Here's a full breakdown:

Per-epoch rewards

• Reward distribution moves from per-block to per-epoch cadence.

• Removes reward computation and reward merkle tree updates from the per-block validation path, previously a throughput bottleneck when hitting a few thousand delegators.

• Higher sustainable throughput; opens the door to further resource reductions in later releases. Reduces compute requirements for nodes.

Light client catchup

• The Espresso light client, which verifies Espresso’s consensus protocol, can now serve as a catchup provider. The light client verifies consensus certificates itself, so nodes can fetch historical data by block height without already knowing its hash.

Security and liveness hardening

• The stake table contract now rejects invalid BLS and x25519 keys, and nodes tolerate invalid on-chain keys, hardening Espresso's stake table contracts.

More resilient networking

• Nodes now advertise their network identity and correctly drop peers from other networks. Peer discovery is more reliable and cross-network gossip bandwidth is eliminated.

Node telemetry

• Built-in telemetry reporting with process memory gauges. Simplifies configuration and maintenance burden for node operators, reducing cost.

Pruning and query node storage cost

• Removal of historical data from the database no longer negatively affects consensus or query performance.

• Repeated hashes, which uniquely identify transactions, blocks, and more, are stored once and referenced by id, shrinking the query node database, alongside broader query performance improvements that reduce compute costs.

• Additional query performance improvements, reducing database compute requirements (cost) for query nodes.

Operator cost & quality of life improvements

• Database reliability: automatic retry on transient Postgres errors, migration queries no longer stall busy nodes.

• Memory soak testing to catch memory leaks before release.

• Log hygiene: no raw merkle proofs or trees in logs, actionable network diagnostics, less noise. Reduces maintenance burden and cost for logs processing for operators, which can be substantial.

• Binary upgrade tests to catch incompatibilities between version earlier. Reduces risk and maintenance burden when deploying software upgrades.

The code behind this upgrade is public. Review the GitHub repo, or check out the specific release branch.

Today, the Espresso Foundation is launching a bug bounty program to formalize that responsibility and reward the security researchers who help us uphold it.

The program covers the smart contracts and supporting components most critical to Espresso's proof-of-stake consensus protocol, including staking, reward claiming, light client verification, signature verification, and the proxy and access control mechanisms that govern upgrades. Eligible reports can earn rewards up to $250,000 for critical findings, scaled by impact, exploitability, and report quality. Full scope, severity definitions, and submission requirements are on our Security page.

Bug bounties work alongside, not in place of, rigorous external auditing. Espresso's smart contracts and core components have been reviewed by Runtime Verification, Least Authority, and Cantina, with full reports published in the espresso-audits repo. The bounty extends that work into the open, inviting independent researchers to stress-test the system on an ongoing basis and giving them a clear, well-compensated path to disclose what they find.

If you're a researcher or white hat and you spot something, please report it following the steps outlined in the Security Policy. Triage, safe harbor terms, and payout details are all covered there. We aim to acknowledge new reports within a few business days.

Espresso is built to be the secure, neutral foundation that thousands of chains and applications depend on. Programs like this one are how we ensure the long-term health and sustainability of the network. 

The Espresso Network is secured by ESP staked through HotShot, Espresso's Byzantine fault tolerant (BFT) proof-of-stake consensus protocol, where the top 100 validators by total stake make up the active consensus set at any given time. Validators earn a share of protocol rewards for participating in consensus, with node operators setting their preferred commission rate on rewards from delegated stake.

Operators selected for the Validator Bootstrap Program will each receive a 1,000,000 ESP delegation to help establish their presence on the network while they build stake over time. Visit Espresso’s Staking and Delegation Dashboard to learn more about the current validator set.

The Espresso Foundation will evaluate operators accepted into the new program on an ongoing basis against clear performance criteria, including missed slots, voting participation, how quickly they update to the latest supported software version, and responsiveness to Foundation communications.

Every six months, top-performing validators become eligible to be considered for the Foundation’s main delegation program, which carries a larger delegation. All delegations remain subject to Foundation discretion and may be adjusted or withdrawn based on performance or program needs.

If you are interested in earning protocol rewards for operating the infrastructure that secures Espresso's, apply to the Validator Bootstrap Program.

Espresso, a purpose-built base layer for layer-2 chains, provides fast finality, scalable data availability, and crosschain composability to a growing ecosystem that includes ApeChain, Celo, Katana, RARI Chain, Molten, Morph, and LitVM. Today, 20+ chains are live or in various stages of integration, representing over $1B in total value secured.

Espresso's upgrade to proof-of-stake consensus represents the transition from a permissioned network run by a fixed validator set to a base layer secured by its community. The upgrade rolls out across three epochs, completing on March 4 when the stake table takes effect and staking rewards begin to accrue.

Here's what's happening, why it matters, and what to do.

Where we've been

Since launching Mainnet 0 in November 2024, the Espresso Network has operated as a permissioned network of 100 nodes operated by 22 institutional and community validators, selected by the Espresso Systems team before the Espresso Foundation was established. That was a deliberate design choice. Running a stable production network while proving out the consensus mechanics and onboarding rollup integrations required a controlled environment.

Over the past 14 months, Espresso validators have finalized over 70 million blocks from integrated chains, including ApeChain, RARI Chain, Molten, Appchain, NodeOps Network, Rufus, and LogX. HotShot, Espresso's purpose-built BFT consensus protocol, has been running in production, delivering transaction finality in seconds rather than the 16 minutes it takes Ethereum to finalize a rollup's transactions.

The permissioned phase served its purpose. Now it ends.

What the PoS upgrade changes

Mainnet 1.0 opens the validator set to anyone. Economic security, backed by ESP staking, replaces the fixed operator set. This is not a cosmetic change: it fundamentally alters the security model of the network and the guarantees that integrated rollups can rely on.

Under PoS, validator voting power within HotShot's active consensus set is proportional to staked ESP. HotShot dynamically adjusts its active consensus set to match the top 100 validators by total stake at any time. As long as 2/3 of staked ESP is held by honest validators, the network is secure. HotShot's consensus protocol is accountable: In the event of malicious behavior, the evidence is onchain and the community can act.

For rollups integrated with Espresso, this matters in a concrete way. The base layer they depend on for fast finality, data availability, and crosschain composability is now secured by its community rather than a curated set of operators.

How the upgrade rolls out

The upgrade happens across three epochs, each of which spans 40,000 blocks, or roughly one day at current two-second block times, though exact timing varies with network conditions. There is no fixed clock: epoch transitions happen automatically at set block intervals.

• Today: More than 90% of mainnet node operators have upgraded to the newest release. The upgrade process begins.

• Epoch 1 — est. Monday, March 2: The upgrade triggers at block height 10,960,201. Track it in real time on the Espresso block explorer. Epoch 1 runs for 40,000 blocks with the first epoch transition occurring at block 11,000,000, at which time the stake table governing Epoch 3 PoS consensus is locked in.

• Epoch 2 — est. Tuesday, March 3: A transition epoch beginning at block 11,000,000. The network is preparing to hand off to PoS consensus. No action needed from validators or delegators.

• Epoch 3 — est. Wednesday, March 4: Beginning at block 11,040,000, the stake table takes effect and staking rewards begin to accrue. This is the moment Espresso (specifically HotShot, its consensus protocol) is fully running proof-of-stake.

Watch the Espresso block explorer and our X account for real-time updates as each epoch progresses.

For validators and delegators

Holders don't need to run a node to put your ESP to work. Most holders participate by delegating their tokens to a validator through the Espresso staking dashboard.

Delegation means you temporarily assign your tokens to a validator, which stakes them on your behalf. In return, you earn staking rewards minus the validator's commission. You can start delegating now, though rewards won’t begin accruing until Epoch 3, which as stated above is expected at block height 11,040,000, scheduled to occur on March 4.

A few things worth knowing before you delegate:

Only the top 100 validators by total stake are eligible to earn rewards. If you delegate to a validator outside the top 100, you won't earn rewards until they enter the top 100. When choosing a validator, the staking dashboard shows total stake, commission rate, and missed slots to help you evaluate your options.

Undelegation takes approximately 7 days to complete. You can only have one pending undelegation per validator at any given time. Plan accordingly if you think you may want to move your stake.

Review the delegation guide in the Espresso documentation for step-by-step instructions.

Boosted rewards program

If you received ESP through the airdrop, staking your entire allocation unlocks access to boosted rewards on top of the standard staking yield.

To be eligible, you need to stake your airdrop allocation within 14 days of when you claimed. This window is calculated on a per wallet basis. Boosts unlock at three milestones based on how long you keep your tokens staked:

• After 3 months: 256% boost to accrued staking rewards since token launch. First claim available.

• After 1 year: 359% boost to accrued staking rewards since the 3-month milestone. Second claim available.

• After 2 years: 420% boost to accrued staking rewards since the 1-year milestone. Third claim available.

Two important caveats: boosted rewards apply only to airdrop tokens, not tokens acquired elsewhere. And if you unstake more than 50% of your tokens before reaching a milestone, you forfeit your boosted rewards for that period. The one exception is if your validator takes their node offline: In that case, you have 14 days to redelegate to a new validator without losing eligibility.

The Espresso Foundation will announce when each claim window for these boosted rewards opens via its X account and blog. Claims for the initial airdrop are now closed.

For more details, here’s a guide to the boosted rewards program.

Why this moment matters

Launching a new proof-of-stake consensus protocol is not common. You can count recent PoS network launches on one hand (e.g., Monad, Sui, Aptos, etc.). It requires not only a consensus protocol, but also a credible validator set, and infrastructure that can actually perform under real conditions. Espresso has all three.

HotShot, Espresso's purpose-built consensus protocol, finalizes blocks in seconds. Not minutes. For institutions and enterprises building L2s and appchains, that's the difference between infrastructure they can rely on for crosschain payments and instant settlement, and infrastructure they can't. Fast, irreversible transaction finality is a prerequisite for serious financial applications. Slow finality is a risk they don't want to carry.

