๐๐ก๐จ ๐ฉ๐๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐๐จ๐ข๐ง ๐๐๐ฏ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ฌ?
The code for bitcoin is completely free and open-source. Anyone can view or build on it. There is no CEO of bitcoin, no benevolent dictator, no foundation. It's open-source taken to the extreme.
If you think about it, bitcoin code is more or less a public good not tied to a single product or company.
๐๐จ ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐ฉ๐๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฏ๐ฌ?
The sad reality is many donโt receive funding at all. There are a lot of fantastic, impactful contributors that donโt get a single penny for the work they do that everyone else benefits from.
Fortunately, there are ways to obtain funding that make bitcoin open-source a viable career path.
๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฒ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ
Some organizations like Chaincode Labs, the MIT DCI, Spiral (@Spiral), Brink, Localhost Research, 2140, and Blockstream (@Blockstream) employ developers directly. These are salaried positions where thereโs usually an office to go into.
Then there are companies like Voltage (@npub15klk...4m73) and LX Dev which allow employees to dedicate a certain percentage of their work hours to open-source.
Not employed by one of these places? No problem. There are many examples of people that have been able to opportunistically contribute to bitcoin open-source as part of work, especially if they are with bitcoin or fintech companies.
๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ
All of that being said, there is a sizable portion of bitcoin devs that get their funding from grants. This is a pretty unique model, even within the greater ecosystem of open-source software. Itโs unusual for grants to play such a prominent role in bitcoin.
There are many organizations that offer grants. OpenSats (@OpenSats), Brink, Spiral (@Spiral), the Human Rights Foundation (@npub17xvf...c9as), Btrust (@npub133yv...rapg), Bitshala (@bitshala), Vinteum (@npub13s0k...5g70), B4OS, and Maelstrom are just a few examples.
Some projects even have foundations dedicated to helping fund developers like the Bitcoin Dev Kit Foundation (@Bitcoin Dev Kit).
๐๐จ๐ฐ ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค
The duration of a grant can be anywhere from 3 months to a year, and a few of the grantors offer multi-year, long term support.
Some organizations focus on specific parts of the world like Btrust which primarily funds developers, conferences, and educational programs in Africa.
Some look for contributors that are aligned with a specific mission like the Human Rights Foundation which awards grants to those working towards making bitcoin a powerful tool for financial freedom, particularly for human rights defenders in challenging political environments.
๐๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐?
If you want to learn more about how funding in bitcoin works, we just launched a new page (
The Bitcoin Dev Project
The Bitcoin Dev Project
Find your way in bitcoin open source
Big thank you to 
The pangolin mascot naming contest has a winner...
๐๐ MEET MERKLE! ๐๐
The name is a nod to the cryptographer Ralph Merkle who created a number of technologies that are fundamental to bitcoin.
He is most famous for co-inventing public key cryptography and creating the Merkle trees we all know and love.
Congratulations to 
Pangolins are solitary, curious creatures known for their armor-like scales & quiet determination. Like the best open-source contributors, they build, explore, & protect what matters. To us they represent the kind of thoughtful, persistent energy we see in bitcoin devs daily.
You have 10 days, until 2/26 to share your best, most clever, and imaginative names.
There is no limit to the amount of times you can enter. Letโs see those names!
Ishaana taught herself C++ in high school and became the youngest contributor to Bitcoin Core in the process. She is now a freshman at MIT and president of the MIT Bitcoin Club.
Congrats Ishaana! Her story shows that even as a student you can make meaningful contributions to bitcoin.
Ready to apply for the scholarship? Click the link below!๐
This track is for hackers with some level of coding skill, & the ability to use the command line interface (CLI). Familiarity with Bitcoin Core, esp. the JSON-RPC interface is useful. A general understanding of how blockchains and distributed networks work will come in handy.
Who's ready to win? Sign up below! ๐
What will you learn?
- How to find and decode the hidden message in the genesis block
- Elliptic curve cryptography
- Message signing and verification
- Building a transaction
- Building a block template
- Bitcoin Script
- How the Lightning network works
- And so, so much more!
How is Saving Satoshi different?
- Logged in state to remember your progress
- Ability to share accomplishments publicly
- A real story to motivate you to learn
- Free and Open Source
Saving Satoshi started as a hackathon idea:
โHow can we make bitcoin tech education more engaging and fun?โ
Since then itโs become a game with 10 fun chapters, and support for both Python and JavaScript
Worldwide there are groups like TabConf and Scalar School playing together.
Give Saving Satoshi a go today, and let us know what you think.
Shoutout to the team that helped bring this over the finish line
Now be quick, Satoshi needs you!
www.savingsatoshi.com