Coinbase’s philanthropic division, GiveCrypto, has pledged a generous donation of $3.6 million to Brink, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting Bitcoin. This announcement was made on February 16.
In a recent announcement on their platform, Brink revealed that all funds contributed by GiveCrypto will be solely allocated to backing Brink’s engineers and their endeavors in open-source development pertaining to Bitcoin. Here’s a comprehensive overview of the situation.
What is GiveCrypto?
In December, Coinbase announced its decision to discontinue GiveCrypto, citing its failure to achieve a lasting impact. Initially established as a nonprofit initiative aimed at distributing cryptocurrency to individuals living in poverty, GiveCrypto struggled to sustainably improve the lives of its recipients.
According to Coinbase, recipients often reverted to their original circumstances once the crypto payments ceased, indicating a lack of enduring change. As a result, Coinbase expressed its intention to distribute the remaining funds between Brink and another charity platform called GiveDirectly. However, specific allocation amounts were not disclosed at that time.
Brink’s Bitcoin Development Efforts
Established in 2020, Brink has been dedicated to advancing Bitcoin through research, development, and support for the Bitcoin developer community. Founded by Bitcoin developers John Newbery and Mike Schmidt, the organization runs a fellowship program aimed at integrating new software engineers into Bitcoin development, alongside a grants program designed for existing engineers.
Mike Schmidt, co-founder of Brink, expressed excitement about receiving one of the most substantial open-source developer donations in Bitcoin’s history from Coinbase, one of the industry’s leading companies. He emphasized that with these funds, Brink will persist in its mission to bolster the Bitcoin developer ecosystem through funding, education, and mentorship.
In June 2023, Brink secured a $5 million investment from Jack Dorsey’s Smart Small funding initiative, which supports independent Bitcoin developers through grants. Additionally, in January 2024, investment firm VanEck committed to allocating 5% of profits from its spot Bitcoin ETF to Brink.
Schmidt highlighted that Coinbase’s recent donation represents one of the largest single contributions to Bitcoin developers ever recorded. Previously, Coinbase had donated $300,000 to Brink, as stated on the nonprofit’s website.
