MIT raises $900,000 to fund Bitcoin developers, Bitmain, Nasdaq and others participate in fund donations

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has announced that it has raised $900,000 to fund the work of three Bitcoin developers.

The Bitcoin Developer Fund, sponsored by venture capitalist Fred Wilson, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and others, aims to provide an academic platform for three Bitcoin developers to focus on solving the block size dispute and other similar technical challenges.

Brian Forde, director of MIT's Digital Currency Initiative (DCI), said it is part of MIT's academic community's responsibility to help these developers and create a place for them to continue their work.

Ford said:

“We established this fund to support developers like Wlad van der Laan, Cory Fields, Gavin Andresen, who are committed to Bitcoin, so that they can continue their work in an academic environment and in an academic way.”

Developers began to join MIT’s DCI full-time in April 2015. The MIT DCI was created by MIT’s Media Lab, and in April 2015, the lab began to strengthen its academic exploration of blockchain.

The fund is backed by companies including BitFury, Bitmain, Chain, Circle and Nasdaq, as well as venture capitalists Jim Breyer, Jim Pallotta, Jeff Tarrant and Fred Wilson. LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, also a co-founder of PayPal, has also donated to the fund.

Ford called the donation a "no-burden gift" intended to prevent developers from being influenced by the donor. Regarding the debate between Bitcoin Core and Bitcoin Classic, MIT said it does not take any official position.

Provide an academic platform for developers

Although MIT remains neutral, the controversy over Bitcoin scaling certainly played a role in MIT’s decision to raise funds to help developers with their work.

Ford said that they don't want to see developers being asked to work for free or raise money themselves, or even join a company directly. The academic community has a responsibility to accept Bitcoin development as an area of ​​academic interest and provide a place for developers to continue their development work.

“It’s really important for the academic community to provide a platform to think about and champion academic ideas,” Ford said. “We’d love to see other academic institutions do the same.”

According to an announcement from the MIT Media Lab, the money will be used to pay developers’ salaries, travel expenses, and support their contributions to Bitcoin protocol development.

It should be stated that DCI itself is sponsored by the MIT Media Lab, not the Bitcoin Developer Foundation. The development funds raised by the Bitcoin Developer Foundation will be distributed to developers in the form of US dollars, including donated Bitcoins.

Original text: http://www.coindesk.com/mit-seed-900k-bitcoin-developer-fund/
By Michael del Castillo
Translator: printemps
Editor: printemps
Source (translation): Babbitt Information (http://www.8btc.com/mit-90k)