gm gm. We're sending this email as we wrap up an incredible week in the Big Apple. That's right. We've been in an empire state of mind.
This week's been big for Ethereum. No it's not because of number go up because let's be real, we keep building regardless of market conditions. What's got us feelng bullish is seeing how many ecosystems and builders are growing. So many wins on the timeline and IRL in terms of adoption, launches, and updates so we're in a pretty celebratory mood.
Now on to epoch business. Since our launch, we've been asked this question more times than we can count. When are we doing an epoch for creatives? Our first two community and growth funds were smaller iterations as a starting ground. And our themed epochs have been insightful for shaping how v2 will look.
This epoch is no different. We're going to use these learnings and we're especially excited to finally share our big news.
We're collaborating with the Ethereum Foundation’s Strategic Funding Coordination team to bring you Epoch 9, Ethereum Stories.
It’s time to make Ethereum's narrative stronger. It's time for creatives to shine.
This epoch, we're funding the journalists, storytellers, content creators, and researchers who’ve helped make Ethereum legible, credible, and engaging to audiences.
We’re looking to fund high-impact marketing, educational, and journalistic content that push Ethereum forward.
We want to see work that belongs in classrooms, newsrooms, and dinner table conversations. Think Bill Nye for Ethereum: smart, clear, impossible to ignore.
If you’ve got a vision for how Ethereum’s stories should be told, this is your stage.
Show us the campaign, series, or investigation you’d run to make Ethereum a part of everyday conversation.
For the application, our ask is to share how/what you want to do, to market Ethereum.
Eligible Content Formats
Your past work and proposed new work may include:
- Long-form: Documentaries, explainers, podcasts, essays, investigative journalism
- Short-form: Reels, animations, short-form video content/Tikoks with educational value
- Sequential: Educational series, event coverage, recurring media campaigns
How will selection work?
This is a retroactive and forward round.
- You must have already created Ethereum-focused content (not just general crypto or DeFi).
- Funding is for your next project + informed by your track record.
We want to reward past excellence and provide fuel for future work.
Our review process will be similar to the previous 2 epochs. No snapshot vote for the initial selection with the community allocations deciding how the final matching funds are split up.
There will be multiple review cycles by the Octant and EF's Strategic Funding Coordination team for the selection of projects.
To apply, you need to:
- Provide proof of past Ethereum content (video, podcast, article, campaign, etc.)
- Show its impact (audience size, engagement quality, influence).
- Submit a short proposal for your next project, with:
- Concept and intended impact
- Distribution plan
- How you’d execute with a smaller vs. larger budget (detail what you would do if you got less than 0.1x of the financial $ vs. if you got 10x that amount.
How are we evaluating applicants?
We're assessing applicants both on what they’ve done and what they're proposing to do:
1. Past Work Impact
- Audience reach and engagement
- Narrative clarity and originality
- Ethereum focus (not just general crypto)
- Normie resonance (did it reach beyond the echo chamber?) vs. niche (did it reach a specific audience in crypto)
2. Proposal Strength
- Creative direction and format
- Clarity of idea and intended impact
- Alignment with Ethereum values and the round theme
- Feasibility and distribution plan based on funding variance (what will it look like if a smaller amount was received vs bigger)
- Proof and reputation of past work
⚠️ What's not eligible:
- Financial advice, price speculation, or token promotion
- Market predictions or “moon/pump” language
- Event organization as the primary deliverable
Educational or informational content is allowed only if free of calls to financial action.
Want to help Ethereum grow?
And finally, some important dates:
- Applications Open: Aug 14 – Aug 27
- Review Period: Aug 28 – Sept 10
- Allocation Window: Oct 8 - Oct 22
and as always, it's a good time to lock more $GLM earlier in the epoch (because rewards are time-weighted) 🖤
Till next time, <3
Disclaimer: This email/article is not financial or tax advice. Octant content is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. The content in this email/article is not tax advice. Always do your own research.
