whirlpoolThe family office of former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes has awarded John Atack a one-year grant to Bitcoin developers. He is the second recipient of the grant. Maelstrom Scholarship Program Support open source Bitcoin developers.
John He is an experienced contributor to Bitcoin Core, where he started in 2019. He was also recently appointed as the maintainer of Bitcoin Improvement Proposals (BIPs).
“We hope this financial support will allow John to focus on his Bitcoin work without worrying about income,” Arthur Hayes said in a statement, emphasizing the unrestricted nature of the grant, which gives Attac the freedom to work independently.
The Bitcoin open source database relies on volunteer developers, so grants help enable more contributors to work full-time. Proponents believe that having more funded developers benefits the Bitcoin ecosystem.
“I am interested in human freedom, decentralization of power, individual empowerment, privacy and self-sovereignty,” John said. “Bitcoin and open source software play a key role in pursuing these issues.”
He plans to spend the year reviewing proposals and changes to improve Bitcoin Core and BIPs. John stated, “Bitcoin is not perfect. It needs more decentralization, constant vigilance, review, bug fixes, updates, maintenance, and improvements in durability, performance, privacy, scalability, documentation, and user experience.”
Maelstrom aims to promote Bitcoin through unrestricted grants to developers like Atack. At the same time, it also receives funding from another organization, OpenSats.