With PoS live, that finality is now backed by economic stake rather than a fixed operator set. The network is decentralized, accountable, and built to support seamless crosschain transactions, while flexible enough to support secure settlement across multiple chains.

The L2s integrated with Espresso came for the fast finality. Decentralization strengthens that finality, adding economic security to infrastructure that institutions and enterprises can build on with confidence.

What comes next

The PoS upgrade is a milestone, not a destination. The technical roadmap continues: we're targeting subsecond finality in 2026, currently at 4-5 seconds and improving.

More chains are in the process of integrating, including Celo, Morph, LitVM, Katana, and Gate Layer. And the ecosystem of crosschain applications that Espresso makes possible is just getting started.

Follow the PoS upgrade in real time on the Espresso block explorer.

For updates on each epoch transition, follow the Espresso Foundation on X.

To delegate and start earning rewards, visit the staking dashboard.

About Espresso Foundation

The Espresso Foundation serves as the long-term steward of Espresso Network, the purpose-built base layer for interoperable chains and next-generation blockchain applications. The Foundation oversees network development, ecosystem growth, and the transition to full decentralization, including the launch of the ESP token. https://www.espresso.foundation/

ESP is a utility token. Its purpose is to secure and decentralize the infrastructure that rollups depend on. Staking your ESP directly contributes to that security while earning you rewards. Long-term stakers can earn up to 420% in additional boosted rewards.

How Staking Works

Espresso is a PoS network, secured by the ESP staked. Espresso's HotShot consensus protocol uses proof-of-stake to select the set of validator nodes that actively participate in consensus. The top 100 validator nodes as weighted by stake at any time make up the active consensus set.

Holders of ESP can use it to participate in consensus, either by operating a validator node or by delegating tokens to a validator.

Validators stake ESP and run a validator node to participate in HotShot, Espresso's consensus protocol. The Espresso Network stake table, which underlies HotShot consensus, is represented by an Ethereum contract at 0xCeF474D372B5b09dEfe2aF187bf17338Dc704451.

Token holders not interested in running their own node can delegate their ESP to a node operator to take part in securing the network in return for a share of staking rewards. Node operators can set their preferred commission rate, earning a share of rewards associated with tokens that have been delegated by others to their node. This creates a mutually beneficial arrangement: delegators earn rewards without running infrastructure, while validators gain more stake in consensus.

HotShot dynamically adjusts its active set of consensus nodes to match the top 100 validators by total stake at any time. By staking your ESP tokens, you can directly influence the quality and decentralization of nodes participating in Espresso.

Delegators can stake their ESP with validators to strengthen network security and earn a portion of protocol rewards. Most users choose to delegate their stake to a node operator rather than running their own validator. You can start earning right away through the Espresso Staking Dashboard.

Staking Reward Formula

Espresso's staking reward formula is Ethereum-inspired, in which the reward rate on staked tokens is inversely proportional to the square root of the proportion of tokens that are currently staked (albeit with a slightly higher reward rate compared to Ethereum).

The exact formula is:

$$ R(p) = \begin{cases} \frac{0.03}{\sqrt{2 \cdot 0.01}}, & 0 \le p \le 0.01 \ \frac{0.03}{\sqrt{2p}}, & 0.01 < p \le 1 \end{cases} $$

where p is the proportion of total tokens staked and R(p) is the annual reward rate for staked tokens as a decimal (e.g., 0.05 = 5%).

This model has various advantages:

• There is an elastic incentive to stake when staking participation is low

• The reward rate gently tapers off as staking participation rises (in contrast to a reward rate that is inversely proportional to the proportion of tokens staked, i.e., fixed inflation schedule), so reward reductions are mild, mitigating sudden drops in validator revenue

• Meanwhile, the reward schedule still keeps inflation bounded

• The math is predictable and smooth, and it follows a battle-tested precedent set by Ethereum and other chains

If you received tokens through the airdrop and stake them for extended periods, you're also eligible for boosted rewards according to the schedule below.

The Boosted Rewards Program

The Espresso Foundation has allocated a dedicated portion of the initial ESP supply towards staking incentives, specifically allowing users that stake their airdrop allocation to earn up to 420% more in boosted rewards.

To be eligible for the boosted rewards, users will need to stake their airdrop within 14 days of claiming their airdrop allocation. Following this, allocations that remain staked will unlock boosts at set time intervals.

The following bonuses can be unlocked by staking for at least 3 months, 1 year, and 2 years:

Important: Note that boosted staking rewards are only applicable to tokens claimed through the airdrop claims portal at claim.espresso.foundation. Users that unstake more than 50% of their tokens prior to the aforementioned time periods will forfeit their boosted staking rewards. An exception is made if the validator a user delegated to takes their node offline. In this case, the user will have up to 14 days to delegate their tokens to a new validator to remain eligible for boosted rewards.

Claiming Your Boosted Rewards

Users that are eligible will be able to claim their boosted staking rewards through the rewards portal. The rewards will become claimable on three occasions:

• After staking for 3 months

• After staking for 1 year

• After staking for 2 years

The boosted staking rewards will remain claimable until 1 month after the third claim opens. The Espresso Foundation will send reminders via their official X account for stakers to claim their boosted staking rewards. You can follow for announcements regarding the rewards portal and claims on the official account and their blog.

Building the Base Layer Rollups Deserve

Espresso is solving crypto’s fragmentation problem with a user base that includes Celo, ApeChain, Katana, Rari Chain, and other industry leaders. As rollups proliferated, they broke the composability that made Ethereum powerful. But solving that problem revealed something bigger: rollups aren't just a scaling solution for Ethereum, they are a glimpse of a future where every application is its own chain, where even web2 apps can become web3-composable by posting their data to a base layer like Espresso.

But that future only works if those chains can communicate safely and seamlessly in real time. Existing infrastructure, designed as monolithic L1s, can’t provide that functionality out of the box, which means our multi-chain future requires purpose-built infrastructure with composability at its core. Espresso is designed to do what Ethereum is not: support thousands of interoperable rollups with fast finality, scalable data availability, and (optionally) decentralized sequencing. 

When app-specific chains exist in separate execution environments, slow base layer finality becomes a major bottleneck. Espresso gives these chains the speed they need without sacrificing security or sovereignty, enabling the frictionless finance that lets users move their money across systems at the speed of information.

Claim Portal & Distribution Timeline

The official token launch date is yet to be announced, but is coming very soon.

Registration for the airdrop claim ran from December 21 until February 6. Note that your allocation amount won't be revealed until claims open.

Eligible addresses will be able to claim tokens the day the token launches. Specific distribution details and claiming instructions will be provided through official Espresso channels. Stay vigilant! 

Airdrop Eligibility

The Espresso Foundation designed the airdrop, including eligibility and allocation amounts, to reflect active engagement, meaningful contributions to partner ecosystems and the Espresso community, and demonstrated long-term conviction rather than rewarding users based on the size of their wallet balances.

Over the past few months, the foundation has announced almost 40 separate paths to eligibility. These criteria span early and active members of the Espresso community and select users in partner ecosystems. 

As detailed in the ESP token economics, 10.00% of the initial total token supply is being allocated towards this first airdrop. Meanwhile, a further 24.81% is reserved for future airdrops, grants, and incentives. Unclaimed tokens in this initial airdrop will be reallocated towards the future as well. 

Espresso Community Members

Members of the Espresso community qualify through various activities:

• Participants in the 2024 Mainnet Inscriptions campaign

• Holders of Espresso’s genesis NFT collection, The Composables, rewarded based on specific snapshot dates and long-term holders

• Builders who participated in Espresso’s Build & Brew hackathon and Brew House accelerator

• Members of Espresso’s Caffeinated Creators program

• Participants who bid for allocations in Espresso’s community sale on Kaito Launchpad

• Holders of POAPs from various Espresso events (online and in-person) over the past two years

• Those who participated in the first seamless crosschain NFT mint between ApeChain and RARI Chain

• Additional community activities

Partner Ecosystem Users

Espresso has worked closely with partners, integrated chains and applications to identify active users who will receive allocations. Eligible partner communities include:

• Across

• AltLayer

• ApeChain

• Arbitrum

• Automata

• Caldera

• Cartesi

• Celo

• Eco

• Gate Layer

• Huddle01

• Hyperlane

• Katana

• LayerZero

• LitVM

• LogX

• Molten

• Morph

• NodeOps

• Polygon

• Plume

• Rarible

• RARI Chain

• Rufus

• Superposition

• Syndicate

• T3rn

Users from these ecosystems were selected based on sustained engagement and specific activities rather than wallet size, wealth, or holdings.

Evolving Airdrops: Holder Score and Anti-Sybil

Traditional airdrops are broken. They reward simple metrics like transaction counts or snapshot holdings, making them trivially easy to game, but not metrics that matter, like long-term conviction.

In the past, someone who completes every task, meets every criteria, could be highly rewarded in an airdrop only to dump their tokens the moment they're claimable. Those are not the participants any project should welcome or incentivize. 

In an effort to reward those with long-term conviction rather than opportunistic farmers, Espresso is pioneering a new approach with its introduction of Holder Score, a methodology that evaluates a wallet’s past behavior to predict future commitment. Combined with comprehensive anti-Sybil defenses, this represents a new standard for token distribution.

Holder Score: Rewarding Conviction Over Activity

Most airdrops can't distinguish between genuine long-term believers and opportunistic participants who dump immediately. Activity metrics show what users did before a snapshot, but say nothing about conviction.

We wanted to address this. As far as we know, Espresso is the first major project to calculate a Holder Score for each wallet address.

Holder Score measures long-term conviction by analyzing how addresses behaved after receiving previous airdrops. The methodology examines whether users held, staked, or sold tokens from major ecosystem airdrops including Caldera, Arbitrum, ApeChain, Hyperlane, Succinct, LayerZero, Uniswap, EigenLayer, and more.

