In brief
- Coinbase has launched a Crypto Community Fund to award grants to developers.
- Initially, the exchange plans to award at least two grants to Bitcoin Core contributors.
- Square Crypto and BitMEX are among the other firms that support Bitcoin developers.
San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is the latest crypto firm to help support further development of the BitcoinBitcoin Core codebase and related projects, today announcing the creation of a new fund and a search for potential grant recipients.
The Coinbase Crypto Community Fund aims to further build the crypto industry by supporting the developers who are helping to boost the infrastructure behind it, starting with Bitcoin Core. The company is currently looking to provide grants to at least two developers, and may eventually expand the initiative beyond that initial focus.
“Unlike most cryptocurrency projects, Bitcoin launched without a fundraise, while bootstrapping an entire industry,” writes Manish Gupta, Coinbase EVP of Engineering, in a company blog post.
“The open source community has provided critical support for Bitcoin development, with some support from donations from industry organizations and academic institutions. Our goal is to similarly support developers who are committed to growing and maintaining the Bitcoin ecosystem.”
Coinbase has posted a form that can be used to apply or nominate potential recipients, with a shortlist to be developed by current Bitcoin Core contributors and notable community members. According to Gupta’s post, the company is looking to provide year-long grants, but is willing to hear proposals for shorter-term projects as well.
Coinbase Loses 5% of Workforce Over Political Speech Ban
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong today announced that 5% of employees, or 60 of the 1,200 who work for the San Francisco-based exchange, opted for an exit package after he said last week that the firm’s employees should separate politics from work. More still may leave as the company wraps up discussions with some employees. In a Coinbase blog post today—the contents of which were emailed to employees earlier in the day—Armstrong said he “could have done a better job bringing the Operating Group a...
The Crypto Community Fund’s advisory board currently includes Stanford professor Dan Boneh, Lightning Labs developer Carla Kirk-Cohen, and Bitcoin Core developers Anthony Towns and Amiti Uttarwar, and programmer Felix Weis.
Square Crypto has given out several grants to developers of Bitcoin and open-source projects to date, for example, plus BitMEX has done the same for Bitcoin Core developers (including Uttarwar).
