Aleph Zero Launches $50 Million Ecosystem Funding Program

Aleph Zero, a nonprofit foundation overseeing the development of a layer-1 privacy-enhancing blockchain, has launched a $50 million Ecosystem Funding Program to support developer teams in building on its platform and advancing blockchain adoption globally. The program is designed to provide comprehensive support to attract developers, going beyond just grants, and including assistance with business feasibility, regulatory compliance, and community-building. The foundation aims to offer access to a reliable partner network, as well as sharing its own experience in building something from scratch.

“We’re hoping to introduce a somewhat redesigned approach to how layer-1s can support builders and to go beyond simply providing grants,” said Zolciak.

The Ecosystem Funding Program comprises grants, incubation, and acceleration at all stages of product development, with successful applicants receiving up to $500,000 per project in grant funding. Additionally, grant recipients will gain exclusive access to Aleph Zero’s venture capital pool, infrastructure credits from Amazon Web Services, and security design consultations from Kudelski Security. The Aleph Zero partner network will also provide marketing, branding, UX, product design, and operational support as needed.

During its pilot phase, the program has already produced a range of successful projects, including decentralized lending and borrowing protocol Abax, NFT marketplace ArtZero, domain name service AZERO Domains, unique dark metaverse experience DRKVRS, enterprise-grade decentralized identity platform Gatenox, and decentralized security platform Interlock.

The Aleph Zero Ecosystem Funding Program is backed by long-term contributors to the project, including NxGen, Diamond Atlas Capital, BlackDragon, Necker Ventures, Hodl.nl and Hodl Ventures, Pragma Ventures, RR2 Capital, Cardinal Cryptography and Cardinal Ventures, Bellwether Rocks, and Offbeat.

The launch of the Ecosystem Funding Program is timely, given the recent decline in venture capitalist investment into crypto firms during the first quarter of 2023. According to a report by Galaxy Research, the research arm of crypto investment firm Galaxy Digital, VC investment fell to $2.4 billion, the lowest sum invested since the last quarter of 2020. Companies building in the Web3, NFTs, DAOs, Metaverse, and Gaming subsector raised the most deals, while Trading, Exchange, Investing, and Lending companies raised the most capital ($538m).

VC investments have been falling since peaking at nearly $13 billion in Q1 2022, with the latest quarter’s results representing a decline of over 80% compared to the same period last year. Against this backdrop, Aleph Zero’s Ecosystem Funding Program represents a promising development, offering much-needed support and resources to help developer teams build innovative products and services on the blockchain.

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FTX Future Fund Shut Down Following Exchange’s Collapse

In November 2022, FTX exchange and its subsidiaries collapsed, leading to the shutdown of its philanthropic arm, FTX Future Fund. The fund was sponsored by former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and had pledged $1 billion in donations towards research academics across prestigious universities. The grants were focused on research projects for the safe development of artificial intelligence, reducing catastrophic bio-risk, improving institutions, economic growth, great power relations, and effective altruism.

However, following FTX’s bankruptcy filing, the team behind the FTX Future Fund resigned, leaving many scholars and researchers who were early recipients of the grant in limbo over the payment of further grants for their programs. According to a Reuters report, many students studying on the FTX grant were forced to drop out of their courses due to the fear of repayment.

Twenty academics from prestigious colleges, including Cornell, Princeton, and Brown universities in the United States, as well as Cambridge in Britain, received grants from the FTX philanthropy arm, totaling more than $100,000 each. Based on these announcements, further calculations suggest university-affiliated research initiatives received a total of more than $13 million.

Many of these academics who received the first grant have now found themselves in a tricky situation, with the next due date for fee submission already passed. As a result, many students were forced to drop out of the program after the first year. Others who did receive a full grant have found themselves in an ethical battle over whether to use the grant or return the funds, which might be part of stolen customers’ funds, as per the lawsuit against the crypto exchange and its founders.

While FTX asked recipients of payments from the debtors in the FTX bankruptcy filing to return their funds in an announcement, it didn’t mention the FTX Future Fund. However, a U.S.-based lawyer suggested that it will depend on the FTX trustees and their willingness to claw back small amounts, including philanthropic ones.

