The Ethereum Foundation has published a program update regarding its Next Billion Fellowship Program, introducing four new Fellows joining Cohort 5 and highlighting five program alumni. Applications for Cohort 6 are currently open on a rolling basis, with the upcoming cohort scheduled to begin in October 2025. The six-month fellowship provides support for individuals working on small projects that showcase unique human perspectives and practical use cases for the Ethereum protocol and its application layer.
The four newly announced Cohort 5 Fellows are leading initiatives across digital identity, climate finance, international development, and space satellite technology:
- Mashbean is researching robust digital identity and civic services in Taiwan, exploring how public infrastructure can benefit from resilient, trustless protocol properties.
- Sharfy Adamantine is supporting environmental stewardship at Gainforest by improving compatibility with the Hypercerts standard to connect climate finance directly to local conservation efforts.
- Teodor Petricevic, who leads blockchain initiatives at the UN Development Programme, is mapping Ethereum-based projects across the UN ecosystem to design an impact management framework for global development organizations.
- Robert Cowlishaw, an aerospace engineer, is pioneering research combining zero-knowledge proofs, trusted execution, and satellite imagery in collaboration with the European Space Agency to build a prototype app that automatically triggers emergency response systems following natural disasters.
In addition to introducing Cohort 5, the Ethereum Foundation highlighted five alumni sharing their experiences with protocol trust:
Devansh Mehta built a marketplace transforming real-world journalism outcomes into tradeable impact certificates. Guo Liu developed the Billboard Protocol to transform digital ad spaces into community-controlled publishing assets. Lefteris Arapakis established a blockchain-tracked ocean plastic supply chain with Enaleia to engage Mediterranean fishing communities. Rebecca Mqamelo examined commitment pooling to revitalize indigenous economic practices in Ocean View, South Africa. Valeriia Panina documented social resilience in Ukraine through the Volya project, detailing crypto's evolution from an emergency lifeline to an institutional trust model.
