Cryptocurrency exchange Okcoin, along with its partner investment company Paradigm, has announced a new set of funding for the contribution of Bitcoin Core.
The funds will be directed towards grants for core carers Marco Falkewhich Okcoin has supported in the past, in 2021 and in 2020. Okcoin also previously provided support to Lightning developer Antoine Riard in his efforts to support second layer network privacy.
“Falke is one of six people in the world with the ability to approve or reject proposed changes to the code underlying the world’s largest cryptocurrency,” the announcement explained. “As the maintainer of Bitcoin core, he reviews proposed additions to the network code from contributors, of which there are currently more than 400. The grant from Okcoin and Paradigm is to provide Falke with a livable income while he devotes 40+ hours per week to the development of Bitcoin Core – job without salary, due to the decentralized structure of Bitcoin.
The announcement also highlights that many Bitcoin users may not be aware that Bitcoin developers and developers are technical volunteers who, due to the nature of Bitcoin, have no centralized organization to provide funding or support for their efforts. Okcoin has previously released a survey showing that 85% of Bitcoiners care about the exchange funding Bitcoin development.
Co-founder of Paradigm Matt Huang said this, saying that “Paradigm believes it is our responsibility to finance its Bitcoin research and development… We are pleased to provide a grant to Marco, who continues to move the network forward with his work.”
This special contribution brings Okcoin’s total contribution to Bitcoin development funding to $1.5 million. A respectable offer for the Bitcoin network will ideally be replicated by other companies in the industry to support the development of the technology that allows its existence.