To start our analysis, we created a chart across the airdrops we analyzed showing “retention ratio,” which is the ratio of how much of an airdrop an individual still holds after a few months. If a recipient sold everything, their score is 0.0, whereas 1.0 means they kept exactly what they received, and anything above 1.0 means they bought more. The chart illuminates what everyone has been talking about: almost 90% of airdrop recipients quickly transfer away their entire airdrop. While this is an indicator of a majority of participants selling their tokens, we’re not arguing that 90% of airdrop recipients immediately sell their airdrop, as some may be transferring to other wallets or custody providers for long-term holding. 

Our methodology combines retention ratios across each airdrop an individual participated in, with Holder Scores roughly matching retention ratios (with amplification if there is data across multiple airdrops). Overall, we decided to give boosts to those scoring above 0.5, with exponentially increasing bonuses for higher Holder Scores.

An address’ Holder Score is calculated with the following formula: 

$$\text{holder\_score} = \left(\frac{n}{d} - \text{threshold}\right) \cdot \sqrt{d}$$

where n is the sum of retention ratios (each capped at 2.0 to prevent gaming) across all airdrops, and d is the number of airdrops the address participated in. The threshold is configurable; we use 0.2.

The formula accounts for both the percentage of tokens retained and the number of airdrops an address participated in. Addresses that consistently held or staked tokens across multiple airdrops receive higher scores. Those who immediately sold receive lower scores. The more airdrops an address participated in, the stronger the signal in either direction.

Reputation Now Matters

This creates meta-incentives. Users who know future projects will evaluate their track record are more likely to support the ecosystems they participate in. Your reputation becomes portable across the crypto ecosystem.

An address that received Arbitrum's airdrop in 2023 and still holds those tokens today demonstrates genuine conviction in rollup infrastructure. That's the kind of participant Espresso wants securing its network, which is why we’ve given recipients with high Holder Scores a massive boost to their allocations: an individual participating in the ESP airdrop could have received up to a 170x boost to their base allocation by having a high Holder Score. 

That's also the type of person we want to see in crypto, which is why we plan to open source our methodology for calculating Holder Score, including a codebase with example code for 10+ past airdrops so projects can incorporate this metric into their airdrop plans and better reward true community members, rather than shy away from airdrops altogether. Together we can make reputation matter and disincentivize the farmers.

We’ve prepared a chart showing the distribution of Holder Score boosts to base allocation amounts to each eligible address: 

Limitations and Fairness

Holder Score is not perfect, however. It has known limitations, including the fact it can't detect tokens moved to hardware wallets or custody providers, held in LP positions, deposited in lending protocols, bridged to other chains, or staked through third-party services. The score reliably identifies strong holders but cannot definitively classify low-scoring addresses as sellers.

For this reason, we’re using Holder Score as a bonus mechanism rather than a penalty. A high Holder Score increases a wallet’s allocation, but a low score doesn't disqualify addresses that meet other eligibility criteria. Fair signal, not punishment.

Anti-Sybil: Ensuring Real Participants

Holder Score addresses conviction among real users. But first, Espresso needs to ensure participants are real humans, not Sybil farms running thousands of wallets to extract value.

For the Composables NFT eligibility criteria, the Espresso Foundation conducted Sybil analysis on both the mint and ongoing ownership patterns. This analysis identified clusters of wallets exhibiting coordinated behavior, helping filter out addresses created solely to farm airdrops.

Additionally, all participants who go through Espresso’s registration process must complete Authena's proof-of-humanity verification. This zero-knowledge proof-based system verifies users are real humans without exposing sensitive personal data. Authena's multi-layered approach combines biometrics, social graphs, and onchain behavior analysis to detect Sybil activity.

Building a Better Standard

Together, Holder Score and anti-Sybil verification represent Espresso's approach to evolving airdrops beyond simple snapshot mechanics. By rewarding long-term conviction and filtering out bots, the Espresso Foundation ensures more value reaches participants who will contribute to the network's long-term success.

Token Utility and Economics

The ESP token serves two primary functions:

• Staking & Security: ESP secures Espresso's HotShot proof-of-stake consensus. Any holder can delegate tokens to validators, whose voting power is determined by total stake.

• Fee Payment: A future network upgrade will enable ESP for transaction fees, with a portion burned.

The initial total supply is 3,590,000,000 ESP (3.59 billion), with approximately 14.5% unlocked at network launch. ESP has no fixed maximum supply due to inflationary staking rewards.

The staking reward schedule is Ethereum-inspired, where the reward rate on staked tokens is inversely proportional to the square root of the proportion currently staked. This creates balanced incentives for network security while maintaining a slightly higher reward rate than Ethereum and similar chains like Hyperliquid.

As outlined in the ESP token economics, the Espresso Foundation has further created a special staking incentives pool to encourage network decentralization. This pool offers up to 420% in bonus staking rewards, depending on the length of time they stake, exclusively to airdrop recipients. 

Ready to Claim?

The Espresso airdrop represents a new approach to token distribution: one that attempts to filter out bots and Sybils, reward those with long-term conviction, and ensure tokens reach participants who will contribute to the network's success. We’re thrilled to involve our community in building the base layer for the future. 

For the latest updates on when claims open and how to stake your ESP tokens to earn even more rewards, follow the Espresso Foundation on X.

This represents Season 2 of the Espresso Partner Program, which is a multi-season incentive program that recognizes teams that have integrated with or contributed to the growth of the Espresso Network. Recipients were evaluated across five key criteria: depth of Espresso adoption, ecosystem impact, collaboration quality, team expertise, and integration effort.

New Integrations

These chains successfully integrated with the Espresso Network or its long-running testnet, Decaf, during Q4 2025:

• ApeChain - Successfully integrated with Espresso mainnet, bringing fast finality and composability benefits to their gaming and creator-focused ecosystem

• Huddle01 - Completed mainnet integration, exploring how Espresso confirmations can enhance their decentralized communication infrastructure

• Rufus - Successfully integrated with Espresso mainnet, gaining fast finality and laying the groundwork for cross-chain composability for its DogelonMars metaverse and gaming platform

Existing Integrations

These chains integrated with the Espresso Network prior to Q4 and remain a core part of the Espresso ecosystem:

• AppChain - An Arbitrum Orbit L2 focused on building innovative web3 apps, including mint.gg and EthCash

• Molten Network - A DeFi-focused Arbitrum Orbit L3 that supports a perp and spot aggregator

• RARI Chain - The first rollup to integrate with the Espresso Network to provide its NFT infrastructure with fast finality and cross-chain composability

• t3rn - Integrated on testnet and mainnet, advancing cross-chain execution capabilities with Espresso's fast finality

• NodeOps - Integrated on testnet and mainnet, enabling stakeholders in its decentralized marketplace for cloud computing to benefit from fast, secure transaction finality

Infrastructure & Technical Contributors

• Celo - Contributed to developing Espresso’s OP Stack integration, critical technical work that benefits the broader ecosystem

• Nethermind - Made R&D contributions by setting up and running a Caffeinated Node for RARI Chain, strengthening network infrastructure

We also want to acknowledge the ongoing collaboration with Offchain Labs and Caldera, whose contributions continued to strengthen the Espresso ecosystem.

Accelerating Adoption, Expanding Use Cases

The most significant Q4 integration was ApeChain, which brought Espresso's fast finality to a vibrant ecosystem of entertainment and gaming apps, including Yuga Labs' Otherside metaverse.

ApeChain immediately demonstrated the practical impact of seamless crosschain composability enabled by Espresso's fast finality through a collaboration with RARI Chain: a bridgeless cross-chain NFT mint that let users pay with funds on RARI Chain to mint NFTs on ApeChain (and vice versa) without manually bridging assets.

The breadth of use cases continues to expand. This season, Huddle01 integrated to enhance decentralized communication infrastructure, while Rufus brought fast finality to its DogelonMars metaverse and gaming platform.

In the integration pipeline, teams like LitVM are leveraging Espresso to pioneer a new dual-settlement architecture. This growing diversity validates Espresso's role as flexible foundational infrastructure supporting specialized chains across multiple verticals.

Looking Ahead to Season 3

Season 2 recognizes the rollups and research partners pushing Espresso's capabilities in production. Their work is stress-testing fast finality at scale and proving out cross-chain composability in real-world conditions.

Operating a rollup or planning to launch one? Season 3 is underway. If you value speed, customizability, and native composability through fast finality, connect with our team on X to explore building with Espresso.

Espresso: the base layer for a multi-chain future

Espresso has built the foundation for a future with many interconnected chains underpinning our financial system.

As companies launch new on-chain apps and infrastructure, they are increasingly opting for the fast and flexible architecture of rollups (also known as layer-2 chains). This approach has many benefits, but it inadvertently breaks the seamless composability builders and users enjoy within a single chain and reintroduces single points of failure. This increases security risks and results in friction, with liquidity becoming ever more fragmented. 

The Espresso Network fixes this. It is a consensus system purpose-built to provide fast, secure finality, low-cost data availability, and (optionally) decentralized sequencing to applications and environments built as rollups. This helps these chains avoid single points of failure, allows them to scale, and grants users the seamless interoperability they expect. 

The network acts as a nervous system for all Espresso ecosystem chains, which include some of the biggest brands in crypto like RARI Chain, ApeChain, Celo, and Katana. By using Espresso, these chains can securely communicate with one another in real-time. Espresso has partnered with other infrastructure leaders like Arbitrum and Caldera to bring these chains finality through HotShot, a fast, performant BFT consensus protocol. Once a rollup’s block has been confirmed by Espresso, it cannot be reverted, which allows other applications to read their finalized state with confidence in seconds instead of minutes.

Espresso’s fast finality brings a broad range of benefits beyond just speed and security: it scales rollups, defragments liquidity, and allows deposits from rollups to centralized exchanges like Coinbase to process in seconds. Most importantly, it lays the foundation for a unified transaction experience across all chains, enabling users to access any asset from anywhere in a seamless manner.

The ESP token

The ESP token is the key mechanism by which the Espresso Network can run permissionlessly. ESP is an ERC-20 token issued on the Ethereum mainnet; its contract address is 0xCeF474D372B5b09dEfe2aF187bf17338Dc704451. 

