Coinbase Creates Grant Program for Bitcoin Development

Since politics are quite polarizing nowadays, Coinbase didn’t receive a lot of appreciation for trying to eliminate politics from its work environment. Even so, the latest development may just bring a change, as the exchange has opted to provide funds to at least two minimum Bitcoin Core developers and they have plans of potentially funding more. These two fundings would mark the launch of the Crypto Community Fund, which is Coinbase’s new grants program. Coinbase’s Executive Vice President of Engineering, Manish Gupta published a blogpost about the whole matter. He highlighted that the exchange has plans of sponsoring at least two Bitcoin developers.

Gupta said that these developers would be making contributions directly to the Bitcoin core database, or they would be involved with other Bitcoin projects. As of now, the program has already begun to accept applications from developers. This project was introduced after a significant amount of criticism was directed towards Coinbase about the new mission of the company to be ‘Apolitical’, when it comes to world matters. Due to these polarizing times, the new policy prompted at least 60 employees to take their leave from the exchange. When making a statement about the project, Coinbase said that it is committed to supporting numerous developers that are dedicated to growth and maintenance of the Bitcoin ecosystem.

The current funding is aimed at supporting Bitcoin’s development, but Gupta was quick to explain that the new crypto grants program would also be open to supporting other projects and the crypto community, as a whole. According to Gupta’s statement, Coinbase wants to play a role in the growth and connection of the cryptocurrency space and its economy because it is vital for developing a global financial system. He also emphasized that the Crypto Community Fund was aimed at the improvement and growth of the entire crypto industry, all the while enhancing the simplicity and security for everyone involved.

Gupta stated that if this program was initially successful, Coinbase had plans in place for expanding it to include the numerous other cryptocurrencies that exist, along with the entire community. Moreover, to ensure the success of the program, Coinbase has also invited other people to nominate Bitcoin developers who might be in search of a sponsorship and asked them to provide details. However, it should be noted that it will be Coinbase that will make the final coin about who to sponsor.

It should be noted that this is not the first grant program that has been developed for the crypto community, on a whole. Nonetheless, this is the first time that Coinbase has taken a shot at it. Other companies have also initiated such programs, one of them being Square, the renowned payment processor that was founded by CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey. As far as Coinbase is concerned, the US based exchange is one of the oldest ones that can be found in the market, but it has now decided to launch such a program. This makes it more surprising for everyone.