Nearly half a dozen companies have announced new grants for open-source bitcoin contributors and projects since the coronavirus crisis began, from exchanges such as Kraken and OKCoin to the Human Rights Foundation. Grants are generally around $150,000 each.
Now Wasabi Wallet-maker zkSNACKs Ltd announced on Thursday it is joining the cohort by donating 1 bitcoin to the HRFâs Bitcoin Development Fund.Â
The privacy startup released a statement, saying, âWe understand the concern for privacy in Bitcoinâs blockchain and how it can be used to surveil and oppress.â As such, the startup is keen to see this bitcoin used to fund privacy tech development.
âHopefully, HRFâs fund can inspire other organizations in the non-profit and academic space to support Bitcoin research and software development,â HRF executive Alex Gladstein said in a press statement.Â
Read more: Human Rights Foundation Funds Bitcoin Privacy Tools Despite âCoin Mixingâ Legal Stigma
Meanwhile, Jack Dorseyâs Square Crypto published an open call for designer grants â an anomaly among developer-focused grant programs.Â
âSquare Crypto hopes to jumpstart the bitcoin design community with at least half a dozen designer grants,â Square Crypto lead Steve Lee said in an email to CoinDesk. âProjects can span from user experience research to systems design to graphic design.â
Square Cryptoâs blog post also said multiple grants will go to those who âcontribute to a bitcoin design guide, an open-source project intended to simplify designing for bitcoin applications.â
The skunkworks unit within the publicly traded payments firm followed up with a teaser tweet on Thursday, saying: âWeâll announce more grants in the next month than we have in the last year.â
Square Crypto granted $100,000 to BTCPay Server last fall.