The primary utilities for ESP are as follows:

• Proof-of-stake consensus. Validators will stake the token to participate in Espresso’s HotShot consensus, and end users can delegate to validators to help strengthen security and earn a share of protocol rewards.

• Protocol fees. Data processing fees within Espresso will be paid in the ESP token.

ESP’s initial total supply is 3,590,000,000 ESP (3.59 billion). ESP has no fixed maximum supply due to staking reward dynamics.

The initial total supply of the ESP token is allocated according to the following categories: 

Contributors (27.36%):

• Reserved for contributors to Espresso technology since research and development began in 2020. 

• 4-year linear vesting with 1-year cliff: 0% unlocked at TGE; 25% unlocked 1 year after TGE; 1/48 unlocked per month thereafter. 

Investors (14.32%):

• Reserved for investors in Espresso technology across the several Espresso Systems fundraising rounds since 2020. 

• 4-year linear vesting with 1-year cliff: 0% unlocked at TGE; 25% unlocked 1 year after TGE; 1/48 unlocked per month thereafter. 

Airdrop (10.00%):

• Retroactive rewards to Espresso and Espresso chains’ and partners’ broad user bases and community members.

• Airdrop eligibility and allocations are based on a comprehensive methodology, with over 40 distinct ways of qualifying for an airdrop allocation and over 1 million eligible addresses. Stay tuned for a long-form post detailing the airdrop methodology. 

• Unclaimed tokens in this tranche will be reallocated towards future airdrops, grants, and incentive programs. 

• Fully unlocked at TGE.

Community launchpad (1.00%): 

• Participants in Espresso’s initial community offering via the Kaito Capital Launchpad in July 2025.

• 2-year linear vesting with 1-year cliff: 0% unlocked at TGE; 50% unlocked 1 year after TGE; 1/24 unlocked per month thereafter. 

Staking bonuses and network decentralization (3.01%): 

• Extra staking incentives distributed with the goal of broadly decentralizing the Espresso Network. These tokens will initially be deployed to airdrop participants who stake after claiming, with up to an 420% boost for those who stake for at least 2 years. 

• Unused tokens in this tranche will be reallocated towards future airdrops, staking incentives, and other Foundation incentive and grant programs. 

• While these tokens remain undistributed, the Espresso Foundation may delegate them to a wide array of node operators via the Foundation Delegation Program to decentralize and secure the Espresso Network. 

• Locked at TGE, with a linear accrual schedule spanning 2 years and tokens unlocked after 3 months, 12 months, and 24 months.

Future airdrops, grants, and incentives (24.81%):

• Reserved for future community growth and ecosystem development initiatives as well as future contributors, with allocation decisions to be made by the Espresso Foundation.

• These tokens will support a wide range of programs, including additional community airdrops, developer and researcher grants, liquidity incentives, and ecosystem partnerships.

• The Espresso Foundation may decide to use this allocation to bootstrap new applications, fund innovative research, encourage node operators and validators through a delegation program, and strengthen integrations with other protocols.

• While these tokens remain undistributed, the Espresso Foundation may delegate them to a wide array of node operators via the Foundation Delegation Program to decentralize and secure the Espresso Network. 

• Locked at TGE, with a linear unlocking schedule spanning 6 years.

Foundation operations (15.00%):

• Reserved to fund the ongoing operations of the Espresso Foundation and its subsidiaries. This allocation will support the core responsibilities of the Espresso Foundation and its subsidiaries, including community engagement, evaluating and supporting ecosystem partnerships, and legal, administrative, and compliance functions. 

• The Espresso Foundation will also use this reserve to fund (via its subsidiaries) grants administration, educational initiatives, and other programs that advance Espresso’s mission and ensure the network’s long-term sustainability.

• While these tokens remain undistributed, the Espresso Foundation may delegate them to a wide array of node operators via the Foundation Delegation Program to decentralize and secure the Espresso Network. 

• Locked at TGE, with a linear unlocking schedule spanning 6 years.

Liquidity provisioning and additional activations (4.50%):

• Reserved for liquidity provisioning to help ensure sufficient market depth and reliable access for participants across venues, and to foster stable price discovery at launch.

• This allocation may be used for a variety of strategies and initiatives, including market maker loans (selected via a competitive process), decentralized exchange liquidity provisioning, exchange liquidity programs, pre-launch token offerings, and other mechanisms designed to promote smooth trading and reduce volatility.

• Fully unlocked at TGE.

Participation in proof-of-stake

Holders of the ESP token can use it to participate in operating HotShot proof-of-stake, either by operating a validator node, or by delegating tokens to another node operator. Node operators can set their preferred commission rate, earning a share of rewards associated with tokens that have been delegated by others to their node. 

The Espresso Network stake table, which underlies HotShot consensus, is represented by an Ethereum contract at 0x36ad45A4931d0E226010BE9A8477D400C8bB3d9C. HotShot dynamically adjusts its active set of consensus nodes to match the top 100 validators by total stake. 

Espresso’s staking reward formula is Ethereum-inspired, in which the reward rate on staked tokens is inversely proportional to the square root of the proportion of tokens that are currently staked (albeit with a slightly higher reward rate compared to Ethereum). 

The exact formula is: 

$$R(p) = \begin{cases} \frac{0.03}{\sqrt{2 \cdot 0.01}}, 0 <= p <= 0.01 \\ \frac{0.03}{\sqrt{2p}}, 0.01 < p <= 1 \end{cases}$$

where p is the proportion of total tokens staked and R(p) is the annual reward rate for staked tokens as a decimal (e.g., 0.05 = 5%). 

This model has various advantages: 

• There is an elastic incentive to stake when staking participation is low.

• The reward rate gently tapers off as staking participation rises (in contrast to a reward rate that is inversely proportional to the proportion of tokens staked, i.e., fixed inflation schedule), so reward reductions are mild. This mitigates sudden drops in validator revenue. 

• Meanwhile, the reward schedule still keeps inflation bounded. 

• The math is predictable and smooth, and it follows a battle-tested precedent set by Ethereum and other chains.

Registration is currently available for participation in the Espresso airdrop. Head to claim.espresso.foundation to see if your wallets are eligible. When the claims go live, staking will be available to users through delegation to a diverse set of node operators.

When we launched The Composables, our genesis NFT collection on RARI Chain, we watched this play out in real time. The mint was a huge success by the numbers: 5,000 NFTs gone in minutes. But the experience taught us something crucial. Most users didn't have funds on RARI and were forced to bridge some there. But because RARI is a relatively small chain, those bridges couldn’t handle the overwhelming amount of traffic and became bottlenecks. Intent protocols ran low on liquidity. Demand was there, but the infrastructure created unnecessary friction.

We asked: what if users didn't have to bridge at all?

Today, we have the answer. In collaboration with Rarible, we’ve launched the first seamless crosschain NFT mint between ApeChain and RARI Chain, powered by Espresso.

Two Collections, Two Chains, Zero Bridges

We're launching two crosschain NFT collections featuring funky espresso machine art across five themes: Future, Classic, Industrial, Organic, and Mythic. Each theme spans both chains, creating 10 unique NFTs total.

Phase 1 (Dec 8): The RARI collection lives on ApeChain with art inspired by RARI Chain, mintable using your RARI funds with no manual bridging, no gas fees, no dust, no friction. One of the five NFTs features a Composable NFT.

Phase 2 (Dec 15): The ApeChain collection will live on RARI Chain with art inspired by ApeChain (one of the NFTs will feature a GOBs), mintable using your ApeChain funds with the same seamless experience.

Each mint is open with equal 20% odds of receiving any themed espresso machine. No rarity tiers, just art that spans ecosystems.

These collections celebrate the launch of Presto, Espresso's solution for one-click crosschain transactions, and demonstrate what true crosschain composability feels like when rollups share a base layer built for them.

Mint Now on Rarible

Why This Matters

This isn't just an NFT drop. It's proof that crosschain friction can be eliminated at the infrastructure level. ApeChain and RARI Chain, both of which use Espresso as their base layer and benefitting from its fast finality, are pioneers in the NFT space. With this mint, they’re showing the crypto industry what happens when rollups use a base layer purpose-built for them rather than retrofitting solutions onto infrastructure that wasn't designed for a rollup-centric world.

Espresso provides rollups with fast finality (approximately 6 seconds, targeting subsecond by 2026), scalable data availability, and (optionally) decentralized sequencing. When rollups share this foundation, seamless composability becomes possible, not through application-layer patches, but because they can communicate directly in a fast, secure way.

This mint demonstrates what that looks like in practice. It's powered by Presto, a solution developed by Espresso Systems that enables one-click crosschain transactions by leveraging Espresso's fast finality.

Learn More About Presto

Experience It Yourself

The best way to understand what Espresso enables is to experience it firsthand. Mint an NFT on one chain using funds from another and experience what frictionless crosschain interactions feel like.

From the Rarible mint page, click the yellow button to mint. If your wallet is connected, a window will pop up with the option to mint using funds on ApeChain (12 APE) or do a crosschain mint using your funds on RARI Chain. Minting from RARI will cost 0.001 ETH.

This is what a base layer purpose-built for rollups makes possible. And this is just the beginning.

Mint the Collection

Today, we're recognizing the teams who drove growth during Q3 2025 (i.e., Season 1), expanding the network and strengthening the foundation for a more interconnected Ethereum ecosystem.

Program Structure and Evaluation

The Espresso Partner Program continues to operate on the framework established in our original announcement. Recipients were evaluated across five key criteria: depth of Espresso adoption, ecosystem impact, collaboration quality, team expertise, and integration effort.

This multi-dimensional approach ensures we're recognizing the full spectrum of contributions that strengthen the Espresso Network: from new chains taking their first steps with testnet integrations, to production partners maintaining reliable mainnet deployments, to technical contributors advancing our core capabilities.

The program is designed to be ongoing, with each quarter representing a “season,” though the Espresso Foundation reserves the right to modify it in the future to increase its impact and benefits to the community.

