BitMEX owner gives back to Bitcoin project with Michael Ford grant

HDR Global Trading, owner and operator of BitMEX, has awarded a $60,000 grant to Bitcoin Core contributor, Michael Ford (aka fanquake).

This recognises “Ford’s contribution to the growth and maintenance of the Bitcoin ecosystem. In line with BitMEX’s previous donation to the MIT Digital Currency initiative in May, the grant shows our commitment to improving FinTech innovation and giving back to the Bitcoin project,” it said in a statement.

The grant is non-exclusive and requires Ford to work on Bitcoin Core solely. Sam Reed, CTO and Co-founder of HDR Global Trading, says: “Like all other companies in the cryptocurrency space, we rely heavily on the (mostly volunteer) work of coders dedicated to the mission and ideals of Bitcoin. This work is difficult, demanding, and often thankless. We believe it is the duty of corporations to give back to the projects from which they benefit – and from which their very business model stems.”

He adds: “Without the millions of free man-hours from dedicated OSS developers powering everything from our operating systems, to our web servers, to our ops tools and Bitcoin itself, the BitMEX trading platform could not have been built. We don’t forget this gift. Therefore, HDR considers this grant, provided on a no-strings-attached basis, to be only a small part of an ongoing commitment to bolstering Bitcoin and other OSS projects for the benefit of all.”