We recently announced our Q4 2025 Btrust Developer Grant recipients at this year’s #BtrustDeveloperDay 🚀
We’re celebrating six exceptional Bitcoin open‑source developers from across Africa who are driving forward decentralization, privacy, and scalability in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
This cohort includes four starter grant recipients and two long‑term open‑source cohort members, all building critical infrastructure that strengthens the global Bitcoin ecosystem.
Read the full announcement and meet the recipients on our blog: https://blog.btrust.tech/announcing-q4-2025-btrust-developer-grant-recipients/
The Btrust Starter Grant empowers software engineers to contribute to open‑source Bitcoin development full‑time, offering mentorship, community support, and the freedom to focus on impactful, long‑term projects.
Shammah Destiny Agwor is advancing privacy and reliability within Rust‑Payjoin, enhancing transaction‑level privacy through metrics‑driven adoption tracking, performance optimizations, and security enhancements. He will also lead the creation of a community Payjoin PR Review Club to onboard new contributors.
Mohamed Emad is improving Bitcoin privacy infrastructure by enhancing the Mill‑IO event‑loop library and leading the migration of Coinswap to an event‑driven architecture. His work will bring Bitcoin‑specific performance optimizations, a new RPC framework, and detailed developer documentation to strengthen privacy and scalability.
Simon focuses on mining decentralization through the Stratum V2 Template Provider and sv2‑apps. As co‑founder of BitDevs Nairobi, Btrust Builders faculty member, and Bitcoin educator who has facilitated developer bootcamps both within and outside Kenya, he is helping nurture the next generation of open‑source contributors.
Ifeanyichukwu Amajuoyi is strengthening Lightning infrastructure through production‑level improvements to LDK‑Server, adding PostgreSQL support for high availability, a unified logging system, and comprehensive telemetry. His work addresses core stability and operability for Lightning Service Providers (LSPs) worldwide.
The Btrust Long‑Term Grant sustains established open‑source contributors with year‑long support, mentoring, and funding to help them expand their impact across vital Bitcoin projects.
Abdullahi Yunus, a former Starter Grantee and Btrust Builders alum, is deepening his work on Onion Messaging (BOLT 4) and BOLT 12 Offers in LND, pushing forward privacy‑preserving, invoice‑less Lightning payments. He will also enhance Lightning Polar with new developer tooling and testing features to support broader interoperability in the Lightning Network.
Sulaiman Aminu Barkindo is driving VLS (Validating Lightning Signer) to mainnet readiness, integrating secure persistence, fuzz testing, dual funding, and splicing support while improving entropy security and enterprise‑scale validation. His long‑term focus on security and enclave deployments will make VLS production‑ready for non‑custodial Lightning operators.
Five of the six recipients are graduates of the Btrust Builders program, which offers structured learning pathways covering Bitcoin fundamentals, open‑source contribution practices, and mentorship from seasoned Bitcoin developers.
Their journey, from Builders graduates to funded grantees, highlights Btrust’s commitment to cultivating long‑term open‑source careers in the Global South and expanding the network of independent Bitcoin contributors worldwide.
Applications are now open for the 2026 ₿OSS (Bitcoin Open‑Source Software) Challenge, a structured, hands‑on program for developers taking their first steps into Bitcoin open‑source development, created by Chaincode Labs.
Learn about the ₿OSS Challenge: https://blog.btrust.tech/btrust-builders-chaincode-labs-partner-again-for-the-2026-boss-challenge/
Apply for the 2026 cohort: https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/chaincodelabs/jobs/4067627009
BOSS Challenge cohort applications close December 31st, 2025.
Btrust developer grant applications are open year-round, with new recipients announced quarterly.
If you’re a developer passionate about contributing to Bitcoin open-source development, we encourage you to apply.
Learn more about our grant programs and apply through our website: https://www.btrust.tech/grants/developer
We’re celebrating six exceptional Bitcoin open‑source developers from across Africa who are driving forward decentralization, privacy, and scalability in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
This cohort includes four starter grant recipients and two long‑term open‑source cohort members, all building critical infrastructure that strengthens the global Bitcoin ecosystem.
Read the full announcement and meet the recipients on our blog: https://blog.btrust.tech/announcing-q4-2025-btrust-developer-grant-recipients/
The Btrust Starter Grant empowers software engineers to contribute to open‑source Bitcoin development full‑time, offering mentorship, community support, and the freedom to focus on impactful, long‑term projects.
Shammah Destiny Agwor is advancing privacy and reliability within Rust‑Payjoin, enhancing transaction‑level privacy through metrics‑driven adoption tracking, performance optimizations, and security enhancements. He will also lead the creation of a community Payjoin PR Review Club to onboard new contributors.
Mohamed Emad is improving Bitcoin privacy infrastructure by enhancing the Mill‑IO event‑loop library and leading the migration of Coinswap to an event‑driven architecture. His work will bring Bitcoin‑specific performance optimizations, a new RPC framework, and detailed developer documentation to strengthen privacy and scalability.
Simon focuses on mining decentralization through the Stratum V2 Template Provider and sv2‑apps. As co‑founder of BitDevs Nairobi, Btrust Builders faculty member, and Bitcoin educator who has facilitated developer bootcamps both within and outside Kenya, he is helping nurture the next generation of open‑source contributors.
Ifeanyichukwu Amajuoyi is strengthening Lightning infrastructure through production‑level improvements to LDK‑Server, adding PostgreSQL support for high availability, a unified logging system, and comprehensive telemetry. His work addresses core stability and operability for Lightning Service Providers (LSPs) worldwide.
The Btrust Long‑Term Grant sustains established open‑source contributors with year‑long support, mentoring, and funding to help them expand their impact across vital Bitcoin projects.
Abdullahi Yunus, a former Starter Grantee and Btrust Builders alum, is deepening his work on Onion Messaging (BOLT 4) and BOLT 12 Offers in LND, pushing forward privacy‑preserving, invoice‑less Lightning payments. He will also enhance Lightning Polar with new developer tooling and testing features to support broader interoperability in the Lightning Network.
Sulaiman Aminu Barkindo is driving VLS (Validating Lightning Signer) to mainnet readiness, integrating secure persistence, fuzz testing, dual funding, and splicing support while improving entropy security and enterprise‑scale validation. His long‑term focus on security and enclave deployments will make VLS production‑ready for non‑custodial Lightning operators.
Five of the six recipients are graduates of the Btrust Builders program, which offers structured learning pathways covering Bitcoin fundamentals, open‑source contribution practices, and mentorship from seasoned Bitcoin developers.
Their journey, from Builders graduates to funded grantees, highlights Btrust’s commitment to cultivating long‑term open‑source careers in the Global South and expanding the network of independent Bitcoin contributors worldwide.
Applications are now open for the 2026 ₿OSS (Bitcoin Open‑Source Software) Challenge, a structured, hands‑on program for developers taking their first steps into Bitcoin open‑source development, created by Chaincode Labs.
Learn about the ₿OSS Challenge: https://blog.btrust.tech/btrust-builders-chaincode-labs-partner-again-for-the-2026-boss-challenge/
Apply for the 2026 cohort: https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/chaincodelabs/jobs/4067627009
BOSS Challenge cohort applications close December 31st, 2025.
Btrust developer grant applications are open year-round, with new recipients announced quarterly.
If you’re a developer passionate about contributing to Bitcoin open-source development, we encourage you to apply.
Learn more about our grant programs and apply through our website: https://www.btrust.tech/grants/developer