Season 1 Recipients

The following teams earned recognition for their contributions during Q3 2025, which ended September 30. These partners will be allocated tokens from a dedicated portion of the Espresso Network's initial $ESP token supply.

New Integrations

These chains successfully integrated with the Espresso Network or its long-running testnet, Decaf, during Q3 2025:

• ApeChain - Successfully integrated with Decaf, bringing fast finality and composability benefits to their gaming and creator-focused ecosystem

• t3rn - Integrated on testnet and mainnet, advancing cross-chain execution capabilities with Espresso's base layer

• NodeOps - Completed testnet and mainnet integration, enabling stakeholders in its decentralized marketplace for cloud computing to benefit from fast, secure transaction finality

• Huddle01 - Completed testnet integration, exploring how Espresso confirmations can enhance their decentralized communication infrastructure

• Rufus - Successfully integrated with Espresso’s testnet, gaining fast finality and laying the groundwork for crosschain composability for its DogelonMars metaverse and gaming platform

(ApeChain, Huddle01, and Rufus have since integrated with Espresso mainnet, milestones which will be recognized in Season 2.)

Existing Integrations

These chains integrated with the Espresso Network prior to Q3 and remain a core part of the Espresso ecosystem:

• AppChain - An Arbitrum Orbit L2 focus on building innovative web3-enabled apps, including mint.gg and EthCash

• LogX - A DeFi-focused chain that recently pivoted from a perp DEX to explore launching a stablecoin exchange

• Molten Network - A DeFi-focused Arbitrum Orbit L3 that supports a perp and spot aggregator

• RARI Chain - Our longest-running mainnet partner, maintaining reliable production usage of Espresso to provide its NFT infrastructure with fast finality and crosschain composability

Infrastructure & Technical Contributors

• Celo - Contributed to developing Espresso’s OP Stack integration, critical technical work that benefits the broader ecosystem

• Nethermind - Made R&D contributions focused on setting up Caffeinated Nodes (i.e., equivalent to a rollups’ full nodes, but ones that read from Espresso) for integrated rollups, strengthening network infrastructure

• Superposition - Ongoing R&D collaboration exploring crosschain Central Limit Order Book (CLOB) capabilities leveraging Espresso confirmations

We also want to acknowledge the ongoing collaboration with Offchain Labs, Caldera, AltLayer, Distributed Lab, and We3, whose contributions continued to strengthen the Espresso ecosystem.

Steady Growth, Strong Foundation

The third quarter represented a period of expansion for the Espresso Network. Five new chains integrated with either Espresso’s testnet or mainnet, while our four mainnet partners continued their production deployments. As of mid-October, Espresso’s validators had provided 9.8 million confirmations.

This steady growth reflects the fact teams are recognizing the importance of fast, secure, credibly neutral transaction confirmations and scalable data availability, and that Espresso’s base layer is essential infrastructure for building robust, composable, Ethereum-compatible rollups, regardless of tech stack or execution ecosystem.

The range of use cases continues to expand. From ApeChain's entertainment and NFT focus to Huddle01's communication infrastructure to t3rn's crosschain execution layer to Rufus’ metaverse and gaming platform.

Each new integration validates Espresso's flexibility as a base layer supporting diverse applications.

Looking Ahead to Season 2

Season 1 builds on the foundation established by our Season 0 partners. As we transition to Season 2, the technical infrastructure is becoming more robust, integration pathways are more streamlined, and the value proposition is increasingly clear.

We're building foundational infrastructure for the future internet, where thousands of specialized chains work together seamlessly. Our Season 1 partners took the next steps toward making this vision reality.

For teams interested in joining future seasons, reach out to us on X to explore integration opportunities.

Because the offering was oversubscribed, the first-come first-served (FCFS) round has been cancelled.

The sale being oversubscribed also means we had to decide how to allocate the available tokens among those who pledged. We awarded allocations by taking into account various factors, such as time of pledge, ownership of an NFT from Espresso’s genesis collection, “The Composables,” and thought leadership around rollups, L2s, and Ethereum. We aimed to balance these factors between recognizing existing believers and bringing in new high-quality community members.

For those who participated in the sale, read on to learn how we plan to recognize your early support and further reward your long-term thinking.

Sale Details and Long-Term Focus

Espresso is a project built on long-term principles. As a base layer for rollups, Espresso provides rollups with fast finality, enhanced security, decentralized sequencing, and data availability—while remaining compatible with any choice of execution environment, settlement layer (Ethereum, Espresso itself, or even another L1), or use case. Chains that integrate benefit from seamless interoperability with other Espresso chains.

We're building towards a future in which the Espresso base layer serves as the foundation for thousands of connected, customized chains supporting billions of users.

We want token holders aligned with that vision, and with genuine conviction in the Espresso Network’s potential to fulfill it. We designed the deal terms for our Kaito sale with that in mind.

The token sale featured an unlock schedule that restricts the transfer and sale of 50% of participants’ tokens for one year, with the remainder unlocking over the following year. We recognize these terms are restrictive (though still less restrictive than the terms all “insider” service providers of the Espresso Foundation, including all investors and team members of Espresso Systems, are subject to), but we deliberately structured them that way to align with builders and believers in Espresso’s future potential rather than short-term speculators.

The demand for this sale, despite these restrictions, confirms we've involved the right community members, those who understand that meaningful infrastructure takes time to build and compound in value.

Recognizing Those with Conviction

To recognize these community members with conviction, the Espresso Foundation’s board has approved a plan to reserve an additional portion of the initial total supply of $ESP to be distributed as an airdrop to those who pledged in the community offering.

A flat amount of 25,000 ESP tokens will be granted to each community member who pledged any amount of capital to the sale (even if they didn’t receive the allocation they requested). These will be unlocked at the time of token launch. On top of this, all participating community members will receive an additional airdrop of tokens equal to 33% of their pledged amount, also unlocked at the time of token launch.

As an example, a participant who pledged $10,000 in the offering, but received an allocation of $7,000, should expect to receive 62,825 tokens (corresponding to the $7,000 investment) plus an additional drop of 54,916 tokens (25,000 ESP plus one-third of their pledged amount of 89,750 ESP). The surprise drop of 54,916 ESP would be fully unlocked at time of token launch, whereas the 89,750 ESP would follow the original unlock schedule specified.

Moreover, owners of The Composables NFT who participated in the offering will receive an additional 10% of the tokens they pledged for, unlocked at launch. In this case, the number of NFTs a participant owned did not play a factor: all NFT holders received 10% of their pledged amount regardless of the number of NFTs they owned.

If you own a Composables NFT but didn't participate in the sale, don't worry—we intend to recognize participants in our genesis NFT collection in other ways.

These additional benefits reflect our commitment to those who backed Espresso during this foundational moment, and our belief that the most valuable community members are those aligned with our long-term mission.

Looking Ahead

We would like to thank the Kaito team for their trust in us as the first project to launch on the Capital Launchpad. We're sure Espresso will be the first of many high-quality projects to come.

The success of our initial token sale marks the beginning of our plans to involve our community in building the infrastructure for tomorrow's internet.

For those who missed this sale, don't lose heart. As the Espresso Network continues to scale with major rollup integrations (Celo and ApeChain coming soon), proof-of-stake consensus, and a push toward subsecond finality, we'll be creating more opportunities for our community (especially holders of The Composables NFT collection) to participate in and benefit from this growth.

We understand that the lockup terms were challenging for some community members, and we’re working with the Kaito team to explore the possibility of a "second-chance" offering with different mechanics.

We're committed to continually growing our community and creating additional ways to get involved. Expect further announcements about more opportunities, token distributions, tokenomics, and governance participation.

We're building something real for the long term, and we want the most committed members of our community to be part of that journey.

Today, this vision is reality. Rollups secure more than $50 billion of value and support 10x the number of transactions per second seen on the Ethereum L1. Major brands and financial institutions have chosen rollups to bring their products to the world, from Sony to Robinhood to Deutsche Bank. It’s clear rollups are integral to the future internet.

But rollups continue to rely on infrastructure that wasn't designed for them, burdening them with slow settlement, fragmented liquidity, and limited interoperability.

In the three years since that first blog post laid out a vision, that’s what we’ve set out to fix. The Espresso Network was built from the ground up to provide what rollups have always needed, but never had: fast finality secured by BFT consensus, resilient & low cost data availability, seamless composability, and full compatibility with Ethereum and other settlement layers.

Now, through a partnership with Kaito, we're inviting the most committed members of our community and wider industry to join us as we build the base layer that will power thousands of connected rollups that support billions of users and trillions in transactions.

Espresso has partnered with Kaito to launch the first Initial Community Offering through the Kaito Capital Launchpad platform.

Token Sale Details

The Kaito Capital Launchpad sale offers the community the opportunity to acquire an aggregate of $4 million worth of $ESP tokens at a significant discount to the most recent implied valuation of the network.

For context, the most recent institutional round of investment into Espresso's technology occurred in early 2024, the Series B round raised by Espresso Systems. This was an equity round that included a warrant for $ESP tokens that carried an implied valuation for the network of $600 million.

All investors, employees, founders, consultants, and advisors in Espresso Systems are subject to transfer restrictions of four years on all token allocations with a one-year cliff.

Eligible interested individuals are invited to subscribe for allocation of up to 897,500 $ESP tokens. Tokens purchased through the Kaito Capital Launchpad are subject to transfer restrictions consisting of a 50% unlock at one (1) year after the token is live and a 50% linear unlock over the course of the following year. This is by design.

We are building for an enduring vision and are using this moment to align with the most enduring parts of our community.

What's Next

We have come a long way since 2022. The first rollups are now using Espresso in production, with other major rollups lined up to go live in the coming weeks; we have achieved initial latency targets under 6 seconds; and we are engineering-ready to launch permissionless proof-of-stake (coming this quarter).

