BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes’ crypto investment fund Maelstrom recently announced the launch of the Bitcoin Grant Program, aimed at helping with the technical development of the largest blockchain network. The focus of the program will be on improving Bitcoin’s resilience, scalability, censorship resistance, and privacy characteristics. The program is committed to an open and transparent grant process to support Bitcoin developers.
The Bitcoin Grant Program will award grants ranging from $50,000 to $150,000 per applicant, distributed over 12 months in monthly payments in bitcoin or stablecoins such as USDC and USDT. Recipients are expected to contribute to Bitcoin’s technical advancement, possibly through pull requests or code reviews for Bitcoin Core. The goal is to give back to the Bitcoin technology that the crypto ecosystem relies on.
Applicants for the grants must submit their applications by August 25, and the grants are expected to be distributed in the third or fourth quarter of the year. While grant stacking is permitted, the total amount awarded is capped at $250,000 per year. The review committee for the grant program includes Chief Investment Officer of Farside Investors, Jonathan Bier, who will serve as the Grant Program Administrator alongside Arthur Hayes.
Maelstrom’s recent investments include Pendle Finance, a protocol that enables users to tokenize and trade future yields. Hayes has endorsed Pendle Finance as the most important derivative exchange. The fund’s portfolio also includes the Bitcoin trading app Oyl and modular network project Elixir, among others. Maelstrom is also a founding advisor to the synthetic dollar protocol Ethena.
As the Chief Investment Officer of Maelstrom, Hayes has expressed his dedication to spreading the word about the Bitcoin Developer Grant Program. The program aims to support Bitcoin developers and help contribute to the ongoing technical development of the cryptocurrency. By providing grants to developers working on Bitcoin Core and other projects, Maelstrom hopes to give back to the technology that underpins the entire crypto ecosystem.
Overall, the launch of the Bitcoin Grant Program by Maelstrom represents a positive initiative to foster innovation and technical development within the Bitcoin network. By providing financial support to developers and projects that contribute to the advancement of Bitcoin’s technology, the program aims to enhance the resilience, scalability, and privacy features of the cryptocurrency. With the involvement of key industry players such as Arthur Hayes and Jonathan Bier, the program is poised to make a significant impact on the future development of Bitcoin.
