Smart Contract Platform RSK Unveils $200k Developer Incentivization Program

Bitcoin smart contracting platform RSK has announced details of a Grants Program to encourage decentralized application (dApp) development. A fund of $200,000 will be made available, with developers invited to submit their ideas for consideration.

Big Ambitions, Major Incentives

The first smart contract platform secured by the Bitcoin network, RSK, enables developers to import, create, and deploy EVM based dApps. The RSK team will be hoping the $200k carrot it has proffered will tempt intrepid developers to start building within its ecosystem.

As well as offering a financial incentive, the Grants Program is touting mentorship opportunities with existing RSK developers. Indeed, the application process itself includes a round of feedback after ideas are reviewed.

The RSK brain trust is especially interested in software tools that level up the ecosystem, such as in-browser wallets for dApps, a starter project scaffolding tool, and a smart contract compile and deploy toolchain. Applicants have 12 months to submit their dApp ideas to the RSK team.

It is hoped that the Grants Program convinces more developers to build defi applications within the Bitcoin ecosystem rather than on other blockchains, in the process benefiting from BTC’s unrivaled reputation, global adoption, liquidity, and security.

Developer Programs Proliferate

Over the past 12 months, an array of blockchain projects have made financial entreaties to budding dApp developers, in an effort to spur solutions that are sustainable and scalable.

Square, which is headed up by Twitter boss Jack Dorsey, is also seeking to nurture Bitcoin development like RSK. In September, it allocated $100,000 to open source Bitcoin payment processor BTCPay. EOS VC, meanwhile, offers funding to those looking to develop applications within the EOS ecosystem. Hopefuls need only provide a pitch deck of their proposal highlighting the opportunity they have identified, and how it utilizes the EOSIO blockchain.

The Algorand Foundation, which seeks to maximize blockchain technology by leveraging its eponymous protocol and open-source software, is another entity to have recently launched an awards program for developers. For its part, the Foundation is interested in development areas such as applications, utilities, monitoring, tooling, deployment, and libraries, with the ultimate ambition of growing the Algorand ecosystem. There are three tiers of Algo award: 20-50k for Small solutions, 50-100k for Medium, and 100-250k for Large.

All of which is to say that there is a significant push on the part of blockchain projects to compel developers to get busy and begin building.

This article was first published on: Dec 4, 2019