But we have a long way to go. Ambitious milestones on our roadmap include:

• Subsecond finality to make onchain experiences as smooth and seamless as Web2

• Proposing to the Arbitrum DAO that Arbitrum One integrate with the Espresso Network

• Scaling our current community of developers building on Espresso from hundreds to hundreds of thousands

It's just the beginning for Espresso, as well as our plans to bring more people into the project along the way. There will be more announcements regarding the token, distributions, and further opportunities to get involved in the coming weeks.

For the steady hands among us, now is your time.

Why Kaito

We want to thank the Kaito team for making this possible. Kaito has set a new standard for what community-building and consumer-product creation in crypto should look like. The consistent revenue generation and daily active userbase of Kaito is a signal of strong product-market fit.

Kaito is not a platform for engagement farming and it is not a tool for short-term yappers. It is a paradigm shift in how any project—inside or outside of crypto—will identify and align with their smartest, most passionate, and deeply dedicated users and evangelists.

We are glad the Espresso Foundation is involved in the evolution of its product and the revolution it's leading.

Note: Participation is not available to U.S. persons and persons located in the U.S. and certain other restricted jurisdictions.

These founding partners have helped propel the Espresso Network from vision to reality, accelerating its adoption as the purpose-built base layer for the future internet, delivering what thousands of appchains and general-purpose rollups will need to seamlessly compose.

Season 0 Recipients

The Espresso Foundation is rewarding the following teams due to their technical contributions, integration efforts, and commitment to building a more composable Ethereum ecosystem. These partners will be allocated tokens from a dedicated portion of the Espresso Network's initial $ESP token supply.

Production Integrations

• RARI Chain – Our first mainnet launch partner; integrated with the Espresso Network on both testnet and mainnet to secure their sequencer and protect against reorgs, while contributing to Espresso's composability R&D efforts

• AppChain – Successfully integrated with the Espresso Network on both testnet and mainnet, gaining fast confirmations that enhance security and enable composability with other integrated chains

• LogX – Completed integration with the Espresso Network on testnet and mainnet for sequencer security and crosschain composability benefits

• Molten – Achieved integration milestones on testnet and mainnet, leveraging the Espresso Network for reorg protection and enhanced interoperability

Research & Development Contributors

• Automata – Open-sourced the trusted execution environment (TEE) code used in the Espresso Arbitrum Nitro integration

• Cartesi – Participated in multiple Espresso testnets, built a custom Cartesi integration, and made significant technical contributions to Espresso's composability research

• Celo – Pioneered technical contributions as the first OP Stack integration with Espresso (see Celo roadmap for details)

• Hyperlane – Made substantial technical contributions to Espresso's composability research, with Hyperlane code supporting some new and exciting crosschain products in the works

• Superposition – Contributed R&D insights and ongoing collaboration around a potential new crosschain product

Testnet Contributors

• Comet, DCA Monster, DrawingCanvas – Each of these teams have contributed by deploying and testing integrations on Espresso testnets

We also want to acknowledge the ongoing collaboration with Offchain Labs, Caldera, AltLayer, Distributed Lab, and We3, whose contributions continue to strengthen the Espresso ecosystem, and the many developers who earned $100k in prizes from our Build & Brew Hackathon.

Program Structure and Evaluation

As outlined in our original announcement, the Espresso Partner Program operates on a seasonal basis, with each round recognizing integration milestones and contributions from that period. Allocations for Season 0, which ran through the second quarter of 2025, were evaluated across five key criteria: depth of Espresso adoption, ecosystem impact, collaboration quality, team expertise, and integration effort.

This multi-dimensional approach ensures we're recognizing not just technical achievement, but the full spectrum of contributions that strengthen the Espresso Network. From the extensive testnet work by infrastructure partners like Caldera and AltLayer, to the production deployments by RARI Chain and AppChain, to the research contributions from teams like Hyperlane and Automata—each type of contribution plays a vital role in building a robust, interconnected ecosystem.

The Network Effect in Action

We're starting to see the early signs of network effects taking hold. While it's still early days, the patterns are encouraging: each new integration makes Espresso more attractive to the next wave of builders.

The teams that joined us in Season 0 positioned themselves at the ground floor of this growth. As the network expands and these effects compound, early participants stand to benefit disproportionately from the ecosystem they helped create.

For teams still evaluating whether to integrate with Espresso, the question isn't whether network effects will emerge—it's whether you'll be part of the cohort that drives them or the one that follows in their wake.

Looking Ahead

Season 0 represents just the beginning. As we transition to Season 1, the technical foundations laid by our founding partners will help streamline the next wave of integrations.

The future of Ethereum is thousands of specialized chains working together seamlessly. Our Season 0 partners took the first steps toward making this vision reality.

For teams interested in joining future seasons, reach out to us on Twitter to explore integration opportunities.

The Composables were never intended as a typical NFT collection, but as the first to showcase the composability enabled by Espresso-integrated chains. Starting with bridgeless minting, we'll showcase how Espresso enables crosschain interactions that are fast, secure, and seamless. No more waiting for bridges, no more liquidity concerns, no more dust stranded across chains, no more multi-step processes to accomplish simple tasks.

Today’s patchwork of bridges (including intent-solvers) is not enough to solve composability. In fact, many users minting The Composables experienced this friction first-hand.

We launched the mint on RARI Chain, an Arbitrum L3 purpose-built for NFTs. The mint required users to have native ETH on RARI Chain. Moving assets quickly to L2s and L3s—particularly native ETH—remains difficult, a common pain point faced by application-specific chains. Intent-based bridges like Relay and Decent support fast bridging to these chains, but during periods of high demand (like our oversubscribed mint), users discover the limitations of intent-based bridges as solvers can run out of liquidity, especially on smaller chains.

Enabling Bridgeless Interactions

RARI Chain was the first chain to integrate with Espresso Network for its fast block confirmations, which can provide anyone with a secure preview within a few seconds of what RARI’s state will eventually look like on its settlement layer (in this case, Arbitrum One).

Because Espresso integration allows users and applications to obtain fast, secure confirmations of events on RARI, this unlocks bridgeless interactions. Wallets and apps on other Espresso-integrated chains can now quickly and securely communicate with RARI, enabling users to mint or purchase an NFT on RARI within seconds — without bridging funds at all.

This doesn’t change the time to withdraw native ETH from a rollup like Base via the L1 and deposit into RARI, or in isolation guarantee users access to native ETH on RARI through liquidity providers, but it unlocks something even better—removing the need to bridge at all. This not only speeds up the user experience but also eliminates the need to bridge excess funds back to the source chain and avoids stranding amounts that are too small to make it worth bridging back (ie, “dust”).

The Composable Roadmap

In the coming weeks, in collaboration with Rarible, we will roll out new capabilities for The Composables, including:

Composable Drip — a new collection of digital collectibles that anyone can mint and that Composable holders will be able to eventually combine with their NFTs. This time, users will be able to mint within seconds using funds on any Espresso-integrated chain, with no bridging required.

Composables Go Crosschain — holders will soon be able to send their Composables on travels between any Espresso-integrated chain in seconds. Each crosschain journey will add to your Composable's story, with the potential to earn special rewards that commemorate these adventures. When your Composable travels to a new chain, it doesn't just exist there—it belongs there, with all the benefits of a native asset.

Further out, we are partnering with Rarible to build crosschain NFT markets, enabling NFTs minted on Espresso-integrated chains to be seamlessly listed and sold across other Espresso-integrated chains—without requiring users to move NFTs or funds across chains. Through secure message-passing, payment on one chain will be made atomic with the transfer of the NFT on another.

Looking Ahead

With bridgeless minting and portable assets, The Composables will demonstrate what's possible when chains work together seamlessly. This is just the beginning of building a truly composable multi-chain future—one where applications, assets, and interactions flow freely across chains without friction or artificial boundaries.

By aligning incentives through strategic token allocations, we aim to foster innovation, strengthen Espresso’s burgeoning community, and accelerate adoption of Espresso as the fastest growing ecosystem of interconnected chains in the Ethereum ecosystem and beyond.

Whether you're an appchain, a rollup ecosystem, or interoperability protocol, the Espresso Partner Program provides tangible benefits for joining us early in building a scalable, composable, unstoppable ecosystem.

Strengthening Espresso Together

As stewards of the Espresso Network, we recognize that its long-term success is intrinsically tied to the strength of the chains and other protocols integrated with it. The more chains plug in, the stronger the network will be.

Launching this program is our commitment to fostering a strong group of pioneers who are building the future of Ethereum with us, creating an aligned ecosystem that rewards technical contributions and shared vision. The program provides tangible incentives to complement the technical benefits of integrating with Espresso: fast, secure, and credibly neutral confirmations; secure, decentralized transaction sequencing; and robust, scalable data availability.

Furthermore, this program will support the growth of the applications and ecosystems integrating with Espresso. Espresso Partners range from established products with millions of users to upstart teams still building in beta. Regardless of where a project is in its product development and adoption, Espresso seeks to act as a deep partner to all those who are building something real and who believe in the power of composability across chains.

This seasonal program is specifically designed for L2s, L3s, and interoperability protocols that are committed to a more united and composable Ethereum—and recognize the value of Espresso’s fast, secure, credibly neutral interoperability layer in helping get us there.

How the Program Works

The Espresso Partner Program will be run by the Espresso Foundation over an anticipated minimum of 24 seasonal rounds during the next several years. Each season will focus on recognizing integration milestones and contributions that occurred during that period. Partners will be allocated tokens from a dedicated portion of the Espresso Network's $ESP token supply, based on:

• Adoption of Espresso: The extent to which projects integrate and utilize Espresso Network's capabilities within their product(s)

• Ecosystem impact: The potential and ongoing impact an integrating project's existing user base and market presence could have on the Espresso Network and its community

• Relationship health: The depth and quality of the ongoing technical and strategic collaboration between Espresso and the project

• Team quality: The expertise, vision, and execution of the project

• Integration effort: The technical complexity and resources invested in implementing a robust integration with Espresso Network

Whether you're one of our longstanding contributors who have helped build custom stack integrations with Espresso or a new chain exploring integration possibilities on testnet, the program provides a structured way to reward those committed to helping strengthen the Espresso Network.

