Major Bitcoin (BTC) derivatives exchange BitMEX has started accepting grant applications from open source developers.
The initiative follows $650,000 in developer grants that the exchange has issued to Bitcoin Core contributor Michael Ford and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
BitMEX expands open-source development funding
BitMEX’s parent company, HDR Global Trading Limited, has opened its open-source development grants to applications from developers contributing to Bitcoin, Java, NodeJS, and Kubernetes.
The application form also indicates that HDR is open to considering supporting open source development not relating to the four stated technologies, in addition to “smaller non-developer” grants for specific contributions such as the “transcribing or translation of technical content.”
Applicants must provide a resume, detail their most significant contributions to open source development, describe the work they are seeking funding for, and explain why it is useful.
Successful crypto firms should contribute to open-source tech
The firm states that it and many others within the crypto sector “rel[y] heavily on the (often-volunteer) work of dedicated open-source developers.”
“This work may be difficult, demanding, and often thankless,” the post continues, adding:
“[I]t is the duty of corporations to help nourish the ecosystems in which they exist, giving back where possible to the projects from which they benefit — and from which their very business model may stem.”
BitMEX provides $650,000 in crypto grants so far
On May 28, 2019, HDR announced that it would provide funding to MIT for its “research into the development and betterment of the global cryptocurrency ecosystem.”
During July 2019, HDR also awarded a $60,000 grant to Bitcoin Core contributor Michael Ford, aka ‘fanquake,’ following his appointment as an official maintainer of the protocol’s software.
Since then, HDR has distributed $150,000 to Ford and $500,000 to MIT in total.
