Who will Build
the Roads?
Funding Bitcoin
1A1z.com
Why are we doing this
Dan�O’Prey
@danoprey��dan@1a1z.com
Mas�Nakachi
@masnak��mas@1a1z.com
2
1A1z.com
How does Developer Funding Compare to Tech and Crypto?
3
$1.2T
$1.5T
Market Cap
Development Spend
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Market Cap
Developers
20k
Tech vs Bitcoin vs Crypto
41
1.2%
$8.4m
$7.0m
98.8%
Inspired by similar comparisons made by Brink and Trammel Venture Partners�Bitcoin vs Polkadot uses Daily Average Market Cap for 2023 to compare to 2023 aggregate Bitcoin spend and 2023 Polkadot Foundation Spend on R&D, HR and Ops
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Sponsor Organizations Founding
4
Date of Founding or Launch of Bitcoin Grant Program
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
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Key Differences Between Sponsor Organizations
5
Open Donations | Private Funding | ||
Employment | Grants | Employment | Grants |
| | ||
| | | |
Other private companies that have historically supported or given grants to Bitcoin Core Developers include BitMEX, Coinbase, Gemini, Kraken, Paradigm, NYDIG, Xapo, and Mara
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2023 Spend by Sponsor Organization
6
Open Donations | Private Funding | ||
Employment | Grants | Employment | Grants |
| | | |
Based on public data and estimates where not available
$1.9m
$0.3m
$1.3m
$0.6m
$0.2m
$1.3m
$1.4m
$1.0m
$0.3m
1A1z.com
1A1z.com
2023 Spend by Funding and Type
7
Based on public data and estimates where not available
| Open Donations | Private Funding | Total |
Employment | | | |
Grants | | | |
Total | | | |
$8.4m
$5.1m
$3.3m
$3.2m
$5.2m
$3.6m
$1.6m
$1.7m
$1.5m
1A1z.com
1A1z.com
Legal Registration of Sponsor Organizations by Jurisdiction
8
Registration Location
*OK Group, the parent of both OKX and okcoin, and its subsidiaries are registered in multiple jurisdictions including the Seychelles, Malta, Hong Kong and Singapore
*
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1A1z.com
Sponsor Organizations by Geographic Focus
9
Physical Hub
Regional Focus
No Regional Focus
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Global Active Core Developer Distribution
10
Source: Contributors to bitcoin/bitcoin - Github�https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/graphs/contributors?from=3%2F30%2F2024
8
7
New York
Massachusetts
UK
Sweden
Austria
DC
Germany
2
Netherlands
Argentina
Brazil
Switzerland
Ontario
Nigeria
Bulgaria
El Salvador
Florida
USA�11
LatAm�3
Africa�1
Australasia�1
Europe�15
Asia�1
Developers with at least 5 commits merged in 2024 as of October 14th
Unknown
Australia
India
8
2
1A1z.com
1A1z.com
Global Commits Distribution
11
LatAm�6%
Africa�1%
Unknown (7%)
% of total commits merged in 2024 as of October 14th
Source: Contributors to bitcoin/bitcoin - Github�https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/graphs/contributors?from=3%2F30%2F2024
Asia�2%
Australasia�1%
Europe�56%
Nigeria
30%
25%
USA
Sweden
12%
Austria
Argentina
Germany
Netherlands
UK
Switzerland
India
Brazil
Canada
Bulgaria
El Salvador
Australia
1A1z.com
1A1z.com
Funding Centralization - “We need more Jacks!”
12
$35m
$28m
$21m
$14m
$7m
$0
Est. $8-10m
$14.1m
$23.60m*
*Donation was in BTC, based on market prices at the time in February 2021
$34.24m
100%�Split Undisc.
Undisc.
14.2%
90.5%
$23.40m
100%�����
CEO
1A1z.com
Funding Sustainability
13
Examples of Funding Tied to Market Conditions
Opportunity for Greater Private Sector Involvement
Miners / Pools
Exchanges
ETF Issuers
1A1z.com
Summary of Areas for Improvement
14
$8.4m�Total Spend�2023
Low Developer�Count
Jurisdictional�Centralization
Regional�Coverage
41�Active Core�Developers
Low Proportional�Spend
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1A1z.com
Summary of Areas for Improvement (cont.)
15
Funding�Centralization
Funding�Sustainability
Lack of Employment�Opportunities
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Bitcoin vs Crypto venture investments
16
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Bitcoin vs Crypto venture investments (cont.)
17
$75.4bn vs $546.3mm
0.72% vs 60%
$1.9t vs $1.25t
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VC funding trends
18
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Trend Over Time
19
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Bitcoin-focused venture capital firms
20
1A1z.com
Co-Investment Analysis
21
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Bitcoin investments by category
22
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Venture trends
23
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Thank You!
24
Read the Full Reports
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