The program is designed to be ongoing, with seasons lasting approximately three months each, though the Espresso Foundation will be constantly reviewing the program in an effort to make it more impactful and beneficial to the community, so reserves the right to modify it in the future.

We’re kicking off with Season 0, for which allocations will be announced in the upcoming weeks.

Not too late to participate in Season 0

While the Espresso Partner Program is designed to reward early and existing contributors, the door remains open for a few more weeks for new projects to be recognized in Season 0. If you're interested in opportunities to partner, please follow and tweet at @EspressoSys with your plans and goals for integrating Espresso.

Born from a grassroots desire among Espresso’s early contributors to represent themselves online and onchain, The Composables have evolved into something much bigger: a symbol of our community’s shared belief in interoperability, creativity, and the composable blockchain future we are building together.

A New Kind of Onchain Identity

It all started when Espresso contributors wanted avatars that embodied our (retro)futuristic, innovative spirit—and our core mission: making composability across chains fast, easy, and reliable.

The talented artists at We3 Collective brought this vision to life, crafting a set of modular, "composable" characters. Their features and traits are designed to combine together in thousands of innovative ways, just like applications and assets do across Espresso’s interconnected chains.

By popular demand, The Composables are now expanding to become the face of the entire Espresso community of enthusiasts, evangelists, creators, and builders.

Powered by Espresso and RARI Chain

The collection is a collaboration with Rarible and RARI Chain, which in January became the first chain to integrate with the Espresso Network for fast, reliable confirmations.

Every mint of The Composables will happen natively on RARI Chain, and every transaction will benefit from Espresso’s fast, reliable confirmations.

And this is just the beginning. Espresso’s growing network of chain integrations will soon allow your Composable character to traverse and compose across other Espresso chains—quickly, securely, and seamlessly.

True Crosschain NFTs

The Composables aren't just inspired by crosschain functionality—they're built for it. As one of the first collections designed from the ground up for seamless movement between blockchains, we plan to make it possible for your Composables to be able to travel between any Espresso-integrated chain.

This means your NFT can follow you across your favorite ecosystems without wrapped tokens or centralized bridges. We plan to make it so that each crosschain journey adds to your Composables’ story, unlocks new traits, capabilities, and potentially can earn special "wearables" that commemorate these crosschain adventures.

When your Composable travels to a new chain, it doesn't just exist there—it belongs there, with all the benefits of a native asset.

About the Collection

• Drop Phases: Three phases, starting end of May

• Minting: Minted natively on RARI Chain

• Supply, price, and how to get on the allowlist will be announced over the coming weeks

The collection is made up of five categories, each celebrating different roles within the Espresso ecosystem. The Composables within each category will also have unique traits that identify them as belonging to one of several specific archetypes.

• The Prototypers: These Composables were crafted before the collection was even conceived. They are unique and represent those core builders and believers who backed the vision of Espresso and the Composables in its earliest stages.

• The Vanguard: These Composables cross-cut a variety of archetypes in the Espresso community, but all share a vision for how all chains can work together as one. The Vanguard includes the Avant-Garde, the Envoys, and the Explorers.

• The Brewers: These Composables represent the builders of the Espresso community, whether they are developing ideas in R&D, live integrations, new applications, or tools to push the boundaries of crosschain composability. The Brewers encompass the Inventors, the Professors, and the Artisans.

• The Creators: These Composables honor those who make Espresso, its community, and its mission visible, legible, and unforgettable. The Creators are Evangelists, Educators, and Curators.

• The Stewards: These Composables are for those who lay the foundation for Ethereum’s most vibrant new ecosystem. The Stewards encompass the Alchemists, the Cartographers, and the Wardens.

How to Join

The mint for The Composables will roll out in three phases starting at the end of May.

Eligibility for guaranteed spots or allowlist access will be announced throughout the coming weeks.

Your first opportunity to learn more: Join us in the Espresso Discord for Espresso Community Call #2 on Thurs., May 1.

Composability Without Limits

With The Composables, we’re not just creating avatars—we’re creating a movement.

A movement toward a future where blockchains are faster, more connected, and more creative than ever before.

A future where you can compose without compromise.

Last Friday, April 25, 2025, Espresso Systems, a core contributor to the Espresso community, along with 22 node operators successfully upgraded Decaf, the Espresso Network’s long-running testnet, to a permissionless version of HotShot proof-of-stake consensus.

This upgrade marks a major milestone in our journey toward a fully permissionless confirmation layer that unites Ethereum's fragmented ecosystem. Various technical improvements will also further speed up confirmation times for chains using Espresso.

Why This Matters

Since launching on mainnet in November 2024, the Espresso Network has operated with a permissioned set of 22 community and institutional node operators running 100 nodes across six continents. While this approach has provided stability during our initial phase, which we called Mainnet 0, true decentralization requires opening participation to anyone willing to stake.

This latest upgrade to the Network’s long-running testnet (Decaf) allows for thorough testing before bringing it to production on mainnet. Mainnet 1, anticipated later this year, will represent a critical step toward our vision of a permissionless, trust-minimized confirmation layer that can serve as the backbone for crosschain composability across Ethereum's fragmented L2/L3 ecosystem.

This initial upgrade will see Espresso Systems allocate testnet stake across the 22 node operators that have been running the network over the last six months. When sufficient testing has been completed with this more limited group, Espresso Systems also plans to delegate testnet stake to new operators looking to get started running Decaf.

If you have experience running nodes for proof-of-stake networks and you are interested in participating in Espresso’s testnet, you can learn more about registering a staking node on Espresso Systems’ documentation site and get started with the Espresso Network’s staking CLI. Please stay tuned for future announcements about updates to Decaf and delegation of testnet stake on X and Discord.

Technical Improvements Beyond PoS

The Decaf upgrade delivers more than just a new consensus mechanism. The team at Espresso Systems also made technical upgrades that we anticipate will speed up the confirmation times chains can expect from the Espresso Network. For instance, the HotShot consensus protocol has been updated to reduce the number of rounds it takes to finalize a block by one (from four to three rounds). The Espresso Systems team also enhanced the verifiable information dispersal (VID) protocol, which optimizes how block data is processed across the network. Rather than requiring each storage node to download complete blocks, VID intelligently distributes erasure-coded chunks of data, dramatically improving network efficiency.

In a development environment, the HotShot upgrade and VID improvements have demonstrated substantial performance gains, and we anticipate they'll reduce confirmation times on Decaf by approximately 29%. This means even faster crosschain communication for L2s and L3s integrating with Espresso.

What's Next

Decaf’s testnet upgrade serves as a dress rehearsal for our upcoming mainnet PoS deployment, anticipated later in 2025.

The upcoming transition to Mainnet 1 will coincide with the launch of the Espresso Network’s native token ($ESP), which will power the network's economic security model and governance system. We’ll be releasing more details about the token and PoS-update schedule in the coming months via official channels, including the Foundation’s X account. This will include details for new node operators who are interested in joining and running a node in the Espresso Network in the future.

Over the coming weeks, we will announce next steps for node operators who would like to start running Espresso’s Decaf testnet in preparation for Mainnet 1. This collaborative testing phase is essential to ensuring a smooth mainnet transition.

We also want to thank our node operators who have helped secure the Espresso Network up to this point. We look forward to recognizing them for their contributions via a mainnet delegation program for which we will share details in the near future.

The Bigger Picture

The Espresso Network was designed from the ground up to solve the fragmentation challenges facing Ethereum's expanding L2 and L3 ecosystem. By providing fast, secure confirmations backed by Byzantine fault-tolerant (BFT) consensus, Espresso enables chains to trust and act on information from each other in seconds rather than minutes or days.

With the Decaf PoS upgrade, we're one step closer to delivering a confirmation layer with economic security, but optimized for speed and crosschain interoperability.

Join us on this journey as we work to unite Ethereum and enable the next generation of crosschain applications.

Get Involved

Those interested in Espresso have several options to stay connected and learn more:

• Discord – The primary community hub and place for technical discussions

• Newsletter (launching soon) — Sign up for key updates on grants, governance, and development

• Espresso Systems’ blog — Updates from the original developers of the Espresso technology

• Follow the Espresso Foundation and Espresso Systems on X

The Espresso Foundation is committed to building a sustainable, decentralized future where all chains act like one while retaining their sovereignty and speed—and we’re excited to take this next step together.

More details coming soon.

Whether you’re new to development or a seasoned veteran, there’s something for everyone—and everyone who successfully completes the Caffeinate & Code core challenge is guaranteed a portion of the prize pool. Register here today!

The Power of Espresso Confirmations

Ethereum's fragmentation poses a critical challenge: how can L2s trust information from each other quickly and securely?

Espresso confirmations solve this by providing BFT consensus-backed transaction finality within seconds rather than the 12+ minutes (or days) required when L2s communicate via the L1. This enables near-instant cross-chain interactions with minimal trust assumptions, regardless of stack or VM.

This hackathon is your opportunity to build the connective tissue of Ethereum's future—where assets, data, and interactions flow freely between chains without sacrificing security or sovereignty.

Hackathon Structure and Prize Tiers

The Espresso Build & Brew Hackathon features two main tracks, each designed to accelerate different aspects of the Espresso ecosystem with a combined prize pool of $100,000.

Track 1: Caffeinate & Code

• Core Challenge: Deploy functional rollups integrated with Decaf, Espresso’s testnet

• Mainnet Bonus

• Build Something Real

Track 2: Cracking Composability

• Best Composable Apps

• Open Intents Applications

Track 1: Caffeinate & Code ($50K Total)

This track rewards developers who deploy live, functional rollups using Arbitrum’s Nitro stack (i.e., Orbit chains) that are integrated with Espresso.

Every successful deployment on Decaf, Espresso’s long-running testnet, will receive a guaranteed share of the prize pool, making this a unique opportunity for teams exploring development of new chains.

Core Challenge ($30K shared) - Deploy a fully functional Orbit chain and integrate it with Decaf, Espresso’s long-running testnet, and Arbitrum Sepolia. All successful deployments will receive a share of this prize pool.

