Vinteum will train and sponsor Bitcoin developers in Brazil and Latin America
The planet needs Vinteum because “we need developers from all over the world to build this global internet-based money.” What is Vinteum? IN post announcing the organization’s existencethey describe themselves as “a non-profit Bitcoin research and development center dedicated to supporting Bitcoin developers in Brazil and the wider Latin America region. We will train and fund open source developers to work with Bitcoin and Lightning Network.”
Our organization will train and fund Brazilian open source developers to work in one of the most revolutionary technologies of our time. We need developers from all over the world to build this global internet based money.
— Vinteum (@Vinteum_org) 10 August 2022
To illustrate their reason for being, Vinteum Spiral’s Steve Lee quotes “on an episode by Stephan Livera’s podcast.”
“I think the right way for open source development funding and organization is a 10 out of 10 model. 10 organizations of 10 people, where each organization is independent. Independent funding, independent management … other projects may have more of a 1 x 100 model, where it’s just a centralized entity that has a huge budget, and I think that’s the antithesis of Bitcoin and how it should be done.”
Independent organizations that develop and fund talent from around the world. What a concept.
About the need to finance developers and Vinteum’s role
Currently, bitcoin’s market cap is $465B, give or take. With all this value at stake, and all the value to come, developing the network should be a top priority. However, bitcoin is truly decentralized. This means that there is no single basis that ensures that the code develops as planned. More importantly, there is no guaranteed funding for said developers to be able to focus on bitcoin full time.
This is where Vinteum comes in:
– We need talent. Bitcoin development funding has improved, but we still face many challenges, especially in terms of building a robust recruitment pipeline. Therefore, it is important that we not only fund developers, but also develop programs and educational efforts to teach developers about Bitcoin and onboard them in Bitcoin development.”
That’s right, the organization will develop and adapt educational programs to prepare the next generation of Brazilian bitcoin developers.
“The first thing we’re going to do is adapt Chaincode Labs Seminar’s curriculum and start cohorts in Portuguese so that Brazilian developers can interact with each other and learn in groups. If you’re a developer interested in learning more about how Bitcoin and Lightning work, we’re here accept applications.”
The people involved in Vinteum
In parallel with letting the world know of their existence, Vinteum announced its first grantee. Bruno Ely Garcia was previously supported by Brink and was one of the reviewer developers Taproot, bitcoin’s first major upgrade since 2017. In addition to the Vinteum grant, Ely Garcia will join the organization as director of education. The developer told Portal Do Bitcoin:
“To be able to focus all your energies on Bitcoin is very good, it gives me the feeling that I am now fulfilling a mission! That’s what I want because it’s a career that brings together two passions: programming and Bitcoin.
Vinteum is the brainchild of Lightning Labs’ Lucas Ferreira, a developer and Bitcoin Twitter staple, and André Neves, co-founder of bitcoin gaming giant Zebedee. About his partner, Ferreira told Portal Do Bitcoin:
“André, who is a living example of what this model can generate, seemed to me the ideal person to join me in this project,” explains Ferreira. In 2018, André was part of the first class focused on the Lighting Network at Chaincode Labs, a New York-based bitcoin research group known for the seminars it promotes.”
If you’re interested in potentially contributing to Bitcoin and the Lightning Network, but feel like you don’t have enough technical understanding of how they work, apply to our seminars! We follow @ChaincodeLabs curriculum, and we have some great mentors in the pipeline!
— Vinteum (@Vinteum_org) 10 August 2022
For his part, Ferreira talked about the need to bring “more geographic diversity to this talent pool, people who will understand the needs of their regions and will keep that in mind when developing Bitcoin.” This is a crucial part of Vinteum’s reason for being so. Brazil and Latin America may currently be underrepresented in the development of bitcoin, but that is about to change.
BTC price chart for 08/11/2022 on Bitstamp | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
Where did the money come from?
If bitcoin is decentralized, where did the money for Vinteum come from? Ferreira told Portal Do Bitcoin:
“Getting the funds was very hard work. We had to put together a deck explaining the idea and sell this project to potential donors. I went after my network and so did André, and we raised the money.”
Finally, Vinteum informs, the “philanthropic donations” came from “John Pfeffer, Wences Casares, Sebastian Serrano, Okcoin and the Human Rights Foundation.” Other contributors were, “Casa for providing us state-of-the-art Bitcoin repository and voltage to prepare our Lightning Network node infrastructure.”
Kudos to these organizations and individuals for understanding the importance of funding bitcoin development worldwide. Together we stand.
Featured Image: Vinteum logo from their website | Charts by TradingView
