13th Anniversary of the Bitcoin Whitepaper — the Emergence of a Global Movement

On October 31, 2008, an obscure whitepaper was published outlining a digital currency that would operate in a fully decentralized, trustless manner allowing users to send and receive monetary value. The pseudonymous author (or authors) of the whitepaper, Satoshi Nakamoto, called the revolutionary digital currency Bitcoin.

Over the past 13 years, Bitcoin has grown into a global phenomenon ushering in a new wave of innovation across industries. It has inspired thousands of projects founded on blockchain technology, creating a dynamic community of developers, founders, investors, and users.

At Gemini, in addition to providing a secure and reliable onramp to trade bitcoin through our exchange, we support the Bitcoin ecosystem through grants, fellowships, sponsorships and donations made through the Gemini Opportunity Fund. Earlier this year, we announced the sponsorship of three Bitcoin Core Developers: Amiti Uttarwar, Dhruv Mehta, and Jarol Rodriguez.

Today, in honor of the Bitcoin whitepaper's 13th anniversary, we want to highlight some of the work Amiti, Dhruv, and Jarol have been doing to support the usability, security, and resilience of the Bitcoin Network.

• Amiti's main area of work is centered on the security of the Bitcoin Network, and the ways in which nodes connect and communicate with each other. Alongside other Bitcoin Core Developers, Amiti is building a secure, private, and non-influenceable way to store node addresses, enhancing the reliability of the Bitcoin Network. Check out Amiti’s GitHub and this piece about her Bitcoin Core journey.

• Dhruv is passionate about the censorship resistance of the Bitcoin Network and has been working on BIP324, which introduces end-to-end encryption for Bitcoin peer-to-peer traffic. BIP324 adds encryption without overhead or risk of network partition, and provides the ability to observe man-in-the-middle attacks directly. Check out Dhruv's work on GitHub and some posts about Bitcoin.

• Jarol is focused on the Bitcoin Network’s graphical user interface (GUI), and is involved in revamping the GUI to enhance user flow and streamline multi-wallet support. Working with fellow Bitcoin Core Developers, as well as the vibrant Bitcoin design community, Jarol is building a functional, appealing, and intuitive user interface for the Bitcoin Network. Check out Jarol’s work on GitHub.

Bitcoin has proven itself deeply resilient, remaining the world’s most popular cryptocurrency and reaching a market cap of over $1 trillion. The strength of the Bitcoin Network is backed by a vibrant community of developers who are helping to maintain and enhance the network by working on the open-source Bitcoin Core. We are thrilled to support Amiti, Dhruv, and Jarol’s important work.

Our industry is poised to continue scaling as more individuals and institutions make the leap into crypto. At Gemini, our mission is to empower the individual through crypto, and supporting the foundations of our industry is central to that goal.

If you think you’re a great candidate for the Gemini Opportunity Fund or know someone who is, please reach out to us at opportunityfund@gemini.com.

Onward and Upward!

Team Gemini