BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes is spearheading a new initiative to support Bitcoin’s technical development through his Maelstrom Fund. The fund’s Bitcoin Grant Program will provide annual funding ranging from $50,000 to $150,000 per developer, with a maximum cap of $250,000 per year through grant stacking.
In the official announcement, Maelstrom emphasized Bitcoin’s foundational role in the crypto space and highlighted that Bitcoin has never conducted an offering to raise funds for its technical development. The program’s goal is to enhance Bitcoin’s resilience, scalability, censorship resistance, and privacy.
Grants will be disbursed over 12-month periods with monthly payments made in BTC, USDC, or USDT. Recipients are expected to contribute to Bitcoin’s technical development, possibly through pull requests or code reviews for the Bitcoin Core software project.
Arthur Hayes, the chief investment officer of Maelstrom, will be part of the review committee alongside Jonathan Bier of Farside Investors, the grant program’s administrator. The investment firm, known for its long-term perspective and venture-stage investments ranging from $100,000 to $250,000, includes projects such as Ethena Labs, Aethir, and Pendle in its portfolio.
The grant program is being launched amid a renewed interest in Bitcoin development, spurred by the approval of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs and the recent Bitcoin halving in April. This initiative could fuel innovation in Bitcoin-native DeFi, supported by Bitcoin scaling networks and native Bitcoin staking on chains like Ethereum and Solana.
The launch aligns with Hayes’ recent public statements on Bitcoin’s societal role. In a Substack post, Hayes argued that “Bitcoin is digital speech,” asserting that its monetary nature does not exempt it from constitutional protection against government interference.
Developers interested in the grant program must submit applications by August 25. The selection process will include at least one interview with Hayes and/or Bier before the grant is awarded, with distributions expected in Q3 or Q4.