The program, called Road to Devcon (RTD) Grants, targeted organizers in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and Vietnam. To qualify, events had to be free and open to the public, with a focus on education and technical development. Events centered on investment discussion, token sales, or price discussion were explicitly excluded. Applicants submitted an event proposal and detailed budget through the Ethereum Foundation's Ecosystem Support Program form, and were required to provide post-event documentation including photos and materials.

The grant ceiling was deliberately modest. At $1,000 per award, the program was designed for micro-events rather than large conferences. In markets like Vietnam and Indonesia, however, purchasing power meant that figure could realistically fund a multi-day workshop or launch a university club from scratch. Vietnam ranked third globally in Chainalysis's 2023 Crypto Adoption Index, while Indonesia placed seventh after recording a 207.5% surge in transaction volume that year. Indonesia's total crypto transaction volume reached $30 billion by October 2023, a roughly 350% annual increase. DeFi (decentralized finance, referring to financial services that run on public blockchains without traditional intermediaries such as banks) accounted for an estimated 55.8% of Southeast Asian crypto transaction volume in the period from July 2022 through June 2023, up sharply from 35.2% the prior year.

The EF had run a version of this model before. Ahead of Devcon 6 in Bogotá in 2022, community organizers across Latin America put together roughly 14 local events, and the region produced a dedicated Spanish-language conference the day before the main event opened. Half of the Devcon Scholars cohort for that edition came from Latin America, and 70% participated in the ETHBogota hackathon, with many going on to win prizes there. The RTD Grants program formalized that grassroots approach and applied it to Southeast Asia with direct funding from the outset. "If you are based in Southeast Asia, enjoy growing communities, developing educational activities, and empowering your region with the opportunities Ethereum offers, we encourage you to apply," the Foundation wrote in its June 2023 announcement.

Devcon 7 carried regional significance of its own. The event was branded "Devcon Southeast Asia" rather than "Devcon Bangkok," a deliberate framing choice the EF made to signal that the conference was meant to benefit the entire region, not just the host city. The Foundation also pushed the event to 2024 rather than holding it in 2023, citing the extra time as necessary to engage more thoroughly with local communities. "The decision to schedule [Devcon] for 2024 rather than 2023 allowed us to more thoroughly engage with these local communities, offering support and empowerment in a more meaningful way," the Foundation stated in its January 2024 SEA announcement. Devcon 7 ran November 12 through 15, 2024, at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center; pre-event projections had anticipated attendance exceeding 10,000.

The developer pipeline context is worth noting. According to Electric Capital's 2024 developer report, Asia accounts for the largest share of active crypto developers globally, with roughly one in three crypto developers based on the continent. A separate finding from Electric Capital's 2023 developer report showed that between 2018 and 2023, the share of crypto developers from non-Western regions including Asia, Africa, and Latin America doubled from 18% to 36%. North America and Europe together held 81% of crypto developers in 2015; by 2024 that figure had dropped to 55%. University club grants from the RTD program could contribute to that shift by creating developer pipelines in cities well beyond the established hubs.

There are limits to the program's reach, however. The RTD grants applied to Southeast Asia and nearby regions, leaving out other high-adoption markets. Nigeria and Kenya consistently rank among the world's top countries for grassroots crypto usage by Chainalysis metrics, but neither fell within the stated eligibility criteria. South Asian markets beyond the grant's "nearby regions" framing were similarly excluded, though India was not far from the picture. The EF announced in December 2025 that Devcon 8 will take place in Mumbai in 2026, noting that "India has 17M+ developers on GitHub… the nation has been the largest source of new crypto developers since 2023." Viewed together, the RTD grants for Southeast Asia and the Mumbai selection for 2026 suggest a sustained strategic pivot toward South and Southeast Asia. As of publication, however, the EF has not announced an RTD-equivalent grant program for South Asia ahead of Devcon 8, meaning the community grant layer has not yet been replicated for the Mumbai cycle.

---

Sources: Ethereum Foundation Blog (June 2023 RTD Grants Announcement; January 2024 Devcon SEA Announcement; December 2025 Devcon 8 Mumbai Announcement); Chainalysis 2023 Global Crypto Adoption Index; Electric Capital Developer Report 2023; Electric Capital Developer Report 2024; Pintu Academy; Tiger Research