Quick Summary

The Stylus Sprint is live and will offer 5M in ARB grants to developers creating innovative blockchain solutions using Arbitrum Stylus. This sprint supports teams working with Stylus’s Web Assembly (WASM) VM, which will enable coding in any WASM-compatible language (e.g., Rust). Projects will be reviewed by an evaluation committee that will look for scalable solutions with long-term potential and meaningful ecosystem impact. Applications open on November 11, 2024, on Questbook.

Kicking off the Stylus Sprint

The Stylus Sprint program is designed to support builders working with Arbitrum Stylus. The sprint will offer 5M ARB worth of grants, along with resources and collaboration opportunities, for teams that want to push the boundaries of what is possible on the blockchain using Stylus. Successful grant applicants will work through a structured milestone-based timeline to develop their ideas with the support of the Arbitrum ecosystem.

What is Stylus?

Stylus introduces a fully interoperable virtual machine (VM) that works seamlessly with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). This new VM executes WebAssembly (WASM) instead of EVM bytecode, empowering developers to code in any smart contract language that compiles to WASM.

With the WASM VM, developers can unlock net new possibilities onchain utilizing packages and libraries that were previously inaccessible on EVM, such as the rich ecosystem of Rust crates. Additionally, the lower gas costs for complex smart contracts make it easier to develop computation and memory-intensive applications, enabling the creation of advanced solutions without excessive costs. The WASM VM is entirely interoperable with the EVM, which means developers can deploy smart contracts written in other languages that will work seamlessly with the EVM. 

Through this sprint, the Arbitrum ecosystem seeks to accelerate builders looking to make an impact on EVM by bringing innovative apps and tools utilizing Stylus that showcases its novel capabilities.

How do I participate in the Stylus Sprint?

The Stylus Sprint will start accepting applications on November 11th from developer teams with project ideas that align with Arbitrum’s mission of scalability and efficiency.  

Grant amounts will vary based on the project scope, with funds explicitly allocated for high-impact, technically advanced proposals. 

Below is a simplified breakdown of how you can participate in the Stylus Sprint

Select your Track: 

Choose between the open-application track or specific RFPs targeting verticals established by the Evaluation Committee.

Application Process 

The Stylus Sprint will be hosted on Questbook!

• Create an account in https://questbook.app/
• Go to the dashboard of the “Arbitrum Stylus Sprint”
• Click on the “Submit New” button on the top left of the page.
• Insert your responses based on the Stylus Sprint Application Template into the form.

After submitting your application, feedback will be given by the Evaluation Committee, comprised of:

• Stylus Team Members from Offchain Labs
• The Dev Team from Arbitrum Foundation 
• Michael Lewellen from OpenZeppelin 
• Gustavo Gonzalez from OpenZeppelin 
• SEEDGov
• JoJo 
• Entropy Advisors

After the feedback period, your application will be scored by the Evaluation Committee using the Stylus Sprint Grading Rubric. In general, the committee will be on the lookout for and prioritize evaluating applications that:

• Can scale, or help scale, Stylus usage over the long run. Examples include tooling and frameworks that can be extended, built upon, and leveraged by many teams simultaneously.
• Contribute to the young but growing ecosystem of Stylus tooling and infrastructure rather than directly contribute to individual Stylus applications and Stylus Orbit chains, though all teams are eligible and welcome to apply.
• Focus on projects that aim to be self-sustainable in the medium to long term rather than one-off projects that can only exist/survive for the program's short duration.
• Directly highlight core Stylus benefits and strengths with excellent creativity, including the efficient use of computational and storage resources or security primitives that Stylus bolsters and shines at.
• Fill a specific, unique niche in the market instead of re-implementing an existing application, tool, or chain in Stylus for the sake of using Stylus (and not the other purported benefits one gets with Stylus).
• Come from outside the Arbitrum and/or Ethereum ecosystem to effectively “grow the pie” of projects and users.

Timeline

The open application period for the Stylus Sprint will commence on November 11, 2024, and conclude on January 6, 2025. The application review will wrap up by January 20, 2025, marking the start of a one-year timeline for the selected applicants. The KYC and compliance process with the Arbitrum Foundation will also begin at this time.

Seize the opportunity to bring your ideas to life with the support of a dynamic ecosystem. Apply for the Stylus Sprint today!

Resources 

If you’re interested in participating in the Stylus Sprint, we have gathered valuable resources to help you hit the ground running. 

• Connect with the Stylus Developer Community: Join the Stylus Devs Telegram Chat to meet other developers, ask questions, and get involved with the community. 
• Get Started with the Quickstart Guide: The Stylus Quickstart Docs provide all the essentials for setting up and understanding Stylus. 
• Explore Real-World Code Examples: Visit Stylus by Example to see practical examples that will give you a clear view of Stylus in action. 

But don’t just listen to us. Hear from teams already building on Stylus…

Renegade Finance

“Renegade would not be nearly as fast, cheap, and secure without Stylus. We love the ability to re-use existing Rust cryptography libraries, and we’re blown away by the execution speed and gas efficiency of WASM,” said Andrew, Founding Engineer of Renegade Finance. 

Tune in to the full interview with the founders to learn why they chose Stylus and how it’s transforming their project here.

Superposition 

“Stylus marries the best of two worlds: the expressiveness, affordability, and safety of the Rust ecosystem and the richness of the EVM. We chose Stylus to build the cheapest and safest defi suite on the EVM without compromising on composability. Stylus is the game-changer that made it all possible,” said Alex, Founder of Superposition.

Check out the full interview with the Superposition founders to hear how they are using Stylus to bring their vision and groundbreaking ideas to life.

CVEX

“Thanks to Stylus, we can fully exploit the potential of Rust, WASM, and LLVM to create advanced and efficient smart contracts, all while preserving complete interoperability with the entire Ethereum ecosystem. This makes Stylus the only real choice for us to implement fully functional portfolio margin management for derivatives trading onchain,” said Ivan, CTO of CVEX. 

Fairblock

“Fairblock chose Stylus because implementing advanced cryptography algorithms is not feasible using pure EVM opcodes. We are excited to leverage these cryptography algorithms to unlock applications such as frontrunning protected orders, PVP gaming, mystery NFTs, coercion-resistant voting, and confidential AI,” said Peyman, Founder of Fairblock.

Don’t miss the conversation with the Fairblock founders as they reveal why they chose Stylus and how it’s shaping their innovative journey.

Lit Protocol

“At Lit Protocol, developing on Stylus has empowered us to deliver core platform features, such as programmable key pairs, with long-term scalability in mind. Leveraging Rust’s cryptography libraries and security advantages, combined with Stylus’s seamless interoperability with Solidity, has enabled our team to accelerate development—making feature upgrades as simple as deploying a smart contract,” said Howard, Sr. Protocol Engineer of Lit Protocol.

Catch the talk with Howard and David on how Lit Protocol is Stylus for leveraging Rust cryptography libraries and decentralizing digital security and identity.