Arthur Hayes’ Family Office Funds Bitcoin Core Developer

Maelstrom, the family office of Arthur Hayes, has awarded the first grant in its Bitcoin development program to contributor Rkrux. The funding will support Rkrux to work full-time on Bitcoin Core.

Bitcoin relies on volunteer developers to maintain its codebase as an open-source project. Maelstrom recently launched a grant program to encourage more full-time work to improve and contribute to Bitcoin’s core infrastructure.

The first recipient is Rkrux, an emerging Bitcoin Core evaluator that completed Chaincode Labs’ FOSS program this year. The grant will allow Rkrux to exit the service and focus entirely on Bitcoin development.

“One of the goals of the grant program is to recognize and reward emerging talent contributing to the development of Bitcoin Core,” said Arthur Hayes, CIO of Maelstrom.

Hayes added that supporting full-time developers strengthens the Bitcoin ecosystem. Rkrux represents the kind of new talent Maelstrom hopes to support through its grants.

Rkrux said the funding came at the perfect time as he was deciding whether to quit his job to pursue Bitcoin Core full-time. “The financial support from Maelstrom made this possible,” he noted.

As an experienced engineer but newer Bitcoin contributor, Rkrux is eager to step into this role and move the project forward. He aims to become a top Bitcoin Core developer with the support of the Maelstrom grant. The more full-time developers working on Bitcoin’s foundation, the better it is for the network’s improvement and resilience over time.