaVibekit launched with integrations for Pendle, GMX, Aave, and Camelot
Avalanche Retro9000 Retroactive Grants Program	AvalancheRun by Avalanche Foundation	Launched Nov 2024Up to $40M in retroactive grants plus $2M referral pool, with quarterly snapshots and C-Chain fee-based grant rounds	Cohort 1 funded 19 grantees with more than $1MCohort 2 funded 8 grantees; Cohort 3 funded 4 grantees, including infrastructure and app builders
Ethereum ESP New Grants Program	EthereumRun by Ethereum Foundation Ecosystem Support Program	Relaunched Nov 3, 2025 after redesign pauseDual-track Wishlist and RFP model focused on cryptography, privacy, application-layer development, security, and community growth	ESP database includes 1,039 funded projects since 20242025 Academic Grants Round expanded to $2M, alongside Office Hours and new grant tooling teams
Hedera Crypto Economy Fund + Thrive 2025 Grants + Verifiable AI Tooling	HederaRun by Hedera Foundation	Crypto Economy Fund ongoing since 2022; Thrive 2025 grants launched in 2025Multi-track structure across community innovation, enterprise grants, academic research, AI, tokenization, identity, and RWAs	AI Studio and Verifiable Compute launched with EQTY Lab, NVIDIA Blackwell, Accenture Public Sector, and SCAN UKHedera donated its codebase to Linux Foundation Decentralized Trust as Project Hiero
NEAR AI x HZN Incubation Program + NEAR AI Agent Fund	NEARRun by NEAR Foundation and NEAR.AI	Incubator launched May/Jun 2024 with follow-on phases through May 2025$100K NEAR investment per team, up to $250K from Delphi Labs, $50K Aethir credits, and $20M AI Agent Fund	Initial cohort funded Mizu, Pond, Nevermined, Hyperbolic, Ringfence, and ExabitsHyperbolic raised $7M seed; Mizu launched beta with 20K users in its first week
Polygon AggLayer Breakout Program	PolygonRun by Polygon Foundation and Polygon Labs	Launched Apr 24, 2025Structured incubator-to-graduation program for projects building around AggLayer, with 5–15% token airdrops to POL stakers	Privado ID graduated after testing with HSBC and Deutsche BankMiden raised $25M seed; Katana became an AggLayer CDK chain with VaultBridge
Solana Frontier Hackathon 2026 + Colosseum Accelerator Series	SolanaRun by Solana Foundation and Colosseum	Frontier ran Apr 6–May 11, 2026Colosseum deploys more than $2.5M into select winners; up to 10 teams enter accelerator with $250K pre-seed funding	Breakout Hackathon drew 10,000+ participants from 140+ countries and 1,412 final projectsColosseum alumni have raised more than $650M in venture capital
Starknet Propulsion v2 Program	StarknetRun by Starknet Foundation	Original pilot launched May 2024; Propulsion v2 live Nov 27, 2025Up to $1M per project in STRK, with gas-rebate funding tied to demonstrated user adoption	Starknet user-centric projects grew from 72 to 193 between Nov 2023 and Nov 2024Notable v2 participants include Ready, Focus Tree, AVNU, Endur, Ekubo, and Cartridge
Sui Foundation Ecosystem Development Program	SuiRun by Sui Foundation	$50M new grants announced Feb 2026Multi-track structure across RFP grants, flash RFPs, research awards, Hydropower accelerator, Sui Overflow, and DeFi ecosystem funding	Sui Overflow 2025 drew 352 project submissionsMonthly active developers reached 1,300 in Q1 2026, while Sui recorded $111B stablecoin volume in Jan 2026

About This List

The BeInCrypto Institutional 100 — Best Web3 Ecosystem Development Program (2026 Long List) identifies specific named programs run by chain foundations to grow Web3 ecosystems. These include strategic capital commitments, AI-focused grant programs, retroactive funding, RFP models, enterprise-backed foundation grants, incubators, hackathon-to-accelerator pipelines, gas-rebate mechanisms, and vertical-specific ecosystem funds.

The category evaluates the program itself. The underlying chain is evaluated separately under Category 6.2: Best Blockchain Infrastructure. Enterprise blockchain implementations built on these chains are evaluated under Category 6.1: Best Institutional Enterprise Blockchain Implementation. Pure-capital VC programs operated by venture firms are routed to fund-manager categories.

Methodology

This category is evaluated under Track B of the BeInCrypto Institutional 100 methodology: 30% quantitative metrics, 50% Expert Council scoring, and 20% disclosed company data.

Assessment spans six criteria: capital deployed through the program, portfolio impact of graduates, institutional focus, program quality and structure, ecosystem growth attributable to the program, and transparency.

The disclosed data weighting reflects the limited public visibility into foundation grant economics, including capital actually deployed versus committed, post-grant portfolio performance, and graduate retention.

Data was verified using foundation press releases, official program pages, on-chain ecosystem metrics, portfolio-company funding announcements, relevant regulator filings, audited ETF disclosures, Linux Foundation Decentralized Trust filings, and mainstream financial press.