Investment fund Maelstrom has awarded a grant to a Bitcoin Core developer for maintaining the Bitcoin Improvement Proposals (BIP) repository. The grant was given to Jon Atack, a senior developer at Bitcoin Core who started contributing in 2019. 

In a press release sent to Cointelegraph, Maelstrom chief investment officer Arthur Hayes said that the financial support allows Atack to focus on his work on Bitcoin. Hayes said that one of the fund’s goals is to support seasoned Bitcoin Core developers. The executive said: 

“Jon has complete freedom to work on whichever part of the Bitcoin codebase he likes from any location around the globe. As a senior developer on Bitcoin Core, Jon represents an early adopter and key member of the community.” 

Hayes hopes to identify more grant candidates to help educate the next generation of developers within the Bitcoin ecosystem. 

Bitcoin needs continued vigilance, review and updates

In the announcement, Atack said that open-source software and Bitcoin play a role in striving for causes like human freedom, decentralization of power, individual privacy and self-sovereignty. However, maintaining the network requires continued work. Atack explained: 

“Bitcoin isn’t perfect. Among other things, it needs further decentralization, continued vigilance, review, bug-fixing, updates, maintenance, and improved robustness, performance, privacy, scaling, documentation and user experience.”

Because of this, the developer pledged to help and service the network and said that he would continue to work on the decentralization and robustness of Bitcoin. 

“My time will be primarily invested in reviewing and context-packing proposals for these projects to help move them forward and potentially catch breaking changes and be able to help maintain them,” Atack added. 

Maelstrom told Cointelegraph that Atack received a $100,000 grant. The developer is also receiving another grant from the Bitcoin initiative Open Sats. 

Related: Bitcoin core dev to ‘unite’ Bitcoin and Ethereum with cross-chain tunnels

Maelstrom Bitcoin grant program

Maelstrom announced the grant program on July 17 to advance Bitcoin’s development . The grant program offers funding ranging from $50,000 to $150,000 on a 12-month basis, which can stack up to $250,000 per individual developer. 

Bitcoin core dev receives grant for maintaining BIP repository image 0

Source: Gareth Jenkinson

In a previous Cointelegraph interview, Hayes emphasized the importance of supporting developers in maintaining the network. The executive said that the ecosystem could be vulnerable to threats without funding.

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