Africa, July 2, 2025 — We are excited to present the recipients of our Q2 Starter Grants and welcome returning members to the Btrust Open-Source Cohort. This quarter, three engineers have been awarded the Btrust Starter Grant, empowering them to work full-time on open-source Bitcoin projects and deepen their impact on the ecosystem. Additionally, two engineers have received renewals of their Btrust Long Term Grants, enabling them to continue and expand their contributions to Bitcoin open-source development.

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 Recipients

Sulaiman Aminu Barkindo

Sulaiman is a seasoned software engineer and Engineering Manager based in Nigeria, and a Btrust Builders 2024 fellow. With over four years of experience in backend and full-stack engineering, Sulaiman has become an integral contributor to the Validating Lightning Signer (VLS) project, a Rust-based initiative focused on enhancing security and self-custody in the Bitcoin Lightning Network. His work includes significant infrastructure upgrades, refining VLS’s persistence layer, and improving CI/CD pipelines, all aimed at boosting code reliability and security.

With the support of the Btrust Starter Grant, Sulaiman will intensify his focus on VLS by enhancing HTLC security, advancing on-chain state enforcement and disaster recovery, optimizing signer performance for rapid synchronization, and ensuring robust, atomic data persistence. He also plans to widen system test coverage and incorporate advanced tools to bring VLS closer to robust, production-ready deployment. Sulaiman’s contributions are helping make non-custodial, secure Lightning solutions more reliable and accessible, particularly in regions where self-custody is vital due to regulatory constraints.

Peter Tyonum

Peter is a skilled software engineer based in Nigeria and a fellow of the Qala (now Btrust Builders) genesis cohort. With over five years of experience working with JavaScript, PHP, and Rust, Peter has made extensive contributions to the Bitcoin Dev Kit (BDK) ecosystem, developing features for bdk-cli, enhancing wallet APIs, improving documentation, and actively reviewing and testing code to raise the quality and reliability of BDK libraries.

As a part-time facilitator at Btrust Builders, he has also played a key role in developer education and training initiatives.

With the support of the Btrust Starter Grant, Peter will focus on simplifying and enhancing Bitcoin wallet development through his ongoing work with BDK libraries. His priorities include releasing bdk-cli version 1.0.0, integrating new features like hardware wallet interface support, adding advanced wallet templates, and improving compatibility with chain clients and RPC proxies. He also plans to contribute to key modules like bdk-wallet and bdk-bitcoind-rpc, expand documentation, and participate in code reviews across the ecosystem.

Jamal ERRAKIBI

Jamal is an accomplished software engineer and a 2024 Btrust Builders fellow, and Bitcoin open-source contributor. With seven years of professional experience, Jamal has developed deep expertise in Java development and AWS cloud services. In recent years, he has transitioned his focus to Bitcoin, making significant contributions as an independent contractor for Chaincode Labs and, most notably, as an active contributor to the rust-bitcoin project.

Jamal’s work within the rust-bitcoin ecosystem includes authoring and reviewing pull requests that enhance API design, improve test coverage, audit and solidify public interfaces, and help pave the way for the project’s upcoming 1.0 release. He has also contributed to Bitcoin Core, implemented Lightning zap functionality for a Nostr client, and created BTCillustrated, a growing visual repository that demystifies complex Bitcoin and Lightning concepts through technical illustrations and educational content.

With support from the Btrust Starter Grant, Jamal will dedicate himself full-time to advancing the stability and usability of rust-bitcoin. His priorities for the grant period include regular code reviews, expanding documentation, improving serialization consistency, and helping drive the main rust-bitcoin crates toward stable release. This'll help build a stronger, more reliable, and more accessible foundation for Bitcoin development, supporting everyone from core engineers to curious newcomers.

Long Term Grants

The Btrust Open-Source Cohort enriches the existing grant model with additional structure to make it easier for grantees to sustainably contribute to Bitcoin open-source development. This quarter, both Long Term Grant renewals will provide two years of dedicated support for each recipient.

Long Term Grant Renewal Recipients

Duncan Dean

Duncan is an experienced open-source Bitcoin and Lightning Network developer, continuing his work with a focus on advancing dual-funded channels in the Lightning Development Kit (LDK). Building on several years of contributions to key projects including Bitcoin Core, LDK, and rust-bitcoin, Duncan has been instrumental in laying the groundwork for LDK’s dual-funding support, completing major refactoring, implementing channel type-state phases, and developing the interactive transaction constructor.

Over the past year, Duncan led the implementation that enables LDK to accept inbound dual-funded channels and has been central to related improvements recognized in the Bitcoin Optech newsletter. With the renewal of his grant, he aims to extend dual-funding capabilities further, beginning with supporting funding contributions from channel acceptors, introducing a robust API for channel initiators, and developing interactive fee-bumping for funding transactions. Looking forward, Duncan’s plans include pioneering work on simple taproot channels in LDK to improve channel privacy, and exploring the integration of Point Time Locked Contracts when specifications are ready.

Duncan’s work addresses core challenges in the Lightning Network such as liquidity, privacy, and interoperability. By progressing dual-funded channel support, he is bridging gaps across node implementations and enabling more flexible, balanced channel establishment for users. His ongoing research and development are set to bring critical features like STCs and enhanced privacy to LDK, contributing to a healthier, more accessible Lightning ecosystem.

Abubakar Sadiq Ismail

Abubakar Sadiq Ismail, a dedicated Bitcoin Core contributor based in Nigeria, has also had his long-term grant renewed, allowing him to build on his extensive work in improving Bitcoin Core’s fee estimation and mempool infrastructure. He has authored and reviewed dozens of pull requests, most notably focused on the fee estimation system, the Cluster Mempool project, package relay, and broader mempool policy, and resolved bugs vital to Bitcoin Core’s stability and efficiency.

Beyond his technical code contributions, Abubakar leads sessions for the Bitcoin Core PR Review Club, mentors new contributors through programs like the Summer of Bitcoin, and has broadened his impact by adopting libraries such as py-libbitcoin kernel, uncovering critical issues, and deepening his understanding of Bitcoin’s cryptographic underpinnings.

The Btrust Long Term Grant empowers Abubakar to continue working full-time on Bitcoin Core, allowing for sustained, high-impact contributions. In the coming year, he is focused on advancing fee estimation improvements, developing a cluster-aware fee estimator as Cluster Mempool launches, enhancing estimator accuracy, and contributing to important core code and testing efforts in areas like multi-process support and the mining interface.

His plans also include mentoring new contributors, hosting review sessions, participating in key global Bitcoin events, and furthering his expertise in Bitcoin cryptography. By improving core infrastructure and fostering new talent in the ecosystem, Abubakar’s work directly supports Btrust’s mission to strengthen and decentralize open-source Bitcoin development, making the network more robust, accessible, and secure for users everywhere.

Applications for Btrust Grants

Btrust 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.

Stay updated on our initiatives and future opportunities by following us on X, Nostr and LinkedIn.

About Us

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.