Crypto exchange Kraken donates to Ethereum 2.0 development teams working on technical upgrades, along with a number of other DeFi companies including Compound Grands, Lido, The Graph Foundation, Uniswap Grants and Synthetix.
The Kraken donation totals $250,000, with a further $1.25M being donated by the five crypto firms. According to their press release, the Kraken donation will be given to developers working with projects which support the Ethereum software. To date, this includes Best, Erigon, Geth, Nethermind and Nimbus.
As Kraken donates to Ethereum development, signalling it’s bullish attitude towards the latest upgrades, it’s highly possible that other exchanges may begin to the same, not least for the positive PR which this kind of announcement generally leads to, but also because it’s commercially very sensible to support anything which increases user adoption.
The DeFi and Kraken donation will be held by the Ethereum Foundation, and will be dished out to a variety of Ethereum 2.0 development teams when their projects reach certain milestones. This is to ensure that the funds are spent only on viable projects which are widely expect to succeed in improving the ecosystem.
“We believe it’s our responsibility to give back to the open-source innovators who are building the next generation of cryptocurrency,”
Jesse Powell, CEO and Founder of Kraken
Kraken donates to Ethereum 2.0 Development after successful previous grants
Kraken appears to have long been a supporter of projects which are designed to support and grow the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry. There have been other Kraken donations made to projects which include Gitcoin, BTC Pay Server and Bitcoin development platform Brink, with the company saying in their press releases that they were “designed to promote education and development related tot he cryptocurrencies traded on our global exchange”
Furthermore, the crypto exchange claims its clients have staked over 800,000 ETH (over $2.5 Billion) to secure the Beacon Chain, which is assisting in bringing about Proof of Stake (PoS) capabilities to the blockchain.
“We strongly believe that collaborative efforts and support are the most sustainable way to benefit Ethereum in the long-term. This joint effort to support teams and builders that maintain a diverse set of Ethereum clients is not only impactful, but sets a great example,”
Aya Miyaguchi, Exec Director, Ethereum Foundation
The Ethereum 2.0 development took a major step forward last week, with the successful London Upgrade, which included the EIP1559 proposal, which was designed to reduce gas fees. Since the upgrade, hundreds of millions of dollars of ETH have been burned, with the crypto starting to look very much like a deflationary currency.