Michael Egorov, the founder of Curve Finance, has proposed a grant of 17.45 million CRV tokens to help foster ecosystem growth, research, and technological advancements for the lending protocol.
This grant, valued at approximately $6.6 million at current rates, is set to be awarded to Swiss Stake AG, the company responsible for Curve, following a previous grant issued in late 2024.
In a proposal submitted on the Curve DAO governance forum on Sunday, Egorov stated that the funds would be allocated for various technological and security improvements for the lending protocol, as well as to maintain its contributor team.
“This grant will facilitate research and development in software, infrastructure, security, and ecosystem support, ensuring that the 25-member team at Swiss Stake AG can continue its vital contributions to Curve,” Egorov mentioned.
The founder outlined an extensive list of goals Swiss Stake AG aims to achieve for Curve in 2026, including launching and scaling a new version of its lending system, Llamalend, establishing an on-chain foreign currency swap, and enhancing Curve’s user interface.
“This proposal aims to secure continuous funding for the development and upkeep of Curve’s smart contract ecosystem and software repositories, promote further integrations and cross-chain functionalities, and improve user interface aspects, all while reinforcing the governance and operational framework of Curve DAO,” Egorov added.
Additionally, the firm will make any intellectual property developed through the grant available under an “open-source license compatible with Curve’s software repositories.”
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If approved, Swiss Stake AG will be permitted to stake some of the CRV tokens received to produce additional yield for its initiatives, but they cannot utilize the funds for any purposes outlined in the proposal. The firm commits to “bi-annual reports on the use of the GrantAmount.”
Swiss Stake AG aims for self-sustainability
In the proposal, Egorov noted that while Swiss Stake AG has developed several revenue streams through CRV, it “remains significantly reliant on community support to continue its operations.”
Therefore, the funding will be crucial for sustaining the team as it develops the Curve ecosystem and strives for self-sustainability.
“Swiss Stake AG has established some secondary income channels, primarily through Curve Lite deployments on various networks. Additionally, we have earned system fees by staking veCRV via various wrapper protocols (Convex, StakeDAO, Yearn) as a minority participant,” he stated.
“All these revenues have been utilized strictly in accordance with the objectives set forth in the grant. Nonetheless, this revenue does not yet render the company sustainable at this stage,” the founder added.
Established in early 2020, Curve Finance boasts a total value locked of approximately $2.2 billion, according to DefiLlama data, ranking it as the 21st-largest DeFi protocol in the market.
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