Coinbase is giving $3.6 million to the nonprofit organization Brink, which focuses on Bitcoin, to wrap up its GiveCrypto program, which aims to provide cryptocurrency to the underprivileged.
GiveCrypto was shut down by the firm in December, citing its inability to make a significant impact. Although it declared that it would split the remaining funds between GiveDirectly, a platform for charitable giving, and Brink, the precise distributions were first unknown.
Brink was founded in 2020 with the goal of improving the Bitcoin (BTC) protocol via investigation, creation, and assistance for the Bitcoin developer community.
It provides a grant program for experienced developers and a fellowship to help novice software engineers get started in the Bitcoin development process.
Brink intends to use Coinbase’s donation to help its developers continue their work on the Bitcoin source. Previously, Jack Dorsey’s Start Small fundraising initiative gave $5 million to Brink in June 2023.
Investment firm VanEck also promised to donate 5% of its spot Bitcoin ETF revenues to the organization in January. While expressing enthusiasm about the contribution from Coinbase, Brink Co-Founder Mike Schmidt said:
“Brink is excited to receive one of the biggest Bitcoin open source developer donations from one of the biggest companies in the space, Coinbase. With these funds, we will continue our mission to support the Bitcoin developer ecosystem through funding, education, and mentoring”
