The Cycle 26 Preliminary Review has successfully concluded.
In this round, we received 29 new applications, along with 24 applications carried over from the previous cycle. The preliminary cutoff was set at 30 points. The average score for each application was calculated by dividing the total score by the number of reviewers who scored the application.
I’m pleased to report that not a single reviewer missed a milestone during this cycle. Special recognition goes to our operations lead, Bunnic, who has been commendable in ensuring that everything was delivered on time.
The Developer Advisory Board (DAB) played a formidable role in this cycle, providing valuable comments on all applications. Their input has given our reviewers a richer context for evaluating each submission.
The finalists for Cycle 26 will be selected and announced next Wednesday.
I extend my gratitude to the entire Grants Council for their dedication and hard work in making this cycle a success.
For applicants
We are delighted to announce that rubric comments are now integrated directly into your applications. Simply navigate to your application and check the sidebar to find scores for each rubric section, along with comments from reviewers. A huge thanks to the Charmverse team for implementing this feature so quickly. Please note that the average score displayed there is not the one we use for our evaluation. Comments are anonymized.
These are the results, for more in-depth data please use our public database:
| Cross Chain Voting | Multiple | |
| OP Stack Cross Chain Voting | Rollover from Cycle 25 | Pass to Final |
| Cross chain voting with Snapshot and Herodotus | Rollover from Cycle 25 | Pass to Final |
| Aragon <> RISC Zero - Joint partnership on crosschain voting | Rollover from Cycle 25 | Pass to Final |
| Grants Claiming Tools | Up to 2 | |
| Hedgey application | Rollover from Cycle 25 | Pass to Final |
| Attestation-Based Grants Payouts Claiming | Rollover from Cycle 25 | Pass to Final |
| Grants Claiming Tool | 43 | Pass to Final |
| Analysis of Grant Programs | Only 1 | |
| bleu’s Analysis of Grant Programs | Rollover from Cycle 25 | Pass to Final |
| Farcaster Social Graph | Up to 2 (1 remaining) | |
| CastRank: PageRank for Farcaster | Rollover from Cycle 25 | Pass to Final |
| Develop non-technical solutions for increasing both voter and token participation in the DAO | Multiple | |
| Vote Notifier, learner | 24 | Declined |
| Lighthouse | Rollover from Cycle 25 | Pass to Final |
| OptimismDAO Management dashboard | 24 | Declined |
| Event Horizon Public Access Voter Pool | 47 | Pass to Final |
| Delegate selection tool and Delegator education - PYOR | 28 | Declined |
| Decentralized alternative for contract attestation placeholder | Only 1 | |
| No Application | ||
| Create and Distribute Videos about Optimism Collective Governance | Multiple | |
| OP Roundup | Rollover from Cycle 25 | Pass to Final |
| Produce Superchain Explainer Videos, two MOOCs, and Shorts at DevCon | 26 | Declined |
| Modern Market Video Production & Distribution | 28.5 | Declined |
| GovCheck – Create and Distribute Videos About The Optimism Collective | 30 | Pass to Final |
| Integration of Optimism Gov and RPGF into University Courses | Multiple | |
| Integration of Optimism Gov and RPGF into University Courses | Rollover from Cycle 25 | Pass to Final |
| Optimism Dominance in Yield-Bearing Assets 1 | Multiple | |
| OETH on OP (1 of 3) | Rollover from Cycle 25 | Pass to Final |
| Optimism Dominance in Yield-Bearing Assets 2 | Multiple | |
| OETH on OP (2 of 3) | Rollover from Cycle 25 | Pass to Final |
| Optimism Dominance in Yield-Bearing Assets 3 | Multiple | |
| OETH on OP (3 of 3) | 46 | Pass to Final |
| Extra Finance S6 Mission Application | 43 | Pass to Final |
| Let’s Get HAI | 36 | Pass to Final |
| dForce on OP | 30 | Pass to Final |
| [CIAN] season6 Application | Pending | Pass to Final |
| Optimism Dominance in Yield-Bearing Assets 4 | Multiple or 1 | |
| GFX Labs | Rollover from Cycle 25 | Pass to Final |
| CryptoDCA | 19 | Declined |
| Developer Tools | Up to 4 (3 remaining) | |
| Optimizing Token Launches: Open-Source Crowdsale Factory | Rollover from Cycle 25 | Pass to Final |
| GhostTags - Open Source tagging, streaming and filtering transactions infrastructure | Rollover from Cycle 25 | Pass to Final |
| NFT HOOK | 30 | Pass to Final |
| Wake arena | 38 | Pass to Final |
| Research capital migration to the Superchain | Multiple | |
| Anthias Labs to Research Capital Migration to the Superchain | 23 | Declined |
| Research capital migration to Super chain and strategies to attract sustainable liquidity - PYOR | 36 | Pass to Final |
| Microgrants for Experimental Projects | Multiple | |
| Soulcial | Rollover from Cycle 25 | Pass to Final |
| Fractal Visions | Rollover from Cycle 25 | Pass to Final |
| ForkinWisdom | Rollover from Cycle 25 | Pass to Final |
| FairSharing - Contribution On-Chain, Reputation building, Decentralize coordination | Rollover from Cycle 25 | Pass to Final |
| Token Resurrection | 32 | Pass to Final |
| Kiwi News Application | 39 | Pass to Final |
| Chora Club | 37 | Pass to Final |
| Optimism as base for LRTs | Up to 6 (2 remaining) | |
| Boosting LRT adoption with Compound Finance | 49 | Pass to Final |
| Experimental Derivative Markets | Multiple | |
| Tradao - Copy Trading Platform | 37 | Pass to Final |
| TLX - Leveraged Tokens Protocol | Rollover from Cycle 25 | Pass to Final |
| Develop Onchain Social Games that attract Builders to Optimism - v2 | Multiple | |
| Universe Haus - project directory and review site + developer guild system | 29 | Declined |
| Support on-chain games close to launch | Multiple | |
| No Application | ||
| Optimism as Venture Studio | Multiple | |
| Super Studios-Optimism as a Venture Studio | Rollover from Cycle 25 | Pass to Final |
| Gaming Infra in the Superchain | Multiple | |
| Datacenter-level infra for OP ecosystem | 22 | Declined |
| Marquee Governance Hackaton | Only 1 | |
| SuperHack Bangkok - Marquee Governance Hackathon | Rollover from Cycle 25 | Pass to Final |
| Accelerating Game Development in the Superchain | Multiple | |
| Hangman Clash | 13 | Declined |
| Create Educational Programs that Empower Developers on Optimism - Modified with Lower Budget | Multiple | |
| GreenTech Hackathon Developer Workshops | 32 | Pass to Final |
| Optimistic EnDEVour – Educational Programs For Devs | 20 | Declined |
| Blockchain Innovation Hub: Optimism chapter | Rollover from Cycle 25 | Pass to Final |
| SuperDevs for Superchain | 47 | Pass to Final |
