Curve ecosystem funding advances as new CRV grant proposal targets long‑term development

Curve Finance is weighing a new CRV grant as its core development company seeks multi‑year funding to expand the protocol’s infrastructure and products.

Curve founder pushes fresh funding package for Swiss Stake AG

Curve Finance founder Michael Egorov has submitted a new governance proposal to the Curve DAO, requesting a 17.45 million CRV allocation to support the protocol’s long-term roadmap. At current market prices, the package is valued at roughly $6.6 million and would go to Swiss Stake AG, Curve’s core development company.

The initiative follows an earlier grant approved in late 2024 and is framed as a way to maintain development momentum.

According to the proposal, the funding would sustain research, software development, infrastructure, and security work for Curve’s lending protocol, while also retaining the firm’s existing contributor base.

Moreover, Egorov emphasized that the money is intended to preserve and grow the team’s technical capabilities rather than fund unrelated ventures. The document positions the requested CRV token allocation as essential to the protocol’s competitiveness in an increasingly crowded DeFi landscape.

Roadmap for 2026 and focus areas for the new funding

The proposal outlines a detailed 2026 roadmap for Swiss Stake AG. Key initiatives include launching and scaling a new iteration of Curve’s lending product Llamalend, as well as upgrading its architecture. These Llamalend upgrades roadmap items are presented as core to Curve’s next phase of lending growth.

In addition, the team plans to develop an onchain foreign exchange swap system to expand Curve’s role beyond stablecoin and crypto asset pools. The roadmap also calls for a significantly improved user interface, along with continued work on integrations, crosschain functionality, and advanced governance tooling.

However, the proposal also makes clear that these ambitions require predictable financial backing. The suggested CRV grant is framed as a bridge between Curve’s current revenue and the resources needed to deliver the full 2026 plan.

Open-source commitments and use of the CRV allocation

A public update on Curve’s social channels summarized the plan as a proposal to grant 17.45M CRV to Swiss Stake AG for further development of technologies for Curve. That said, Egorov stressed that any intellectual property created with the funds would be released under an open-source license compatible with existing Curve repositories.

This structure is meant to align the grant with the protocol’s open development model. Moreover, it ensures that software improvements funded by the DAO remain accessible to the broader community and can be integrated by external teams building on Curve.

If the Curve DAO proposal passes, Swiss Stake AG would be permitted to stake a portion of the CRV it receives, but only within the boundaries set out in the document. Staking would allow the firm to earn additional yield, potentially extending the effective life of the grant without changing its stated purpose.

Reporting duties and path toward financial self-sufficiency

The company has committed to publishing detailed biannual reports explaining how the funds are spent. These disclosures are intended to give token holders ongoing visibility into the impact of the grant and the status of core development.

The proposal also highlights Swiss Stake AG’s efforts to move toward financial self-sufficiency. Over the past years, the firm has deployed several revenue-generating initiatives, such as Curve Lite deployments on other networks and fees from staking veCRV via external protocols including Convex, StakeDAO, and Yearn.

However, the document concedes that these income sources remain insufficient to fully cover operational expenses. All such revenues have reportedly been used strictly in line with the objectives of existing grants, leaving the team still reliant on ongoing community-backed curve ecosystem funding at this stage.

DeFi maturity and the broader context for Curve

The funding debate comes as decentralized finance continues to mature. As previously reported, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently argued that decentralized finance development has reached a stage where on-chain savings are no longer merely experimental.

Speaking at a Dromos Labs event, Buterin said he is encouraged by DeFi’s progress in security, usability, and overall maturity. Moreover, he suggested that more users and institutions could soon treat DeFi as a primary alternative to traditional banks.

Buterin contended that the industry has moved beyond its early reputation for risky yield farming and frequent exploits. While he acknowledged incidents such as the Balancer hack, he described the difference between today’s ecosystem and the early 2020 era as “night and day,” citing stronger smart contract security and the “walkaway test,” which ensures users can always independently recover their funds.

Outlook for the new CRV grant

The outcome of the grant vote will determine whether Swiss Stake AG can execute its full 2026 roadmap as planned. If approved, the funding would extend Curve’s investment in lending, foreign exchange functionality, and governance infrastructure, while keeping core software open source.

That said, the discussion around the proposal also reflects a wider question facing DeFi protocols in 2024 and beyond: how to sustainably finance long-term development while maintaining community alignment. For Curve, the requested 17.45 million CRV package is the latest test of that balance.

In summary, Egorov’s request underscores both the progress and the financial constraints of a leading DeFi platform, as Curve’s community weighs whether another major grant is warranted to support its next phase of growth.