Share this article
Coinbase to Sponsor 2 Bitcoin Core Developers With New Grant Program
Coinbase is sponsoring at least two Bitcoin Core developers with a new grant program, the San Francisco-based exchange announced Thursday.
Updated May 9, 2023, 3:12 a.m. Published Oct 15, 2020, 6:00 p.m.
Make us preferred on Google
Coinbase is sponsoring at least two Bitcoin Core developers with a new grant program, the San Francisco-based exchange announced Thursday.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
“We believe helping to connect and grow the cryptoeconomy is essential to building an open financial system for the world,” Manish Gupta, executive vice president of engineering at Coinbase, said in a statement. “Our Crypto Community Fund aims to grow and improve the entire crypto industry, while making it simpler to use and more secure for everyone. If successful, we intend to expand the program to other types of projects and crypto communities.”
The move comes after years of complaints from some members of the Bitcoin community that Coinbase and other exchanges have taken up the coder talent pool and made money off bitcoin but haven’t contributed directly to the open-source Bitcoin Core codebase.
In April of this year, Wyoming-based startup CardCoins became one of the smallest industry players to sponsor Bitcoin Core developers.
Read more: Why a Startup You’ve Never Heard of Is Now Sponsoring a Bitcoin Core Developer
Coinbase says the kinds of projects it is willing to support includes:
- Direct contributions to Bitcoin Core (e.g., improving testing, fuzzing, bug fixes, improvements)
- Significant code and/or Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) review
- Contributor tooling (e.g., bitcoinacks.com, which is open source)
- Bitcoin Core libraries and tools (e.g., libsecp256k1)
- Improvement to testing (e.g., fuzz testing, functional tests)
Coinbase would not reveal the size of the fund but did say in an emailed statement that it hopes to increase the fund over time.
The exchange compared this effort to other developer-focused initiatives it has led in the past, such as its “USDC Bootstrap Fund,” which was launched in September 2019 and supports developers by “investing directly in the protocol” with stablecoin liquidity.
More For You
KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
More For You
How the ultra-wealthy are using bitcoin to fund their yacht upgrades and Cannes trips
Cometh founder Jerome de Tychey is applying DeFi lending and borrowing on platforms like Aave, Morpho, and Uniswap to structures that help the ultra-wealthy secure loans against their massive crypto fortunes.
What to know:
- Wealthy investors who hold much of their fortune in crypto are increasingly turning to decentralized finance platforms to secure flexible credit lines without selling their digital assets.
- Firms like Cometh help family offices and other rich clients navigate complex DeFi tools, using assets such as bitcoin, ether and stablecoins to replicate traditional Lombard-style collateralized loans.
- DeFi loans can be faster and more anonymous than traditional bank credit but carry volatility and liquidation risks, and Cometh is also experimenting with applying DeFi strategies to traditional securities via ISIN-based tokenization.
Top Stories
