Coinbase’s Philanthropic Arm Donates $3.6 Million to Brink for Bitcoin Development

Coinbase’s philanthropic arm GiveCrypto is donating $3.6 million to Bitcoin-supporting nonprofit Brink, according to a February 16 announcement.

In an X post, Brink announced that all GiveCrypto funds would be directed exclusively to support Brink engineers and their open-source development efforts related to Bitcoin. Here’s everything you need to know.

Brink is excited to announce a $3.6m donation to our #Bitcoin development funding efforts from GiveCrypto!

Thank you to @brian_armstrong and the @coinbase team as well as @johnhering and @FEhrsam for your support in making this happen!

— Brink (@bitcoinbrink) February 16, 2024

What is GiveCrypto?

Coinbase had previously said in December that it would terminate GiveCrypto, citing its inability to generate a sustained impact. GiveCrypto was originally started as a nonprofit organization that gave out crypto to people in poverty.

“Unfortunately, we were unable to create a lasting impact with recipients, who returned to the same baseline after payment ceased,” Coinbase said.

Coinbase stated its intention to distribute the remaining funds between Brink and a charity platform named GiveDirectly; however, exact amounts were not specified then.

Brink’s Bitcoin Development Efforts

Established in 2020, Brink’s goal is to advance Bitcoin through research and development, as well as provide support to the Bitcoin developer community. The organization, founded by Bitcoin developers John Newbery and Mike Schmidt, operates a fellowship program designed to integrate new software engineers into Bitcoin development, alongside a grants program intended for existing engineers.

“Brink is excited to receive one of the biggest Bitcoin open source developer donations from one of the biggest companies in the space, Coinbase,” Brink co-founder Mike Schmidt said. “With these funds, we will continue our mission to support the Bitcoin developer ecosystem through funding, education, and mentoring.”

In June 2023, Brink secured $5 million from Jack Dorsey’s Smart Small funding initiative, which supports independent Bitcoin developers through grants. In January 2024, investment firm VanEck committed to giving 5% of profits from its spot bitcoin ETF to Brink.

Schmidt noted that Coinbase’s donation was one of the “largest single Bitcoin developer donations in history.” Coinbase had previously contributed $300,000 to Brink, according to the nonprofit’s website.