Maelstrom, the family office of former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes, has awarded Jon Atack a one-year grant for Bitcoin development. He is the second individual to receive funding from Maelstrom’s grant program aimed at supporting open-source Bitcoin developers.
Jon has been a valuable contributor to the Bitcoin Core project since he began in 2019. Recently, he was also appointed as a maintainer for Bitcoin Improvement Proposals (BIPs).
Arthur Hayes remarked, “We hope this financial assistance lets Jon concentrate on his Bitcoin development work without the stress of financial obligations.” He highlighted the grant’s unconditional nature, allowing Atack the liberty to work autonomously.
The open-source nature of Bitcoin’s codebase relies heavily on voluntary contributions, therefore grants facilitate more developers to engage full-time. Advocates argue that increased funding for developers enhances Bitcoin’s ecosystem.
Jon expressed, “I care deeply about human liberty, the decentralization of authority, empowerment of individuals, privacy, and self-sovereignty. Bitcoin and open source software are crucial in pursuing these ideals.”
He intends to spend the upcoming year assessing proposals and improvements to enhance Bitcoin Core and BIPs. Jon remarked, “Bitcoin isn’t flawless. It requires further decentralization, ongoing scrutiny, bug fixes, updates, maintenance, as well as enhancements in robustness, performance, privacy, scalability, documentation, and user experience.”
Maelstrom seeks to fortify Bitcoin through unconditional grants to developers like Atack. Concurrently, he is also receiving support from another entity, OpenSats.
