Developers of major cryptocurrencies spend a lot of time and effort polishing code and adding new features. While a lot of people contribute to projects on a voluntary basis, there is always a desire for more consistent funding. In the case of Bitcoin Cash, one Reddit user recently tipped the developers over US$2,000 to keep the development going. This is quite different from how Bitcoin Core operates, to say the least.
Funding Bitcoin Cash Developers
In the world of Bitcoin, there is the Bitcoin Core development team. Although a lot of people contribute code to this project without getting paid for it, there are several full-time coders on board. People who spend most of their days writing code to improve and polish Bitcoin’s infrastructure need to get paid for their efforts in one way or another. However, there have always been some negative associations with how Bitcoin Core developers were funded in recent years.
More specifically, most cryptocurrency enthusiasts will recall that the involvement of Blockstream has always been somewhat problematic. Many people feel this particular company is paying developers to shape Bitcoin in its image, regardless of what the rest of the world wants. Although these claims have never been proven, they are a topic of debate which rears its head every so often.
Funding developers in the absence of ulterior motives is a lot more challenging than people would think. After all, there is no steady income to be found in the world of cryptocurrency development, unless a big player steps in to keep things going. We have seen some efforts to do things differently, though. In the case of Monero, the community funds most of the development proposals themselves, rather than looking for external funding. It’s an approach which seems to work quite well, although it would be nearly impossible to take a similar approach where Bitcoin is concerned.
In the case of Bitcoin Cash, it seems some community members are more than happy to share their wealth with the development team. One Reddit user tipped the developers more than US$2,000 through the popular Tippr bot. This goes to show that people are more than willing to help fund the development of a cryptocurrency in which they firmly believe. Although such a thing is more of an exception than the rule, it is important to highlight such generous donations regardless.
How all of this money will be used exactly remains to be seen. It is a more-than-valuable contribution to the future of Bitcoin Cash, although the amount is probably not sufficient to fund one developer for a full month. If enough people pool together for such a cause, however, the community can keep funding the development of Bitcoin Cash without any external influences steering things in a controversial direction.
It is always interesting to see how developers of various cryptocurrencies are funded. It costs a lot more money to do so when it comes to full-time developers; that much is rather evident. Relying on community donations is not necessarily a valid approach for a lot of currencies out there, although it would force more people to show some “loyalty” to their favorite currencies. It will be interesting to see how that particular aspect of cryptocurrencies evolves in the future.
