Marking Argot's Next Milestone: Securing Foundational Funding from the Ethereum Foundation

We are excited to announce a significant milestone for Argot: securing substantial support from the Ethereum Foundation (EF) to further our mission of sustaining vital open-source infrastructure within the Ethereum ecosystem, particularly the Solidity language. This marks a critical step toward ensuring long-term stability and innovation for Ethereum’s core development.

Several months ago, we introduced the Argot Collective, a new initiative designed to support critical infrastructure within the Ethereum ecosystem. Since then, we have established our legal structure, secured initial funding, and formalized guiding principles for our ongoing work.

Vision

Argot, formed by about 25 former Ethereum Foundation members, is committed to sustaining essential open-source software infrastructure for Ethereum, maintaining principles of transparency, neutrality, and resilience. Our collective aims to foster a sustainable environment for maintaining open-source software and tools that, despite their broad usage, frequently lack sufficient funding.

Funding

We are pleased to announce the finalization of a funding arrangement with the Ethereum Foundation (EF), securing operational support for Argot over the next three years. Additionally, the EF plans to offer an extension of this support for a further two years, contingent upon finalizing the relevant terms and conditions. Argot appreciates the EF’s essential role in our establishment and its ongoing collaboration.

Argot will receive funding primarily in ETH. To ensure financial stability and secure a runway covering our operational costs and salaries for the full three-year period, we intend to convert this ETH funding into stable assets over time. All conversions will be transparently disclosed in our regular financial reports. We acknowledge community sensitivity around these transactions and commit to executing this responsibly, transparently, and with minimal market impact, aligning fully with our mission to support Ethereum's long-term health.

With our transition from EF to an independent entity, we recognize the necessity to diversify funding sources. We are currently engaging with ecosystem participants and funders to identify sustainable financial models capable of reliably supporting Ethereum’s crucial developer infrastructure.

Legal Structure

Argot is incorporated as a not-for-profit association in Zug, Switzerland. This structure provides a robust legal framework that aligns with our mission to support public goods and operate transparently.

Initial Project Portfolio

Argot’s initial portfolio includes maintaining and supporting these key open-source projects:

Act: Formal specification language for smart contracts
Ethdebug: Standardized debug information format for the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)
Fe: A new programming language for smart contracts
Hevm: Symbolic execution engine for the EVM
Solidity: The primary smart contract language for Ethereum
Sourcify: Decentralized source-code verification service

While these projects form our initial focus, we remain open to evolving our portfolio in response to emerging community needs and technological advancements.

Our Commitments

To align our operations with our values and provide transparency to the community, Argot has adopted the following foundational commitments:

Open Source: All Argot-developed software (excluding internal-use tools) will be licensed under OSI-approved open-source licenses.
Transparency Reporting: Detailed transparency reports covering all significant internal and external expenditures will be published bi-annually.
Project Roadmaps & Updates: Annual roadmaps and regular progress updates for each project will be publicly available.
Funding Disclosure: Any funding exceeding USD 100,000 will be publicly disclosed, detailing the funder’s identity and grant conditions, which will be outlined in a forthcoming post.
Non-Transfer of Governance Power: Argot will not sell or transfer governance influence, ensuring continued independence and community alignment.
Solidity Maintenance & Development: Argot is committed to maintaining and developing the Solidity codebase for as long as it is considered useful by the Ethereum community, with continued Solidity maintenance designated as one of Argot’s key operational priorities.

What’s next

All Argot projects will soon share their detailed roadmaps, unveiling exciting developments planned for the coming months. These announcements will highlight the innovative work ahead, fostering deeper community engagement and collaboration to drive Ethereum's infrastructure forward.

We invite community participation and encourage those interested in supporting or engaging with Argot to reach out with feedback and suggestions and Check our twitter, farcaster or blog for updates.