Arthur Hayes’ Family Office Fund Maelstrom Launches Bitcoin Grant Program for Developers

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As a seasoned crypto investor with a deep understanding of the blockchain industry and its underlying technologies, I am thrilled to hear about Maelstrom’s new Bitcoin Grant Program. Having seen the potential of Bitcoin since its early days, I appreciate the efforts of organizations like Maelstrom that are committed to supporting the development of this groundbreaking technology.

I’m here to share exciting news about Maelstrom, an early-stage investment fund initiated by Arthur Hayes’ family office. They’ve recently unveiled a new Bitcoin Grant Program designed to foster growth within the Bitcoin ecosystem.

On July 17, the fund made an announcement: They’ll financially back software developers working on groundbreaking projects, boosting the technological advancement of the trailblazing blockchain protocol introduced in 2009.

Program Details and Objectives

“The goal of the grant is to tackle significant issues in the Bitcoin blockchain, such as improving its ability to handle large volumes of transactions, enhancing its robustness, ensuring its resistance to censorship, and bolstering its privacy protections.”

At present, Bitcoin’s network encounters scalability challenges leading to transaction delays in busy periods, as it depends on miners for block confirmation and validation.

With funding from Maelstrom’s grant, developers can create initiatives akin to the Lightning Network (LN) to accelerate transaction processing times for the protocol. This opportunity is open to developers globally and will last for a year. Prospective candidates should submit their applications prior to August 25, 2024.

Applicants who are granted funding will receive between $50,000 and $150,000 in capital each year. The money will be distributed on a monthly basis, but the maximum amount given in a year cannot exceed $250,000. As per the announcement, the grants are planned to be distributed during the third or fourth quarter of 2024. The payments will be made in the form of Bitcoin (BTC), US Dollar Coin (USDC), or US Dollar Tether (USDT) stablecoins.

Giving Back to the Bitcoin Community

Grantees are expected to play an active role in advancing Bitcoin’s technological growth. This could entail reviewing and merging pull requests, evaluating code changes, or engaging in the ongoing progression of the Bitcoin Core software initiative.

Maelstrom revealed that the motivation to initiate this project came from their dedication to repaying the Bitcoin community, being a business deeply rooted in the innovations of open-source Bitcoin developers.

The fund plays a significant role in promoting expansion in the Bitcoin community and the wider cryptocurrency sector, having done so since its establishment. Maelstrom usually invests amounts ranging from $100,000 to $250,000 in up-and-coming crypto companies, using a combination of equity shares and tokens.

Contributions and Investment Focus

In April 2023, the Arthur Hayes family investment group spearheaded a $14 million funding raise for Ethena Labs, the innovative team behind the Ethereum-backed stablecoin USDe.

Last year, Maelstrom took part in a $5 million investment round for D3 Global, a business specializing in decentralized domain names. During the same period, Arthur Hayes announced that the fund’s primary emphasis was on start-ups centered around infrastructure. He emphasized their intention to back projects with robust potential to weather market fluctuations. “Our goal is to recognize and invest in high-caliber initiatives,” he stated. “We don’t engage in a hit-or-miss approach since we do not have limited partners (LPs) depending on us.”

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2024-07-17 14:25