Share this article
Kraken's First Brink Grant Goes to Bitcoin Rust Developer
Last year was a watershed year for open-source Bitcoin grants; 2021 is on track to outmatch it.
Updated Sep 14, 2021, 12:38 p.m. Published Apr 8, 2021, 4:30 p.m.
Make us preferred on Google
The first grant from Kraken’s $150,000 donation to the Bitcoin development non-profit organization Brink will fund a developer who is coding tools to build Bitcoin software in the Rust programming language.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Alekos Filini will receive an undisclosed amount for the next year to continue his work on Bitcoin software built using the Rust language, specifically for working on the Bitcoin Developer Kit. This programming language is the building block for one implementation of the popular Bitcoin open-source wallet Electrum, as well as a Rust Lightning Network integration.
Read more: Square Crypto, Human Rights Foundation Ramp Up Bitcoin Development Grants
This grant and others like it have grown in popularity over the last year and have become an integral piece to funding Bitcoin's open-source protocol and softwares, whose developers have historically relied on donations or done work for free.
"I'm incredibly grateful to Brink and Kraken for what they are doing," Alekos Filini told CoinDesk. "I know there are a lot of really smart people out there that deserve funding for their open-source projects, so the fact that they've seen what we've built with BDK over the past year and ultimately decided to award me this grant feels awesome for me personally and for the whole team as well."
“We’re absolutely delighted to be partnering with Kraken to support Alekos’s work,” said John Newbery, founder and director of Brink, said in a press release. “Kraken is one of the most recognized and respected brands in the Bitcoin ecosystem, so we’re very excited that they’re supporting the open-source developer community.”
Filini will use the Bitcoin developer grant to work on the Bitcoin Dev Kit, which includes tools and libraries for developers building applications in Rust. Among a few other Rust projects, like a simple command-line wallet for teams to test new projects, Filini is also working on a Tor daemon that developers can be plug into mobile and desktop wallets to bolster privacy.
Kraken said in its post that it intends to pair the Bitcoin Dev Kit with a Lightning Dev Kit to offer "a complete suite of tools to build robust on-chain and Lightning wallets in Rust.”
Kraken told CoinDesk in December that it plans to integrate the Lightning Network – a tech stack atop Bitcoin which facilitates faster, cheaper transactions – this year.
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
Deus X CEO Tim Grant: We aren't replacing finance; we're integrating it
The Deus X CEO discussed his journey into digital assets, the company's infrastructure-led growth strategy, and why his Consensus Hong Kong panel promises "real talk only."
What to know:
- Tim Grant entered crypto in 2015 after early exposure to Ripple and Coinbase, drawn by blockchain’s ability to improve traditional finance rather than replace it.
- Deus X combines investing and operating to build regulated digital finance infrastructure across payments, prime services, and institutional DeFi.
- Grant will be speaking at Consensus Hong Kong in February.
Top Stories
