According to a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine, the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) has announced its most recent round of donations, which total $325,000 in BTC and are focused on supporting important components of the Bitcoin ecosystem.
The HRF is concentrating its efforts with this round of Bitcoin donations on censorship resistance, open-source custody solutions, Bitcoin Core development, Chaumian e-cash, and global education.
The open-source Bitcoin payment processor BTCPay Server received the largest donation totaling $100,000. The software allows users all over the world to accept Bitcoin payments from anyone, making it possible to employ a relatively private, censorship-resistant form of payment. According to the statement, this particular donation was done in collaboration with Strike’s affiliated non-profit.
Additionally, Jon Atak and Josh Kitman will receive two donations, each worth $50,000. While Kitman is working on Fedimint, a Chaumian e-cash alternative for Bitcoin, Atak is a core developer who is always reviewing and improving Bitcoin’s code.
Keith Mukai has received a $25,000 donation to help him continue working on Seed Signer, an offline, air-gapped Bitcoin hardware wallet. Mukai will build out multilingual support for right-to-left languages including Arabic and Hebrew in addition to research and development.
Leigh Cuen will receive a donation of $25,000 for her work in developing a guide for Bitcoin donations that may be used by nonprofits. The guide, which will be made available next month in collaboration with the Bitcoin Policy Institute, instructs non-governmental organizations (NGOs), state institutions, and activists on how to accept donations in Bitcoin.
In addition to the individual developers, Robosats, an open-source peer-to-peer (P2P) Lightning exchange, will also receive $25,000. These funds will be used for expanding the product’s documentation, support several languages, and help with continuing development.
A $25,000 donation will also be made to Novaya Gazeta, an independent Russian news organization that specializes in investigative reporting on Russian politics and society. The funds will allow the publication to examine the relationship between Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and human rights as it relates to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The final $25,000 will go to the Vinteum Initiative, a non-profit Bitcoin research and development center, for its educational seminars, fellowships, and grants that support Brazil’s Bitcoin developers.
The HRF will announce its next round of donations in January 2023 after contributing more than $1.5 million in Bitcoin and U.S. dollars over the previous two years to promote global Bitcoin development.