It is always positive to see more funding flowing into the field of blockchain research, especially if that project is run by MIT. The Digital Currency Initiative, as this project is called, wants to offer a neutral academic environment at the MIT Media Lab, and is best-known for helping out some of the Bitcoin Core developers with their work. The Bitcoin Developer Fund was born, and over US$900,000 has been raised so far.
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Thanks to the gracious support of various Bitcoin companies and individuals, the Bitcoin Developer Fund has raised US$900,000 so far. This fund will be used to cover travel, salaries, and general support of Bitcoin protocol development efforts. With three of the leading Bitcoin Core developers on board with this program, things started out in a good direction.
What is even more interesting is how most of the donors asked to donate in Bitcoin. Unlike what MIT has done previously, they decided to honor these requests and created a wallet to accept Bitcoin donations for the Bitcoin Developer Fund. Quite a nice touch, as it is important to support Bitcoin as a currency as well.
Unfortunately, MIT Media Labs is forced to convert the donations sent in Bitcoin to fiat currency right away. Accepting the digital currency as payment is a positive step in the right direction, though, and they might keep some funds in Bitcoin in the future. Transparency regarding how funds are handled is a good move on behalf of MIT, so kudos to them.
No details regarding the salary payouts have been revealed by MIT Media Labs at the time of publication, although that was never expected either. What they did reveal was how they are open to supporting an additional Bitcoin developer if that need would ever arise. Other universities should start offering a similar Bitcoin Developer Fund version as well, though, and aid with the decentralization efforts of Bitcoin.
An important question was asked as to whether or not there is a favor for either Bitcoin Core or Bitcoin Classic. The Bitcoin Developer Fund was created to stimulate diversity in thought processes and approaches associated with the development of this digital currency, and different opinions are welcomed, rather than shunned.
Source: Medium
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