Share this article
BitMEX Awards Grants to Two More Bitcoin Developers
The crypto exchange is now supporting six open-source developers in total.
Updated May 11, 2023, 6:31 p.m. Published Sep 23, 2021, 5:42 p.m.
Make us preferred on Google
Two Bitcoin developers – Chris Coverdale and Rene Pickhardt – have been selected to receive funding from BitMEX’s Open Source Developer Grant program.
- Both Coverdale and Pickhardt will receive eight-month grants, with funding lasting until next May. The grants are worth $33,333 each.
- BitMEX’s announcement of the grant awards describes its developer grant program as “interim funding” meant to help part-time developers make the transition out of employment or education into full-time development work.
- BitMEX is one of several crypto companies, including Gemini, Marathon Digital Holdings, OKCoin and Square, to fund Bitcoin developers.
- Coverdale’s work will focus on building an implementation of the Stratum V2 bitcoin mining pool protocol, which he has been working on since February.
- Pickhardt, a former member of the German Pirate Party, will focus his development work on improving the Lightning Network, a layer 2 payment protocol built on top of Bitcoin.
- With the addition of Coverdale and Pickhardt, BitMEX is now supporting six Bitcoin developers, including Michael Ford, Calvin Kim and Sjors Provoost. Over the past two years, BitMEX has handed out at total of $1.5 million in open-source development grants.
Read more: BitMEX, Human Rights Foundation Award Bitcoin Developer Grants Worth $150K
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
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
Solana’s new phase is ‘much more about finance,’ says Backpack CEO Armani Ferrante
The Solana ecosystem has spent the past year doubling down on a financial infrastructure, Backpack CEO Armani Ferrante told CoinDesk.
What to know:
- Solana’s latest phase looks a lot less flashy than its memecoin-fueled highs, and that may be the goal.
- Armani Ferrante, CEO of crypto exchange Backpack, told CoinDesk in an interview the Solana ecosystem has spent the past year doubling down on a more sober focus: financial infrastructure. A
- fter years of experimentation as the wider crypto industry focused on NFTs, games and social tokens, attention is now shifting back toward decentralized finance, trading and payments.
Top Stories
