After almost three years as a BitMEX open source development grantee, Calvin Kim is leaving the program. Calvin’s grant expired on 31 May 2023. Calvin has received a US$100,000 grant from the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), which was announced on 9 May 2023. Therefore the funding of Calvin’s research and development work on Bitcoin and Utreexo will continue. The presence of other funders, like the HRF, to step up and support Calvin, illustrates the much richer and more vibrant developer funding environment for Bitcoin which exists today, compared to the 2019/20 period when BitMEX launched the open source developer funding program.
BitMEX would like to thank Calvin for his exceptional work over the years and we wish him all the best of luck going forwards.
Calvin said:
I’m extremely grateful for BitMEX’s support over the past 3 years. The support they gave me allowed me to freely research improvements to the Utreexo algorithms and as well as allowing me to research how to best integrate it to the existing Bitcoin protocol. The steady support that BitMEX provided allowed me to grow as a Bitcoin developer and helped me contribute meaningful research to the Bitcoin ecosystem. I’m excited to continue my work with HRF’s support and will continue in my quest to bring Utreexo and all its benefits to all users.
Alex Gladstein, Chief Strategy Officer of the HRF said:
The Human Rights Foundation is delighted to support Calvin and his work to strengthen the decentralisation, censorship-resistance, and scaling potential of the Bitcoin network.
While on the BitMEX program, Calvin produced some excellent blog posts explaining how Utreexo works, with some informative diagrams. Most notably his May 2021 piece entitled “Out of Order Block Validation with Utreexo Accumulators”.
