Understand the technical considerations, practical approaches, and lessons informing Ethereum's use in digital public infrastructure.
Technical Foundations is a team at the Ethereum Foundation that helps institutions evaluate the technical suitability of Ethereum for digital public infrastructure and other public-interest applications. The team also develops selected proofs of concept and reference implementations, extracting reusable design patterns, software components, and technical guidance.
Conduct technical due diligence on proposed architectures and claims, and develop technical evaluation frameworks to support informed institutional decisions.
Vendor recommendations and project accreditation fall outside the team's scope.
Translate institutional needs into technical specifications, system designs, and threat models, providing a clear technical foundation for proposed Ethereum-based approaches.
Develop selected proofs of concept and reference implementations to demonstrate how Ethereum can support digital public infrastructure, while extracting reusable patterns, software tools, and technical guidance.
This work doesn't extend to delivering bespoke one-off solutions or operating systems in production.
Share technical knowledge and practical guidance from implementations to help institutions strengthen their in-house capabilities in developing and maintaining systems that use Ethereum.
Browse technical articles, practical tools, demonstrations, and lessons from Technical Foundations’ work. These resources share technical knowledge and practical insights into how Ethereum can support digital public infrastructure and other public-interest applications.
Understand how applications, client APIs, nodes, and smart contracts fit together when integrating Ethereum into a software system.
Explore node types, execution and consensus clients, and the role of running a node in independently verifying network data.
Learn how cryptographic proofs can support verification without disclosing underlying information, including applications to identity and privacy.
Compare onchain and offchain data approaches, including availability, access, and security considerations when deciding where information should live.
Share your institution's technical questions or objectives with Technical Foundations directly, or with Ethereum for Public Infrastructure and Commons (EPIC), a team at the Ethereum Foundation.
Contact Technical Foundations