A couple of days ago, Bitcoin ecosystem research and consulting team 1A1z published an in-depth report on Bitcoin Core contributors.
While the article might seem like a typical developer interview, it reveals one of the most overlooked realities in the crypto industry: there is a group of people, far from the spotlight, who avoid hype and marketing, and instead focus on long-term maintenance of the industry's most fundamental and critical infrastructure.
On the list of sponsors supporting Bitcoin Core, OKX's name isn't in a prominent position. It's precisely because of this low profile that many are realizing for the first time: within this industry, there are still major platforms allocating resources to "public R&D"—efforts that offer little short-term return but ultimately shape the industry's long-term direction.
After the article was published, OKX Star reposted it and quoted an internal team statement: "From the earliest days, we have insisted on contributing our modest strength to Bitcoin's underlying development. For over a decade, we have never hyped it, never promoted it, because we firmly believe in the future of blockchain."
Similar sentiments aren't rare in the industry. But when placed in the context of Bitcoin Core, its meaning shifts—this isn't a marketing slogan, but a value choice: the willingness to invest time, resources, and patience in areas that receive little attention.
01. Those Paying the Salaries for Bitcoin's "Operating System"
To understand the significance of this, we must first answer a core question: What exactly is Bitcoin Core?
Simply put, Bitcoin Core is Bitcoin's "operating system." It's the software run by full nodes, the rule enforcer for the entire network, the transaction validator, and the foundation maintaining Bitcoin's security, network consensus, and censorship resistance.
The BTC price, block height, transaction confirmations, and network stability we are familiar with—all these metrics mentioned daily by countless people—rely entirely on the correct operation of the Bitcoin Core codebase.
More importantly, Bitcoin Core has never been a commercial project since its inception. It has no CEO, no KPIs, no profit model, and no "return on investment cycle." It relies on contributions from global contributors and long-term support from external sponsors.
Some developers focus on network performance optimization, some research validation rules and security, some work on privacy improvements and user experience, and others do work that ordinary users will never see, but which the entire ecosystem depends on.
Precisely because Bitcoin Core has no profit model and no corporate backing, it needs external financial support. The 1A1z report shows that sponsors supporting Bitcoin Core include foundations, research institutions, infrastructure companies, and a few exchanges. These funds are primarily used for node performance optimization, security research, network synchronization, privacy enhancements, code review, and other areas.
It's fair to say that without this sustained support, Bitcoin Core would struggle to maintain stable development over more than a decade.
The report identified 13 major sponsoring organizations: Blockstream, Chaincode Labs, MIT, Spiral (formerly Square Crypto), OKX, Human Rights Foundation, Brink, Btrust, OpenSats, Vinteum, Maelstrom, B4OS, and 2140.
Figure: Major Bitcoin Core Sponsoring Organizations, Source: 1A1z
The criteria for making this core list are clear: long-term, stable, low-key.
This is also why, although exchanges like Coinbase, Kraken, and Gemini have historically had developer grant programs, they were not listed as core sponsors—the report notes these programs are currently either inactive, infrequent, or no longer focused on Bitcoin development. In contrast, OKX's grant program, started in 2019, has continued to this day, making it the only exchange among the 13 core sponsors.
Take Marco Falke as an example. He was one of only six core maintainers globally with the authority to approve or reject changes to Bitcoin's underlying code (he resigned in February 2023). His work involves rigorous review of every proposal for the codebase to prevent malicious or flawed code from entering the Bitcoin protocol. This is a job crucial to the global crypto economy, yet it was unpaid.
Starting in 2019, OKX (and its predecessor Okcoin) provided continuous grants to Falke, ensuring he could work full-time on this security-critical task. Beyond Falke, OKX has funded Bitcoin Core developer Amiti Uttarwar, Lightning Network developer Antoine Riard, as well as non-profit organizations like Brink and Vinteum.
To date, OKX's funding for these projects has approached $2 million. In fact, even before 2019, Okcoin had already established an open-source developer grant program.