Whether you're building a specialized chain for a specific vertical or experimenting with a novel rollup design, all qualifying deployments earn rewards. Please check the submission guidelines to ensure your rollup meets the requirements and is eligible to receive a prize. Each developer/team can submit up to two rollups for this track.

Mainnet Bonus ($10K shared) - Take your rollup to the next level by deploying on Espresso Mainnet and Arbitrum One. Teams who successfully launch on mainnet will divide this additional prize pool, showcasing their L2 to real users and applications.

Build Something Real ($10K for top 5) - Beyond just deployment, we're rewarding the best implementations that have functional testnet deployments and a compelling pitch. Projects will be judged on innovation, technical implementation, and potential impact.

Track 2: Cracking Composability ($50K Total)

This competitive track rewards the most innovative cross-chain apps and experiences that leverage Espresso confirmations. To get your creative juices flowing, we’ve compiled some ideas of potential apps, protocols, and features that could be built by leveraging Espresso confirmations.

Best Composable Apps ($35K) - Develop applications that read from HotShot on an Arbitrum-Decaf rollup, demonstrating real cross-chain functionality. Prizes will be awarded to the most innovative and well-executed projects, with a focus on user experience and technical implementation. See the submission guidelines for the judging criteria.

Open Intents Applications ($15K) - Build projects that integrate the Open Intents Framework with Espresso confirmations in an Arbitrum-Decaf rollup. We're looking for applications that showcase how intent-based architectures can leverage fast confirmations to deliver superior cross-chain experiences.

Support & Resources

The Espresso Foundation is excited to have the support of Espresso Systems, an early and core contributor to Espresso Network, in making this hackathon happen.

Documentation and Guides

• Espresso Integration Overview - Start here for a high-level understanding of how Espresso confirmations work and integration options

• Chain Deployment Guide - Step-by-step instructions for deploying an Espresso-integrated Arbitrum Orbit chain

• Cross-Chain Development Guide - A guide covering the fundamentals of building applications that leverage Espresso confirmations. Coming soon!

• API Reference - Explore Espresso's APIs for developers

Developer Support

• Discord Community - Join the #build-and-brew channel in Discord for real-time support, connect with other participants, and post technical questions for the Espresso Systems team and community. First verify your build registration in the channel #builder-verification to open up the other hackathon channels.

• Office Hours - Espresso Systems will host weekly office hours on Fridays to give participating developers opportunities to tap Espresso Systems engineers for personalized support.

Get Started

The future of Ethereum isn't a single chain—it's thousands of specialized chains working together. Join us in building the connective tissue that will unite Ethereum's ecosystem.

Learn more and register now to participate in Espresso's first global hackathon.

• Register: Join the hackathon at DoraHacks

• Prepare: Dive deep into the developer documentation to understand Espresso confirmations and integration options

• Connect: Join Discord for support and to find team members

Submit: Final submissions are due March 31, 2025

In pursuit of its mission, the Espresso Foundation will oversee upgrades to the Espresso Network, administer grants to developers and teams contributing to the betterment of the Espresso community, and help organize other initiatives that foster a diverse community of contributors. It will also oversee the upcoming launch of the Espresso token ($ESP).

The Evolution of Espresso

Espresso Systems, a US-based company, has spent the last two years developing the Espresso Network, a global confirmation layer purpose-built to support fast, secure cross-chain transactions.

The Espresso Network provides confirmations for any integrated chain, regardless of their stack, VM, or settlement layer. These confirmations are secure enough for anyone to trust and fast enough for everyone to use. Existing bridge protocols and message-passing services can leverage these confirmations to inherit speed and security, replacing the need to depend on a chain’s single centralized sequencer.

The first release, Mainnet 0, went live in November 2024 and is run by 23 institutional and community node operators across 100 globally distributed nodes, with plans to upgrade to fully permissionless proof-of-stake consensus soon.

Espresso Systems will continue as a core contributor to the Espresso Network, but it intends to transfer stewardship of its core technology, creative identity, and community platforms to the Foundation.

Open, composable, and permissionless developer platforms are the best tools for innovation that humanity has. Composability is a property of blockchains that offers builders the ability to create applications that can seamlessly interact with those that already exist. This property is sometimes called “money legos” or “unstoppable apps” or “free, open APIs for all.” In order to support scale, developers and users now live in a world with many chains—breaking their composability.

The Espresso Foundation’s mission is to ensure that all chains can compose as one—and it aims to steward this mission with neutral, decentralized governance and participation from a wide range of contributors.

Major Milestones Ahead

Migration to Proof-of-Stake & Token Launch

The Espresso Foundation will oversee the Espresso Network’s upgrade to proof-of-stake, a long-awaited milestone that will see the network become fully permissionless with network participation determined by token staking.

A primary goal of the Espresso Foundation is to maximize the decentralization of the Espresso Network, eventually scaling to thousands of participating nodes.

Proof-of-stake will go live on Espresso’s long-running testnet, Decaf, on or around April 15, 2025. Once this release has demonstrated sufficient stability, the upgrade will go live on Espresso Mainnet. This upgrade will coincide with the launch of the token ($ESP) native to the Espresso Network, which will play a critical role in securing the network.

Please note there is currently no token associated with Espresso and any further communications about this will come through official Foundation channels. Please be aware of potential scams.

$100K Espresso Hackathon

To kickstart developer engagement, we’re launching the first Espresso hackathon: Build & Brew. Registrations are open today, and the hackathon is scheduled to begin March 10, 2025.

We envision a world of thousands of chains that can all compose with each other as if they are one. Each chain will have its own customized stack, its own set of applications, its own culture and personality—and they will be united by the strength and speed of Espresso’s confirmations. The bridges and interop protocols you already use will be fueled by Espresso and a new world of “caffeinated” cross-chain applications will emerge.

We have taken the first steps on this journey, welcoming RARI Chain—a creator platform centered around NFTs—as the initial chain fuelled by Espresso. We are excited to support deployments of more chains including Apechain, Henez, and Plume over the coming weeks.

The Foundation has a goal of supercharging this process by going direct to developers. We are proud to share that we have revamped our user guides and developer documentation and we are launching the first of a series of hackathons to get chains and cross-chain apps live on Espresso.

Whether you are already building a chain or application, tinkering with cross-chain experiences, or if you are brand new to crypto, we invite you to get your chain and application powered by Espresso confirmations.

Eligible submissions will share $100K in prize money from the Foundation.

Register today, start exploring our documentation, and follow along for updates on X at @espressoFNDN.

Global Builder Initiative

The Espresso Foundation will also spearhead a regional builder program to provide on-the-ground support and resources to builders in the broader Espresso community, starting in key focus regions like Southeast Asia and Latin America.

These regions have long been leaders in crypto in terms of entrepreneurship, development, research, and adoption and we are thrilled to become active participants in these thriving environments. Composability is about anyone from anywhere being able to build off of the contributions others have made before.

A key goal of the Espresso Foundation is to make the Espresso Network a truly global standard. If we are to achieve this among all chains, then we must do this among all regions.

The Espresso Foundation plans to host local initiatives in these regions to support builders with technical, strategic, marketing, and financial resources. Each region will have a dedicated lead, and the Foundation will commit resources to promising projects in these regions.

Network Expansion

Espresso has always been a collaborative project, with major contributions not just from Espresso Systems, but a wider community of players building in Ethereum and beyond. The Espresso Foundation will be continuing the growth and diversification of actors building Espresso.

Several teams have already contributed to Espresso’s core technology, including:

• Cartesi, a Linux-based altVM that has built its own custom Espresso integration for appchains in its community

• Caldera, a rollup-as-a-service provider that deployed several test rollups on Espresso testnets beginning in 2023 and was integral in RARI Chain’s recent integration with the Espresso Network

• AltLayer, a rollup-as-a-service provider that deployed several test rollups on Espresso testnets since February 2024

• Offchain Labs, core contributors to the Arbitrum and Ethereum technologies and key collaborators in supporting Espresso’s Arbitrum Orbit integration

• Automata, which developed the open-source code running in the TEEs used in Espresso’s Nitro integration

• We3, the team of designers who developed the Espresso Network’s distinctive brand

23 node operators have also been critical to the Espresso Network’s progressive decentralization, running consensus and providing fast, secure confirmations to chains and apps, while being geographically distributed across 6 continents: 01node, Blockdaemon, BlockPI, Chorus One, deNodes, Figment, Finoa Consensus Services (FCS), Imperator.co, Informal Systems, Kiln, KudasaiJP, LinkPool, Luganodes, Nethermind, Node Guardians, P2P.org, Pier Two, Staked (Kraken), Sub7 Security, Treasure, Unit 410, Validation Cloud, and ZKValidator.

As part of our effort to further decentralize development, the Foundation welcomes Distributed Lab as a contributor working on enablement of an Espresso-Arbitrum Nitro integration within an AWS Nitro enclave. When complete, this work will be released as an open-source contribution.

As we get off the ground, the Foundation looks forward to running more open processes for people and projects to become contributors to Espresso.

Espresso Incubator Fund

The Foundation also plans to launch the Espresso Incubator, an early-stage fund that will make seed investments starting at $10,000–$100,000 in promising projects that leverage Espresso’s fast, reliable confirmations to enable greater levels of cross-chain composability, starting with the highest quality participants in our Build & Brew Hackathon.

Our goal is to accelerate innovation and support builders as they scale their ideas into production-ready solutions.

Get Involved

Developers have several options to stay connected and learn more:

• Discord – The primary hub for technical discussions

• Community calls – Regular sessions to engage with the Espresso team and community of contributors

• Newsletter – Sign up for key updates on grants, governance, and development

• Register for the Build & Brew Hackathon

• Follow the Espresso Foundation on X

This is just the beginning. The Espresso Foundation is committed to building a sustainable, decentralized future — and we’re excited to take this next step together.

More details coming soon.

*      *      *

References to the Foundation in this announcement shall be deemed to be references to the Foundation acting directly or indirectly through one or more of its affiliates.