What is Kraken Exchange?

Kraken is the name of one of the largest and oldest cryptocurrency (centralized) exchanges, started in 2011 with Bitcoin. Their mission is to accelerate the adoption of cryptocurrency for the world, which they do by constantly increasing the pairs of tokens which can be traded on Kraken.

Kraken also offers a range of financial services, from beginner advice to investing solutions for entities of any size. The exchange boasts significant liquidity and competitive pricing in all their markets.

Grants are also awarded directly by Kraken for open-source development on their behalf. An open-source grant program was put in place to shine a light and support projects which help cryptocurrencies reach their full potential.

Grant size: Varies on grant type
Founded: 2011
Location: San Francisco, USA
Website: www.kraken.com

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Kraken Developer Grants

At the moment, Kraken is looking to fund projects on the following protocols (though not limited to):

  •     Bitcoin (BTC)
  •     Ethereum (ETH)
  •     Lightning (LN)
  •     Monero (XMR)
  •     Other public cryptocurrencies 
  •     Rust

Requirements

Uniquely, Kraken does not demand requirements for projects applying for grants, other than to be of significant interest to Kraken. However, those who are awarded a grant are given the opportunity to give updates (quarterly) and discuss the project on Kraken’s social media and events.

Application Process

The application for an open-source project grant is done directly via email with the Kraken team. It is encouraged to include information about the project, team, or other important information.

Grants awarded by Kraken occur each quarter year. No further information is given on the Kraken website regarding the application process, therefore it can be assumed that the process itself is highly internal and only becomes clear once contact has been made with the Kraken team via email.

There is no obvious information about requirements for projects which apply, or what happens after an application is made.

Additional Information

Find more information from Kraken and the Kraken community on the Kraken Blog, where many topics are addressed, like engineering, ‘Kraken intelligence”, and security. Some previous grants that have been awarded went to:

  • Gitcoin – 150k USD – matched donations.
  • Brink – 150k USD – donation for Bitcoin development.
  • BTCPay Server – 150k USD – donation for Bitcoin payment processing.

Kraken is an exchange and not a network or application platform itself, which means that the scope of projects which are funded by awarding grants is generally limited to ideas that are local to the exchange or directly impact the exchange. That does not mean that the exchange will not award a grant to other types of projects, but the chances of being approved are higher if the idea of the project is directly tied to the exchange in some way. This is in contrast to grants offered by protocols or networks and their Foundations, which are often open to funding a much wider variety of ideas or projects.

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