Vinteum, a non-profit Bitcoin research and development center, just launched in Brazil.
The primary goal of the non-profit is to fund and support Bitcoin Core developers in Brazil and Latin America.
In a press release, Vinteum mentioned that although there are already plenty of efforts to fund and support Bitcoin Core developers, having 10 independent funding sources for each 10 developers is better than having 1 funding source for 100 developers.
In other words, the goal of Vinteum and its co-founders Lucas Ferreira and André Neves is to contribute to the decentralization of bitcoin by making Core Developers less dependent on a few sources for funding and support.
The press release states:
“No single entity should fund Bitcoin development or decide who gets funded. And we believe organizations with different focus areas and specializations will pop up.”
“Vinteum will focus on building and growing the Bitcoin development ecosystem in Brazil and the wider Latin America region. We believe Bitcoin development needs diversity. We need input from devs around the globe if we are going to build global money.”
The first Bitcoin Core dev that Vinteum will fund is Bruno Garcia.
Additionally to funding Bitcoin Core developers in Brazil and the wider Latin American region, Vinteum will also focus on educating interested people about bitcoin programming to recruit new Bitcoin Core devs.
Unlike crypto, Bitcoin doesn’t have a centralized company, foundation or organization to fund its developers. There was no pre-mine, which means developers need to be funded in other ways. In the beginning, developers contributed to bitcoin for free. Today, many exchanges provide grants to Bitcoin Core devs.
Jack Dorsey recently launched a legal protection fund for Bitcoin Core devs, including paying for legal expenses and providing lawyers that could represent devs in possible legal cases
The continued onboarding of talented and dedicated Bitcoin Core developers is important, especially during times when sentiment is low and some Bitcoin Core devs and former devs voiced concerns over the culture of toxic bitcoin maximalism.
