Ethereum (ETH) – the world’s leading blockchain protocol for the issuance of smart contracts and development of decentralized applications (dapps) – is being funded by Microsoft, the world-leading software giant that’s just hit a $1 trillion market cap.
In an effort to help build and develop the Ethereum ecosystem, Microsoft is offering thousands of dollars to anyone who can contribute to the project during the Ethereal Virtual Hackathon, a 2-week contest running from April 15 to April 30.
Microsoft is joined by over a dozen other companies and teams, offering bounties totaling $67,000 in Dai stablecoins to contest winners who successfully build and develop the Ethereum ecosystem.
The contests are carried out through the decentralized platform Gitcoin, which is a decentralized funding platform for open-source projects.
In addition to Microsoft being a leading sponsor, ConsenSys Labs, the venture arm of the Ethereum blockchain, is also sponsoring the event, offering high bounties to projects trying to reinvent the financial system.
On this note, ConsenSys’ operations lead Vivek Singh said:
“[ConsenSys Labs] has put up a few bounties in the vein of rethinking the lending market, and thinking about a peer-to-peer lending and a decentralized credit score system.”
As for Microsoft’s bounties, they are leading the stage with 20 project bounties ranging from the development of supply chain-related smart contracts for shipping containers, to smart contracts for weather insurance.
Moreover, JPMorgan has even joined the fun with their enterprise-oriented and permissioned Quorum blockchain.
Apart from benefiting the Ethereum ecosystem, the Ethereal Virtual Hackathon event is also shining the spotlight on Gitcoin, the decentralized platform that incentivizes open-source development by funding open-source volunteers around the world.
Gitcoin has only been operational for 2 years and has already paid out nearly $1,000,000 in bounties to over 18,000 monthly active users.
Explaining their mission by hosting the Ethereal Virtual Hackathon, Gitcoin said in a Medium post:
“Recruiting talented developers that you want to work with is a challenging process. We’re providing this service to the community to help funders bring developers onto their team.”
Moreover, though the event is coming to an end, Singh from ConsenSys said:
“We’ve seen what people can do in two or three days. Some of these prizes by Microsoft got knocked out in the first 24-48 hours… If somebody catches this on the 27th, there’s definitely time for them to make a meaningful contribution.”
Do you think it’s bullish that Microsoft is funding the development of the Ethereum ecosystem? Do you think Ethereum is a sure thing that’s poised to succeed in the long term? Let us know what you think in the comment section below.
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