Btrust Q1 2026 Developer Grant - Africa Bitcoin News

Btrust, the nonprofit co-founded by Jack Dorsey and Jay-Z, has officially announced its Q1 2026 Developer Grants. This cohort is their most significant to date, awarding grants to 10 Bitcoin open-source developers across Africa and the Global South.

The move signals a shift in strategy: Btrust is no longer just training developers; they are now funding them to build the core infrastructure of the future full-time.

Two Major “Firsts” for Btrust in 2026

This round isn’t just about more developers; it’s about diversifying the Bitcoin stack:

The Rise of Ecash: For the first time, Btrust is supporting Cashu (ecash) development. This is a massive win for privacy-preserving, lightning-fast payments that work well in low-bandwidth environments.
Dedicated Research: The cohort includes its first-ever dedicated research role, specifically focused on solving Lightning Network liquidity—the “plumbing” issue that often causes payment failures in growing markets.

The Q1 2026 Grantee List

Most recipients are alumni of the Btrust Builders training program, proving that the pipeline from “student” to “funded contributor” is working.

Starter Grants (New Full-Time Contributors)

These developers are receiving six-month stipends to ramp up their open-source contributions.

@_mykhael – Cashu development (first Btrust Cashu grantee) .
@_frankomosh – Working on Bitcoin Core fuzzing and BIP353 (DNS-based payments).
@john_osezele – Improving BDK-Dart and Payjoin (Privacy tools).
@0chavic – Rust Payjoin bindings.
@M_Aliyu_Shehu – Payjoin Dev Kit.
@sdmg15 – Contributing to BDK and Bitcoin Core.

Long-Term Open-Source Cohort

Established contributors who have been promoted or renewed for long-term support.

@chuksagb (Promoted from starter) – Working on LDK Splice Batching (Cheaper Lightning channels).
@_tvpeter (Promoted from starter) – Developing a BDK RPC Client.
@engb_os – Lightning Liquidity Research.
@TChileta – Building BTCPayServer plugins specifically for African merchant use cases.

Why This Matters for Africa

This isn’t just “nerd stuff.” These technical projects have direct real-world impacts:

Cheaper Payments: Work on “LDK Splice Batching” and “Payjoin” means that sending Bitcoin will become significantly cheaper and more private for the average user.
Better Apps: By funding “BDK-Dart” (used for mobile apps) and “Payjoin Dev Kits,” Btrust is making it easier for African startups to build high-quality Bitcoin wallets.
Financial Sovereignty: By funding African developers to work on Bitcoin Core, Btrust ensures the continent has a seat at the table when the world’s most important financial protocol is updated.