OpenSats General Fund

Bitcoin-paid grants of 3 to 12 months for free and open-source Bitcoin work, from Bitcoin Core to wallets, privacy and education.

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Time left to apply

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Opened Oct 1Closes Nov 30

98% of the window left: 59 of 61 days.

Grant size: Size not published; No published ceiling
Paid in: BTC; Paid in one go
Funding model: Round; Fixed application window, reviewed as a batch.
Typical decision: 13 weeks; From submission to an answer

Checked Oct 1 against 12 sources. Confirm amounts and dates on opensats.org before you apply.

About the program

OpenSats is a US 501(c)(3) public charity that funds free and open-source work on Bitcoin and the software Bitcoin depends on. The General Fund has paid for Bitcoin Core contributors, Lightning implementations, hardware wallets, fuzz testing, ecash, developer libraries, translation and education. It does not fund altcoin projects or closed-source work.

Applications are open in the first two months of each quarter and closed in March, June, September and December. You submit a short proposal with two written reference letters and a two-minute video. A volunteer technical committee reviews it, and a majority of the nine-person board must approve every grant. Long-term support (LTS) grants for established maintainers have a separate form.

Grants are set in USD but paid in bitcoin. Amounts are private by default, so there is no published range. In 2025 the fund allocated $5,639,789 to regular grants and $2,328,000 to LTS grants. The spring 2026 call for applications asked for proposals on Bitcoin base-layer privacy.

What they fund

Bitcoin Core contributions, code review and testing
Security research and fuzz testing
On-chain privacy, such as Payjoin, Silent Payments and CoinJoin tools
Wallets, developer libraries, Lightning and ecash infrastructure
Developer education, translation and design/UX work

Who can apply

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Developers, designers, researchers, reviewers and educators anywhere in the world; pseudonymous applicants are welcome
All code and educational material must be free and open-source and developed in public
General grants run 3 to 12 months, full-time or part-time, and need at least two written references
OpenSats cannot fund grants tied to countries or programs on the OFAC sanctions list

Tick what applies to you. Saved on this device only.

How applying works

Prepare your application
Use the OpenSats template, keep it to about one page, and line up two written reference letters.
Submit in a window
Apply through opensats.org/apply during the first two months of a quarter, with a video that runs exactly two minutes.
Committee and board review
A technical committee screens the proposal, OpenSats does due diligence, and a board majority decides.
Sign the grant agreement
If approved, you sign an agreement setting the scope, payment schedule and reporting, and give a bitcoin address.
Report progress
You publish your work openly and send a progress report every 90 days.

Sources

Checked on Oct 1 against these pages. Programs change often, so confirm the details on opensats.org before you apply.

About the program

What they fund

Who can apply

How applying works

Prepare your application

Submit in a window

Committee and board review

Sign the grant agreement

Report progress

Sources

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