Announcing Q1 2025 Btrust Grants Recipients
This quarter, Brandon Odiwuor and Itoro Ukpong have been awarded the Btrust Starter Grant, enabling them to work full-time on open-source Bitcoin projects and strengthen their contributions to the ecosystem.
Africa, March 13, 2025 — We are excited to announce the Q1 2025 recipients of Btrust grants, supporting developers dedicated to advancing Bitcoin open-source development. This quarter, two talented engineers have been selected for the Btrust Starter Grant, enabling them to work full-time on open-source Bitcoin projects and strengthen their contributions to the ecosystem.
Starter Grants
The Btrust Starter Grant provides funding to software engineers who are eager to contribute to open-source Bitcoin development full-time. This grant allows recipients to explore different areas within Bitcoin development, identify a focus for long-term contributions, and engage deeply with the Bitcoin open-source community without financial constraints.
Starter Grant Recipient(s)
Brandon Odiwuor
Brandon is an active Bitcoin Core contributor with expertise in backend, frontend, and cloud development. His contributions span across functional tests, Signet, RPC, wallet, build systems, and GUI improvements. His work has been recognized in Bitcoin Core releases V26, V27, and V28.
Brandon is working on expanding Bitcoin Core’s testing infrastructure and refining its developer tooling, ensuring a smoother experience for contributors. His work on customizable Signet networks is streamlining how developers test and experiment with different Bitcoin environments.
At the same time, he is actively improving Bitcoin Core’s build system post-CMake migration, optimizing cross-platform compatibility, and enhancing documentation to lower the barrier for new contributors.
Beyond his technical contributions, Brandon plays a key role in community engagement, regularly participating in BitDevs Nairobi meetups, where he leads discussions and helps onboard new developers into Bitcoin Core development.
Itoro Ukpong
Itoro is a software engineer with six years of experience in large-scale Java enterprise applications. He has contributed to Bitcoinj, a Java-based Bitcoin library, and BDK-FFI, which enables Bitcoin wallet functionality across multiple programming languages.
Itoro is working on refining Bitcoinj by implementing PSBT and Schnorr signatures, improving its architecture, and making it more intuitive for developers. He is also enhancing BDK-FFI’s language bindings, working to expand its reach and usability.
A key part of his work involves integrating Compact Block Filters (CBF) into mobile Bitcoin wallets, a privacy-preserving feature that will significantly improve the efficiency and security of mobile wallets.
Additionally, he is working on improving Bitcoin documentation and onboarding materials, ensuring that developers, especially those in the Global South, have better resources to navigate Bitcoin development.
Beyond his technical work, Itoro is also an organizer for BitDevs Accra, where developers come together to learn and share insights on Bitcoin as a technology.
Applications for Btrust Grants
Btrust grants 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 programs and apply through our website.
Stay updated on our initiatives and future opportunities by following us on X, Nostr and LinkedIn.
About Btrust
Btrust is a non-profit organization with a dedicated mission to decentralize the development of Bitcoin Open-Source Software. Our focus is on fostering developer talent in the Global South and supporting the free and open-source Bitcoin ecosystem.