Notably, this kind of resources went largely unpublicized for a long time. It wasn't until the recent 1A1z report was published that many people realized so many organizations and companies were quietly supporting Bitcoin's foundational development.
In an industry where most companies chase trends and create narratives, these sponsors choose to pay for the things that "must be done, but no one is obligated to do."
02. Beyond the Base Layer, the "Last Mile"
Support for the underlying protocol is just one aspect. Even more easily overlooked is the infrastructure that might seem less "glamorous" but determines whether users can actually use the technology.
User-Side Barriers
Take OKX Wallet as an example. It has become the starting point for many entering Web3. Supporting hundreds of chains, multiple account models, self-custody and MPC technology, ecosystem integration speed, compliant chain support—these sound more like "product details," but they are essentially "user-side infrastructure."
For an industry aiming for mass adoption, these details determine whether the last mile can be successfully crossed.
Ordinary users won't care about your consensus algorithm or how advanced your Layer 2 technology is; they care about: Is it simple to use? Will I lose my coins? Are the fees high?
The design of CeDeFi is meant to solve these problems—combining the advantages of centralized and decentralized exchanges. Users can access over 100 decentralized liquidity pools without leaving the platform, with the system automatically finding the best price. More crucially, they don't need to remember seed phrases (using Passkey authentication) or deal with cross-chain bridges (routed directly within the platform), solving the two biggest headaches for DeFi users: losing coins and getting hacked.
These features might not seem sexy, but for mass adoption, they are more important than the technology itself.
Long-Termism in Developer Ecosystems
Beyond the user side, OKX has also been continuously promoting developer ecosystems, testnets, cross-chain infrastructure, hackathons, research collaborations, audit systems, and other foundational work over the years.
These investments might be far from the hype, but they are more critical for the healthy development of the industry.
Hackathons don't directly bring users, testnets don't generate trading volume, and audit systems don't create buzz. But without these, developer ecosystems won't flourish, security incidents will be frequent, and the entire industry's foundation of trust will be eroded.
In a way, the force driving the crypto industry isn't just the trading volumes on leaderboards or the weekly rotation of new narratives, but those who write code, run nodes, test protocols, and fund infrastructure.
03. The Value of Long-Termism
The phrase "a decade of cultivation" might sound like marketing speak in the crypto industry. But look at the numbers, and something is indeed happening.
Consider the state of the industry in 2025:
- The number of tokens exploded from hundreds of thousands in 2021 to tens of millions in 2025 (over 50 million)
- The token issuance cycle compressed from two years to 3-6 months
- A project spending less than 20% of its total budget on technology, with the rest poured into listing fees, market makers, KOLs, and media promotion (ICODA DeFi Marketing Budget Guide)
In such an environment, choosing to invest resources in underlying protocols, developer ecosystems, and user infrastructure—areas with "invisible returns"—is difficult because: the short-term payoff isn't visible, but it determines long-term survival.
This sustained investment ultimately translates into competitiveness:
Technical efficiency brings cost advantages. When your system processes fast enough and costs little enough, you naturally have room to offer users better prices. This isn't a price war; it's a technology dividend.
User experience determines mass adoption. Not needing to remember seed phrases, not worrying about cross-chain hacks, the system automatically finding you the best price—these features solve real pain points. Get the details right, and users are willing to stay.
Infrastructure development determines future capacity. When the RWA market truly reaches a scale of $600 billion by 2030 (Boston Consulting Group prediction), the infrastructure capable of handling the flow of these assets will become the scarcest resource. Then, those who laid the groundwork early will have the greatest first-mover advantage.
This is the value of long-termism: laying the foundation while others chase trends, building the skyscraper by the time others wake up.
04. Summary
Industry hype has cycles, but Bitcoin's development does not.
Market noise may rise and fall, but foundational infrastructure needs to be built and maintained over decades. This is perhaps the hardest, yet most important, aspect of the industry.
In this sense, participants like OKX are noteworthy not because of promotion, but because they choose to do things that "the industry must have done" but "no one is obligated to do."
Builders might not need applause, but they deserve to be seen.
And where the crypto industry ultimately goes depends largely on these invisible choices.
