16 February 2024
GiveCrypto, an initiative founded by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong “to make direct donations to people in need”, has made a significant donation of $3.6 million to Brink, a non-profit organization dedicated to funding Bitcoin developers.
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
Brink, founded by renowned Bitcoin developers John Newbery and Mike Schmidt, aims to provide financial support and mentorship to promising developers working on open-source Bitcoin development. Interested Bitcoin developers can apply for fellowships and grants from Brink, and see a current list of grantees and alumni on their website here.
“This donation to Bitcoin Core Developers through Coinbase’s GiveCrypto program is one of the largest single Bitcoin developer donations in history,” stated Brink Co-founder and Executive Director Mike Schmidt. “Brink is honored to be the recipient of this donation and for the conviction this shows in the important work that Brink engineers are doing day in and day out on the open source software at the core of the Bitcoin ecosystem.”
The substantial donation from GiveCrypto will enable Brink to expand its efforts in funding Bitcoin developers and supporting essential projects within the Bitcoin ecosphere. By providing resources and funding to driven developers, Brink aims to accelerate the advancement of the Bitcoin protocol and drive innovation.
“This builds on our previous partnership with Coinbase’s Crypto Community Fund and 100% of these funds will go toward the developers with no strings attached to the contribution,” Schmidt continued. “I’d like to personally thank Brian Armstrong and John Hering, as well as the team at Coinbase for making this fantastic developer funding donation happen.”
This past December, Coinbase announced that they were winding down GiveCrypto, despite its’ positive impact, because the company wanted to “take a new direction.” Therefore, Coinbase delcared that they would donate the remaining funds of GiveCrypto to Brink and GiveDirectly.
“Brink is working to strengthen the Bitcoin software and protocol and GiveDirectly is better equipped to ensure crypto donations reach those who need them most and will experience sustained benefits,” Coinbase stated then.