Solana Foundation Unveils $1M Grant for AI-Blockchain Initiatives

Solana Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports the growth of the Solana blockchain, announced Tuesday the launch of a $1 million grant to finance projects building AI tools on the Solana network.

Solana Supports AI-Blockchain Integration

The grant is open to new and existing projects. Approved project teams can receive between $5,000 and $25,000 to fast-track their AI ambitions. 

To gain eligibility, projects were mandated to be publicly accessible by anyone. When launched, they must also be open-source and present source codes to the Solana Foundation. Additionally, eligible projects must outline the exact amount and plan for the funds’ use.

Notably, the grant is only one of the Foundation’s methods of funding projects. Others include hackathons, Metaplex, Solana Ventures, and ecosystem funds. Solana had previously pioneered a successful hackathon that birthed leading projects like Solend, Zeta, DeFi Land, and others.

A Comeback Plan?

The Solana Foundation announced that the funding process is geared at bolstering the layer-1 network by encouraging new and existing projects to build and continue to build on the platform.

“These grants are meant to encourage the Solana ecosystem to explore new use cases of these novel technologies,” the Foundation stated.

This idea is much needed after an exodus of top crypto projects enveloped the layer-1 blockchain in the past months. Among these projects are the NFT platform DeGods and y00ts. Self-custodial crypto wallet provider Phantom and NFT marketplace Magic Eden reduced dependence on the Solana mainnet and explored other blockchain networks like Polygon and Ethereum.

Solana’s woes were accelerated with the downfall of its former ally, FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried. The native asset for the blockchain, SOL, dropped to as low as $e. However, SOL has started to recover alongside other crypto assets. Meanwhile, the asset now trades at $21, representing a 5% increase following the Foundation’s grant announcement.