The collapse of FTX exchange has caused significant harm to its philanthropic arm, FTX Future Fund, and its beneficiaries. The shutdown of the fund has left many scholars and researchers stranded without the support they were promised, forcing some to drop out of their programs. The ethical implications of using or returning the funds have also caused concern among grant recipients, with some unsure of what to do next. It remains to be seen whether the FTX trustees will take action to claw back the philanthropic funds or whether the affected researchers and scholars will receive the support they were promised.

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DSF Launches to Promote DLT Adoption and Provide Grant Support

As part of its efforts to promote the adoption of DLT, the DSF will provide support through grants to its university network. The organization has also opened its first call for grant proposals, offering up to $5 million for eligible organizations or individuals.

The DSF is supported by the open-source public ledger project Hedera, which will lend its expertise in DLT to the DSF University Network. This partnership will enable the DSF to empower academics and education in various universities, drawing from its own experiences and the challenges it has faced.

Paolo Tasca, chairman and co-founder of the DSF, expressed his excitement over the potential breakthroughs that may come from the organization’s efforts. He believes that unlocking the potential of DLT will lead to a better future for everyone. The DSF aims to drive innovation, foster new collaborative models between academia, industry, and government, and promote the responsible adoption of DLT in business and society.

Nikhil Vadgama, the director and co-founder of the organization, also commented on the launch. According to Vadgama, the DSF has an opportunity to empower academics and education in various universities, drawing from its own experiences and the challenges it has faced. The DSF has developed grant programs that are specifically designed to address the needs of the DLT community.

The DSF University Network includes prestigious institutions such as the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, the London School of Economics, the National University of Singapore, University College London, and the University of Zurich. These institutions are at the forefront of DLT research and are uniquely positioned to drive innovation and foster collaboration between academia, industry, and government.

In addition to providing grant support, the DSF will also focus on promoting the responsible adoption of DLT in business and society. The organization recognizes the potential of DLT to transform industries and improve the lives of people around the world. However, it also acknowledges the need for responsible adoption to ensure that the technology is used ethically and with the best interests of society in mind.

In conclusion, the launch of the DSF is a significant development in the world of DLT. The organization’s focus on promoting adoption and providing grant support to its university network, combined with its partnership with Hedera, has the potential to drive innovation and foster collaboration between academia, industry, and government. The DSF’s efforts to promote responsible adoption of DLT in business and society are also commendable and will ensure that the technology is used ethically and for the greater good.

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NEAR Announces $800M in Development Grants

Key Takeaways

  • NEAR protocol announced today that it has earmarked $800 million for development grants.
  • The largest allocation will go toward developing the the protocol’s DeFi sector.
  • The price of the NEAR token has responded, up roughly 30% at the time of writing.




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NEAR Protocol announced $800 million in grants today. These grants will go towards the development of the NEAR ecosystem.

NEAR Invests in its Development

NEAR Protocol announced grants totaling $800 million today for the development of the NEAR ecosystem. Billed as an inexpensive, scalable platform that is “designed to enable the open web of the future and power its economy,” NEAR has allocated nine figures each to several aspects of its ecosystem. 

Of those funds, $250 million are earmarked for existing projects and will be distributed over four years. $100 million will be distributed amongst 20 different startups, and another $100 million will go toward developing NEAR’s international communities. Among NEAR’s most substantial funding measures to date has been a $350 million grants vehicle in the form of a new DeFi development DAO.


NEAR is backed by some heavy hitters. A project incubated by Y Combinator, NEAR has investments from the likes of Coinbase Ventures, a16z, and Pantera. 

Today’s grant announcement comes the day before #NEARCON, NEAR protocol’s conference in Lisbon. Later this year, NEAR plans to launch its next sharding phase, in which the protocol will go from one shard to fouran important part of the project’s roadmap that “increas[es] scalability while not compromising on simplicity.” 

NEAR appears committed to expanding its ecosystem to include NFTs and video games as well. For example, there will be 10,000 NEARNaut NFTs launching this December, and in May of this year, 25,000 NEAR tokens were awarded to the ConsenSys-backed, play-to-earn project Vorto Gaming. 

SIMETRI Research
Sanctor Turbo Demo Day


NEAR also appears to have an interest in DAOs, as indicated by the launch of the On Chain Communities (OCC) platform Astro, which is meant to “supercharge” DAO communities. 

