MIT, Jack Dorsey & More Pour Resources into Bitcoin Development Efforts
Forward-thinking innovators are looking for new ways to power Bitcoin (BTC) development, with one of the world’s biggest tech universities, IT CEOs and entrepreneurial pop stars all turning their attention to the betterment of the Bitcoin network.
In the latest development, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has waded in via its MIT Media Lab-run Digital Currency Initiative (DCI).
The DCI has announced that as part of its new Bitcoin Software and Security Effort project, it will embark on a “four-year research and development program” to “harden the Bitcoin network and steward the industry’s commitment to funding open-source software.
The DCI stated that it would be working with “industry leaders” on its initiative, which will see its project group work on Bitcoin Core development by “attracting domain experts in network and operating system security, compilers, programming languages and more to join the effort.”
The MIT group stated that it had already raised USD 4m worth of funding to help its cause, and hoped to raise double this amount over the long-term, with contributions coming from a number of leading BTC proponents and industry players – such as Twitter and Square chief Jack Dorsey, Fidelity Digital Assets, CoinShares, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss of the Gemini group of crypto companies and perennial BTC bull Michael Saylor, the head of MicroStrategy and an MIT graduate.
The DCI project will see the collective “move from three to eight” senior Bitcoin developers and research professionals, bolster the system against software-based attack threats and inflation risks, as well as build up “long-term defenses against layer-1 Bitcoin Core bugs.”
Saylor, in typically pro-BTC mood, stated,
“Bitcoin is the most important innovation since the advent of the internet.”
But the MIT project is not the only big business-powered initiative aiming to shore up Bitcoin against future-related risks and network issues. Earlier this month, Dorsey and rap superstar Jay-Z announced that they would be stumping up BTC 500 (USD 23m) to the ₿trust, another Bitcoin development drive that will initially focus on bolstering teams in Africa and India.
Dorsey has also launched his own development initiative through Square’s Square Crypto unit, which is seeking to improve the Bitcoin user experience for ordinary participants.
Earlier this week, the Twitter boss splashed out a further BTC 1 contribution to the Brink initiative, a donation-funded Bitcoin network R&D drive, and a frequent recipient of Square Crypto funding. The Human Rights Foundation, Kraken and Gemini are also among supporters of the Brink drive.
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