One of Bitcoin's Biggest Investments Might Finally Be Paying Off

Bitcoin appears to finally be making headway with one of its less-appreciated, but critical challenges: recruitment.

"Many educational and training efforts have lately helped to introduce new developers to Bitcoin Core and the bitcoin software ecosystem," Ferdinando Ametrano, a professor at Politecnico di Milano who has served as a program director at bitcoin developer conferences, told CoinDesk.

Ametrano is, of course, talking about efforts such as Chaincode Labs, which has a residency program in New York where prolific bitcoin developers like John Newberry have been giving their time to helping new recruits.

Others agree the current hegemony within the bitcoin developer community could set back the cryptocurrency eventually.

Not only did she learn the technical aspects of bitcoin that she needed to be able to build the app, but also plans on bringing what she knows about Afghanistan and the developing world to the Core development community.

Currently, fewer than two dozen developers work on bitcoin's software full-time out of roughly 40 regular contributors.

According to Gak, it shouldn't be all that difficult to attract more developers like herself, since experienced bitcoin developers have been so responsive.

Plus, many of bitcoin's developers work on the project on a volunteer basis, not always the most appealing idea.

Several sponsorships, including ones from the MIT Media Lab, are allowing bitcoin developers to turn their labor of love into a full-time gig.

Christopher Coverdale, a developer who recently contributed to Bitcoin Core for the first time, told CoinDesk he noticed it takes an unusually long time to get up to speed on the network's meticulous standards.