Trust₿trust, an initiative committed to supporting open source Bitcoin developers based in the Global South, has announced the recipients of its Q3 Starter Grants and new members of the ₿trust Open Source Group.
1/ 📢 Announcing the ₿trust grants for the third quarter!
We are excited to announce our Q3 2024 ₿trust Starter Grant recipients and Open-Source cohort members! 🚀
Empowering talented developers in the Global South is a core part of our mission to contribute to the Bitcoin open source ecosystem. pic.twitter.com/FnlgPGJoHu
— Btrust (@btrustteam) August 16, 2024
The startup grants, which provide full-time funding for Bitcoin software engineers, are a sign of ₿trust’s commitment to expanding the number of contributors to open source Bitcoin from regions such as Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.
Each recipient receives six months of support, including a stipend paid in Bitcoin, technical guidance and support in developing proposals to join the ₿trust open source pool with long-term funding.
Why is the ₿trust Starter Grant important?
Trust Starter Grants provide financial stability to talented open source developers, helping them focus on their work without financial pressure. They also provide mentorship and support to help developers build long-term, sustainable careers in Bitcoin.
“Through these grants, we can make a tangible contribution to the decentralization of open source Bitcoin development by providing these developers with diverse perspectives to enhance the resilience of the Bitcoin network,” said ₿trust interim CEO Abubakar Noor Khalil in a press release shared with Bitcoin Magazine.
Startup grants also provide a path to join the ₿trust Open-Source cohort. Developers in the ₿trust Open-Source cohort receive mentorship, professional development, and expanded financial support while contributing to open source initiatives.
“The goal is to make the open source Bitcoin profession sustainable for beneficiaries, and in addition to the long-term financial support we provide, we are working to create a supportive environment for them to thrive and feel a greater sense of community,” said Nour Khalil.
Start-up Grant Recipients
The beneficiaries of the initial grants for the third quarter of 2024 are as follows:
I need you
Oshikli He has over 2 years of back-end engineering experience and has worked on projects including Stablesats and Galoy’s. Easy paymentPayment Service Provider (PSP) of .
Oshikli will contribute to Lightning Development Kit‘s lightning rust With this grant, you will also improve the process of integrating new contributors into open source Bitcoin projects.
Topichi Chocolate
Chocoleta He is a highly experienced back-end developer with a background in data analysis. He has also played an active role in improving BTCPay Server Functions, especially regarding multi-signature system capabilities and plugin development.
The funds from his startup grant will support him as he continues to develop the BTCPay Server store functionality as well as the platform modules.
Kelvin Isifor
isifor He currently contributes to open source Bitcoin projects such as: polar and lindWhile working under the Starter Grant, Isievwore will focus on simplifying the testing and development process for engineers working on Lightning.
New members of the open source group
The new members of the ₿trust open source group are as follows:
Abu Bakr Sadiq Ismail
Sadiq Ismail He is a Nigerian contributor to Bitcoin Core who is actively involved in improving the Bitcoin protocol. He works on important areas of Bitcoin Core such as long-term fee estimation and transaction analysis.
Sadiq Ismail’s works on Mempool Fee Estimation Analysis He demonstrates his technical abilities, which help improve the scalability and usability of Bitcoin. While he is part of the group, he will continue this work, honing his abilities to contribute to the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Duncan Dean
dean He is a Lightning contributor from South Africa. He has been heavily involved in the development of Lightning’s highly modular library, rust-lightning.
Dean is also actively involved in projects such as: ldk review club and LinkWhere he contributed to improving continuous integration (CI) procedures and helped maintain the strength of the codebase. While in the group, Dean aims to enhance his ability to contribute to Bitcoin and Lightning.
Oginovo Osioma
It dries us out. He is a Nigerian-based Bitcoin Core contributor who has been working with ₿trust since 2023. Under the ₿trust Starter Grant, he focused on developing the silent payments functionality.
As part of the open source ₿trust group, he will work to introduce new key formats and specifications for silent payments in Bitcoin Core, and continue his work on improving Bitcoin’s privacy and scalability features.
Apply for a ₿trust scholarship
Developers based in Africa, MENA, Southeast Asia and Latin America can apply for ₿trust grants.
Developers in other regions of the Global South will also be considered for grants on a case-by-case basis, based primarily on proof of work in the Bitcoin space.
Apply for a ₿trust Starter Grant via This link ₿trust.