Bitcoin Core, which is a largely composed of volunteer developers that work on improving and maintaining Bitcoin’s software components, has announced a sponsorship program to help draw funds and resources to Bitcoin’s developer ecosystem.

The announcement states:

“Today, we are launching a clear way for the industry as a whole to get directly involved and sponsor many of the projects on the development wish list and to suggest projects they are interested in.”

The release explicitly stated that many suggestions from the community have not been implemented yet due to lack of funding:

“While there are no shortages of improvements and features suggested for the Bitcoin system, there hasn’t been the requisite funding.”

Because of the complexity and novelty of Bitcoin’s technology, qualified technical experts are difficult to source, as most professionals are already recruited by other well-funded blockchain firms and startups. Bitcoin Core is hopeful that the new sponsorship program will provide an avenue for commercial industry players to begin injecting capital and talent into the development process, but without undermining the principles and values of Bitcoin (decentralization, censorship resistance, privacy).

The sponsorship program details page clarifies that each sponsored project will have its own manager that will handle funding and administrative duties, in order to maintain decentralization.

While the sponsorship program will mostly focus of expanding the developer pool and technical talent, the announcements said that other aspects of Bitcoin Core also need improvement:

“The project also needs budgeting for communications, public relations, documentation and other resources.”

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