Beldex, a privacy-focused blockchain ecosystem, has unveiled a grants program backed by $1 million in funding aimed at encouraging the development of privacy-preserving applications, tools, and infrastructure. The program will operate continuously with adaptable funding cycles, allowing developers around the world to submit proposals whenever their projects are ready rather than adhering to fixed deadlines.

The initiative was announced during Korea Blockchain Week 2026 in Seoul, a major annual gathering for the blockchain industry, and is open to developers and teams internationally. It marks a shift in direction for Beldex, which until now has concentrated on building its own privacy products and infrastructure, including the BChat messenger, the BelNet decentralized network, the BNS naming service, and the Beldex Browser. By opening its infrastructure to external builders, the company aims to support a wider ecosystem of privacy-oriented applications, integrations, and developer tooling. The approach mirrors a funding model common across the blockchain industry, in which ecosystems run grant programs to finance third-party development on top of their own infrastructure.

“Beldex has spent years building privacy infrastructure and products. The next phase is about opening that foundation to developers and growing an ecosystem beyond what Beldex builds itself,” said Cris Blanco, Chief Strategy Officer at Beldex, in a written statement. “We don’t expect the most important privacy applications of the future to all come from inside one organisation. The Grants Program is about giving builders the infrastructure, support and capital to take those ideas from concept to production,” he added.

Funding Structure and Evaluation Criteria

Rather than allocating the $1 million through predetermined tranche amounts, the program assesses each proposal individually, with grant sizes determined by project scope and the complexity of the required deliverables. Eligible work falls into three broad areas: consumer and enterprise privacy-preserving applications covering private payments, identity, communications, and networking; infrastructure, research, and tooling, including protocol contributions, SDK enhancements, middleware, and research that strengthens Beldex’s privacy stack; and integration and interoperability work, such as wallet extensions and connectivity with external ecosystems.

Proposals are assessed against five criteria: innovation in privacy architecture, technical feasibility, potential ecosystem impact, compliance with security standards, and the clarity of proposed milestones. Funding is released in stages as specific deliverables are verified, which may include a prototype demonstrating core privacy features, deployment and testing in an appropriate environment — including the Beldex testnet where applicable — and, ultimately, a mainnet or production launch.

“We are not interested in handing out lump sums and hoping for the best. Funding is tied to clear, verifiable milestones, so ambition is matched by real delivery,” said Chairman Afanddy Bin Hushni of Beldex in a written statement. “The goal is simple: help strong teams turn promising ideas into technology people actually use,” he added.

Grant recipients will also receive direct technical support, including access to Beldex’s software development kits, detailed wallet extension integration guides, and priority contact with core repository maintainers through GitHub. This support is intended to lower the engineering effort typically involved in implementing zero-knowledge proofs and ring signatures — cryptographic techniques used to prove a statement’s validity or authorize an action without revealing the underlying details — in custom applications.

Applications can be submitted through the official Beldex application portal, which launched alongside the announcement in Seoul. Proposals are reviewed on a rolling basis without fixed hackathon or cohort deadlines, and grants will continue to be awarded as long as program funding remains available and applications meet the established technical and delivery requirements. Further details, including the application form and technical documentation, are available at beldex.io/grants. Because awards depend on verified deliverables rather than fixed timelines, the earliest funded projects — and the categories they choose among applications, infrastructure, and integrations — will offer the first indication of how the ecosystem around Beldex’s stack takes shape.

The announcement was first reported by Metaverse Post.