The price of the NEAR token has responded, up nearly 30% at the time of writing, with 24-hour volume up nearly 175%. 

Disclaimer: At the time of writing, the author of this feature held BTC, ETH, and several other cryptocurrencies. 

This news was brought to you by Phemex, our preferred Derivatives Partner.

Phemex


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NEAR Announces $800M is Development Grants

Key Takeaways

  • NEAR protocol announced today that it has earmarked $800 million for development grants.
  • The largest allocation will go toward developing the the protocol’s DeFi sector.
  • The price of the NEAR token has responded, up roughly 30% at the time of writing.




Share this article



NEAR Protocol announced $800 million in grants today. These grants will go towards the development of the NEAR ecosystem.

NEAR Invests in its Development

NEAR Protocol announced grants totaling $800 million today for the development of the NEAR ecosystem. Billed as an inexpensive, scalable platform that is “designed to enable the open web of the future and power its economy,” NEAR has allocated nine figures each to several aspects of its ecosystem. 

Of those funds, $250 million are earmarked for existing projects and will be distributed over four years. $100 million will be distributed amongst 20 different startups, and another $100 million will go toward developing NEAR’s international communities. Among NEAR’s most substantial funding measures to date has been a $350 million grants vehicle in the form of a new DeFi development DAO.


NEAR is backed by some heavy hitters. A project incubated by Y Combinator, NEAR has investments from the likes of Coinbase Ventures, a16z, and Pantera. 

Today’s grant announcement comes the day before #NEARCON, NEAR protocol’s conference in Lisbon. Later this year, NEAR plans to launch its next sharding phase, in which the protocol will go from one shard to fouran important part of the project’s roadmap that “increas[es] scalability while not compromising on simplicity.” 

NEAR appears committed to expanding its ecosystem to include NFTs and video games as well. For example, there will be 10,000 NEARNaut NFTs launching this December, and in May of this year, 25,000 NEAR tokens were awarded to the ConsenSys-backed, play-to-earn project Vorto Gaming. 

SIMETRI Research
Sanctor Turbo Demo Day


NEAR also appears to have an interest in DAOs, as indicated by the launch of the On Chain Communities (OCC) platform Astro, which is meant to “supercharge” DAO communities. 

The price of the NEAR token has responded, up nearly 30% at the time of writing, with 24-hour volume up nearly 175%. 

Disclaimer: At the time of writing, the author of this feature held BTC, ETH, and several other cryptocurrencies. 

This news was brought to you by Phemex, our preferred Derivatives Partner.

Phemex


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Okcoin Awards Latest Developer Grant To Marco Falke

  • Bitcoin Core’s most prolific developer Marco Falke has received Okcoin’s latest Open Source Developer Grant.
  • This marks the second year he has been awarded a grant from Okcoin, allowing him to work on Bitcoin Core remotely full time.
  • Falke will focus on testing, modularization, and outreach.

Cryptocurrency exchange Okcoin announced today the latest recipient of its Open Source Developer Grant, Bitcoin Core developer Marco Falke.

“Falke is Bitcoin Core’s most prolific developer, and this is the 2nd year he has been awarded a grant from Okcoin,” the company said in an announcement shared with Bitcoin Magazine. “The grant is awarded with no strings attached, allowing him to focus solely on open source development.”

In September, Falke became Bitcoin Core’s most active contributor after logging his 1,752nd commit to the project’s GitHub repository, surpassing W. J. van der Laan.

“When it comes to my contributions, I think the majority are smaller improvements, which are each exciting for their own reasons,” Falke told Bitcoin Magazine in September. “I’ve mostly continued to improve testing and spend time on quality assurance and review.”

Thanks to Okcoin’s grants, Falke has been able to work remotely from an undisclosed location in improving the Bitcoin Core codebase full time. The developer received his first yearly grant from the cryptocurrency exchange last year, allowing him to move from New York City to his new secret location. With the new funding, Falke told Okcoin he would focus on testing, modularization, and outreach.

Falke hunts for vulnerabilities in Bitcoin Core’s code through a fuzz testing technique, in which a program sends large amounts of data to Bitcoin Core and analyzes its reaction. If the project behaves differently than expected, the fuzzer program flags what caused the anomaly.

