Description
Brink Technology, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2020 by John Newbery and Mike Schmidt, with founding financial support from John Pfeffer and Wences Casares, to strengthen the Bitcoin protocol and network through fundamental research and development. Brink operates two core programs: a year-long fellowship that onboards exceptional software engineers into Bitcoin protocol development by pairing them with its engineering team in its London office, and a grants program that provides year-long funding to established Bitcoin protocol developers to work full time on the security, stability, and functionality of Bitcoin Core and related open source projects (including Lightning and other layer-two technologies). Brink is 100% funded by donations and sponsorships from individuals and organizations (e.g. Coinbase, Xapo Bank, Ledger, Marathon, VanEck, Bitwise, Kraken, Gemini) and has become one of the largest funders of Bitcoin Core development. Its grantees and alumni contribute to Bitcoin Core maintenance, code review, fuzzing/security research, mempool policy, cryptography (e.g. FROST, post-quantum signatures), and community education efforts such as Bitcoin Optech and the Bitcoin Core PR Review Club. Brink also publishes a blog, hosts engineering calls, produces The Bitcoin Development Podcast, and publishes annual organizational and financial reports.