The ENS DAO’s Public Goods Working Group officially closed its doors on July 2, after four and a half years of channeling funds into Ethereum’s open-source infrastructure. Working group lead Simona Pop confirmed the sunsetting in a thread on X, marking the end of one of crypto’s longer-running experiments in decentralized grant-making.
The closure also means the group’s grants platform, builder.ensgrants.xyz, is no longer accepting applications. For builders who had grown accustomed to rolling open grant submissions, the window is now shut.
What the working group actually did
The Public Goods Working Group launched in early 2022, not long after ENS completed its high-profile token airdrop and formalized its DAO structure. Its mandate was broad but focused: fund projects that benefited Ethereum and the wider web3 ecosystem without expecting direct financial returns.
Over its lifespan, the PGWG funded initiatives spanning developer tooling, privacy solutions, education programs, policy research, and builder support. The grants model featured small allocations of up to 2 ETH for individual projects alongside larger funding pools. For context, a 300,000 USDC pool was planned for Q3 2024 to support more ambitious grant rounds.
