Bitcoin Core, an open source project which maintains and releases Bitcoin client software called “Bitcoin Core”, has announced the launch of a new sponsorship programme, aiming to increase the involvement of the Bitcoin industry in the project.

“The Bitcoin Core Sponsorship Programme provides a way for the Bitcoin industry to fund independent research and development of Bitcoin Core, by funding developers, developer projects, or otherwise providing resources to the project. The programme is tailored for larger industry participants and at this time, we have no mechanism for taking smaller donations”, the sponsorship page reads.

The Bitcoin Core project has a suggested list of projects that require funding, and sponsors are also able to suggest their own. This includes general projects such as internships for new developers, documentation, infrastructure, education materials, and others; as well as technical projects such as IBLT, Flexicap blocksize, relay network maintenance and others.

Sponsors may provide funding or human resources. The online post says that while there are no shortages of improvements and features suggested for the Bitcoin system, requisite funding has been lacking. Bitcoin Core project seeks to change this with this sponsorship programme.

"A few companies are showing interest in funding Bitcoin Core development, which could be a big help to us," he said. "It would allow more directed development in addition to the open-source approach we've always used”, Van der Laan, the project's lead maintainer told CoinDesk.

It further noted that sponsorships cannot guarantee which feature would make it into the Bitcoin Core software and even if included, it’s ultimately Bitcoin users who decide what software to run, and what features to adopt.

For this reason, the release said that sponsorships will be screened for compatibility in advance, so that if the requisite research and development are done, and if the work it passes peer review, there is “every reason to believe” it could become part of the Bitcoin Core software.

“Projects that have conceptual “rough consensus” from the outset, stand a much better chance of seeing acceptance”, it said while emphasizing that nothing in this field is guaranteed.

Bitcoin Core project also announced that they need more qualified developers capable of carrying out quality assurance, testing, and code review on a regular basis. In addition, the project also needs budgeting for communications, public relations, documentation and other resources.