The developer also works in modularizing the codebase, structuring it into separate modules. This practice makes it easier for developers to work on patching and improving code and makes running Bitcoin Core possible with lower computational costs.

Finally, Falke said he would also train new developers to work in Bitcoin Core and increase the project’s robustness and resiliency.

Okcoin shared with Bitcoin Magazine that the firm has now invested more than $1,000,000 in Bitcoin open source development through its grant program.

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Human Rights Foundation To Gift 3.75 Bitcoin In Latest Round Of Developer Grants

Today, the Human Rights Foundation announced its most recent round of Bitcoin Development Fund grants, per a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine. The money is being gifted to 10 developers who will work on improving privacy tools, strengthening developer education in emerging markets, making bitcoin onboarding a better experience for new users, and continued Bitcoin Core development.

This round of developer funds totals 3.75 BTC (375 million sats) which at the time of writing is worth $167,540.62. The funds will be distributed to the recipients with half of them receiving 0.25 BTC (25 million sats) and the other half getting 0.50 BTC (50 million sats) each. Below are the talented developers who will be receiving the funds, with some backstory on each of them.

0.25 BTC (25 Million Sats) Recipients

Starting off the 0.25 BTC recipients is Lili and Richard Myers, who will initiate an open-source research project focusing on bitcoin in low-bandwidth environments. The research report the couple will be creating will be centered around technologies that facilitate the use of bitcoin in hostile environments. The aim of this project is to identify any pain points and improve user experience for individuals in developing countries and emerging markets. Kraken’s Dan Held was instrumental in making this grant happen.

The second round of 0.25 BTC is being gifted to Chaincase, a mobile and open-source iOS bitcoin wallet that allows users to use features such as CoinJoin, coin control, and Tor. The money received will be spent on supporting the addition of PayJoin, which is a peer-to-peer (P2P) CoinJoin transaction that helps restrain Bitcoin surveillance even for users who do not use PayJoin.

The third round of 0.25 BTC is awarded to SeedSigner who will use the money to upgrade their user interface, as well as add support for other languages and add new user optimizations. SeedSigner was gifted this grant for their great work taking advantage of Raspberry Pi Zeroes to create inexpensive open-source hardware wallets.

The fourth round of 0.25 BTC is given to LNBits for their user-friendly, lightweight, open-source Lightning wallet. LNBits currently supports LND, c-lightning, OpenNode, lntxbot, LNPay, and itself, LNBits. The HRF has stated that they will support the integration of LNURL.

The fifth and final recipient of the 0.25 BTC grant will go towards a bounty for developers to add a JoinMarket app to the Umbrel full-node platform. The reasoning for this will be to increase the privacy and fungibility of their bitcoin transactions for Umbrel users. This is estimated to increase JoinMarket usage which will result in bitcoin privacy being much more accessible.

0.50 BTC (50 Million Sats) Recipients

BTCPay is receiving 0.50 BTC with the objective of writing an open-source design guide that can help merchant and donation recipient onboarding for bitcoin payments and gifts. The release also stated that they will use some of the funds to add a merchant section to the Bitcoin Design Guide, which is a resource for designing new bitcoin products, that will improve the bitcoin onboarding experience, targeting new companies, foundations, and donation-receiving organizations.

The second recipient of 0.50 BTC is Fodé Diop who will be creating a bitcoin programming course, Bitcoin Developers Academy, which aims to allow just about anyone around the world to learn how to program Bitcoin. The initial target will be individuals in West Africa and countries like Senegal who still use the CFA franc. A special shoutout and thanks to Manuel Stotz for making this happen.

The third recipient of 0.50 BTC is Bitcoin Core developer Vasil Dimov, who is known for implementing Tor v3, BIP155, and I2P support in Bitcoin Core. The money will be used on implementing CJDNS support, which will improve privacy and the security of the network against partitioning attacks. In addition to this Dimov will work on code review which will improve the testability of the networking code.

The fourth 0.50 BTC recipient is being awarded to another Bitcoin Core developer, Fanquake (Michael Ford). Fanquake has been contributing to Bitcoin Core since 2012 and has since then become a Bitcoin Core maintainer in 2019. The funds will be used to help him continue his work and make sure everything runs smoothly.

