A total of nine companies have formed a consortium pledging a total of $15 million over three years to support security research and open source development of Bitcoin.
Companies in the newly formed Bitcoin Security Consortium include major players in the crypto market including BlackRock, Coinbase, Strategy, Anchorage Digital, ARK Invest, Block, Blockstream, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Galaxy.
The group will focus in part on preparing Bitcoin for advances in quantum computing and will publish papers on the state of Bitcoin security work for investors and the public.
The $15 million will neither be held nor allocated by the consortium; instead, members will choose which developers, researchers, or organizations they fund. The group said it would not lead the development of Bitcoin or take a position on proposed protocol changes.
“Bitcoin Core developers are doing incredibly important work,” said Robert Mitchnick, head of digital assets at BlackRock, adding that the group would make additional funds available for the long-term security of Bitcoin.
The announcement did not disclose individual contributions, initial recipients, or how much of the funding represents new commitments.
Galaxy this week launched a separate $5 million initiative for quantum-resistant signatures, wallet migration tools and security audits. The consortium did not specify whether this commitment was included in the $15 million total.
