Major Bitcoin (BTC) derivatives exchange BitMEX has started accepting grant applications from open source developers.
BitMEX’s parent company, HDR Global Trading Limited, has opened its open-source development grants to applications from developers contributing to Bitcoin, Java, NodeJS, and Kubernetes.
The application form also indicates that HDR is considering supporting open source development not relating to the four stated technologies, in addition to “smaller non-developer” grants for specific contributions.
The initiative follows $650,000 in developer grants that the exchange has issued to Bitcoin Core contributor Michael Ford and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The firm states that it relies on the work of dedicated open-source developers and therefore it was the duty of corporations to help nourish the ecosystems in which they exist.
Last May, HDR announced that it would provide funding to MIT for its “research into the development and betterment of the global cryptocurrency ecosystem”.
In July 2019, HDR also awarded a $60,000 grant to Bitcoin Core contributor Michael Ford, aka ‘fanquake,’ following his appointment as an official maintainer of the protocol’s software.
Since then, HDR has distributed $150,000 to Ford and $500,000 to MIT in total.
