Foundry announces non-profit initiative to support Bitcoin developers

Foundry is launching a new program that allows miners to contribute a part of their mined coins to Bitcoin developers.

Bitcoin (BTC) mining firm Foundry said in a Tuesday press release that it wants to support the development of the Bitcoin ecosystem with a new initiative that allows miners in the U.S. to contribute part of the mined coins to blockchain developers.

The initiative dubbed Foundry Donate connects miners in Foundry USA Pool with trusted organizations approved by the IRS as 501(c)(3) entities, allowing direct donations to core developers. The New York-headquartered firm says the system settles all the donations in an automated on-chain mode, enabling recurring donations to vetted non-profits.

Foundry CEO Mike Colyer says the initiative aligns with the firm’s mission to “empower decentralized infrastructure.” At the start, miners could choose only two non-profit organizations — Brink and OpenSats — although Foundry pledges to expand the list in the near future. The firm says it has already committed 0.2 BTC from its own mining operations to each of these non-profits, while Bitcoin miner Core Scientific donated 1 BTC.

In early 2024, crypto asset management firm Bitwise pledged to allocate 10% of its profits from the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF to support Bitcoin open-source development. At the time, the company said the funds would go toward Brink, OpenSats, and the Human Rights Foundation in an effort to “express gratitude” to the Bitcoin network developers and researchers. Investment firm VanEck earlier also pledged to allocate 5% of potential profits from its proposed spot Bitcoin ETF to support Bitcoin core developers at Brink.