The Blockchain Guild, a community fund set up to further bitcoin development, has made its first award. The project is designed to mentor the next generation of developers, in whose hands the future of blockchain technology lies. A number of major backers have given Blockchain Guild their support including litecoin’s Charlie Lee, bitcoin developer Jimmy Song, and Tuur Demeester.
A Bounty on Future Bitcoin Development
As the Blockchain Guild explains, its purpose is to “Allow Patrons to be able to…support the open source ecosystem that allowed them to be successful.” It’s basically a means for bitcoiners who’ve “made it” to help those who are just starting out. These junior software engineers and blockchain developers may have the skills, but they lack the funding to dedicate time to improving code bases and developing infrastructure.
The first award the foundation has made is 0.5 BTC to Kalle Alm, a bitcoin core member who’s based in Tokyo. Alm will be using the award to work on btcdeb, a Bitcoin Script debugger. Christopher Allen, Jimmy Song, Tuur Demeester, Charlie Lee, and Zcash were the patrons for this particular award. Allen and Demeester are key members of the Guild along with a handful of other respected members of the bitcoin community.
Patreon for Bitcoin
The Blockchain Guild has been described as a Patreon-style platform that awards funds for enterprising coding projects. Project advisors oversee work that is performed in addition to voting on which bounties to award. A majority consensus of approximately 75% is required for a project to be given the go-ahead. Advisors who lead on a project aren’t devoting their time and experience for free: they’re eligible for 20% of the patron funds, with 10% going to platform costs and 70% to the recipient of the bounty.
The Guild is exploring the possibility of becoming a non-profit organization, and invites patrons to pledge their support for emerging talent who will carry the reins for future bitcoin development.