The fifth and final recipient of 0.50 BTC is a group of Bitcoiners organizing a program called Qala fellowship to find and grow local Nigerian talent, starting with developers to build careers in Bitcoin. The developers establishing this program are Bernard Parah, Carla Kirk-Cohen, Tim Akinbo, and Abubakar Nur Khalil. The program will consist of a six-month-long bootcamp on how to build on top of Bitcoin. Shout out to Bitcoin exchange Paxful for making this happen.

More About The HRF

The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)3 organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies. Since June 2020 the HRF has allocated more than $900,000 to more than 25 developers and educators across the world. The HRF continues to raise support for the Bitcoin Development Fund, with the next round of gifts to be announced in Q4 of 2021.

They have previously given grants to top Bitcoin developers such as Gloria Zhao for Package Memepool Accept, Chris Belcher for Coinswap, Abubakar Nur Khalil for Nigerian Bitcoin user experience improvements, Muun Wallet for their mobile Lightning wallet, Sphinx for their Lightning-powered decentralized social media work, Janine for her Bitcoin privacy newsletter, Blockchain Commons for their Bitcoin internship program, and Arabic Hodl for his work translating important Bitcoin texts into Arabic.

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Square Allocates $5 Million Bitcoin Endowment To Black Bitcoin Billionaire

Bitcoin-forward financial services company Square has allocated $5 million in BTC from its endowment to Black Bitcoin Billionaire.

Financial services company Square has allocated $5 million in BTC as part of its Bitcoin Endowment program to educational program Black Bitcoin Billionaire, the first-ever recipient for a grant from this program.

The grant comes as part of a larger commitment to invest $100 million in minority and underserved communities, originally made in September 2020. Square announced the allocation of $25 million of this total investment yesterday and released a memo outlining more details.

“The Bitcoin Endowment, which is funded from the interest on a portion of Square’s corporate bitcoin holdings, provides funding to individuals and organizations working toward increasing bitcoin education and adoption in historically under-resourced communities across the globe,” according to a Square announcement shared with Bitcoin Magazine. “From those with no credit history who cannot open bank accounts, to people living in places with limited access to banks, to populations that have historically been discriminated against, bitcoin can help level the playing field and build a more inclusive future.”

Black Bitcoin Billionaire is focused on encouraging black people to on-board to Bitcoin through educational efforts and dialogue. It was founded last year by Bitcoin advocates Lamar Wilson and Isaiah Jackson.

“Black Bitcoin Billionaire is heading up a campaign to on-ramp our people into Bitcoin and to encourage the accumulation of bitcoin as an alternative to the traditional financial system,” as its website explains. “These systems have historically and systemically oppressed black people throughout their existence. Bitcoin helps to change the landscape for black people.”

The memo also clarified that Square earns yield on its corporate bitcoin holdings, which total more than 8,000 BTC, through a yield-generating loan to Genesis.

The announcement added that a “cross-functional team of Square employees” will review future applications and award future Bitcoin Endowment grantees on a rolling basis.

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Ten31 Announces Grants For Open Sats, Bitcoin Q+A

Ten31, an investment firm focused on Bitcoin-native companies, has announced its first Bitcoin developer and community grants, which are sourced from its fund’s management fees.

It will be supporting Open Sats, a nonprofit that funds Bitcoin contributors, as well as Bitcoin Q+A, a provider of accessible Bitcoin education content, with donations of undisclosed amounts.

“We formed our first fund, the Low Time Preference Fund, with the express intention of investing in great Bitcoin companies we believe would form the future foundation of the global economic and monetary infrastructure,” according to a Ten31 press release shared with Bitcoin Magazine. “We did not set out to create another traditional venture capital firm. Instead, we wanted to create a fund backed by bitcoiners, supporting bitcoiners.”

In the release, Ten31 said it was inspired by similar grants distributed by groups like the Human Rights Foundation, Square and Brink. But its funding model appears to be novel for the space.

“We had not seen any other funds leveraging this model, and part of our hope was that other funds would see what we were doing and consider doing the same,” per the release. Fund management fees are typically charged annually and used to cover overhead, compensation, administrative, compliance and other expenses. We thought it would be great to carve out a large allocation of our management fees for purposes of recurring grants to developers and open-source contributors.”

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