Author: Cathy

Produced by: Plain Language Blockchain

Two days ago, the Bitcoin ecosystem research and consulting team 1A1z published an in-depth report on the builders of Bitcoin Core.

The article, which appears to be just a regular developer interview and survey, reveals a layer of reality that is most easily overlooked in the crypto industry: there is a group of people who stay away from the center of traffic, do not talk about narratives or do marketing, and have been maintaining the most basic and critical infrastructure of this industry for a long time.

OKX's name is not prominently featured on the list of sponsors supporting Bitcoin Core. It is precisely because of this low profile that many people are realizing for the first time that there are still large platforms in the industry investing resources in "public research and development"—something that may not yield immediate returns but can determine the long-term direction of the industry.

After the article was published, OKX Star reposted and quoted a quote from within the team: "From the very beginning, we have been committed to contributing our modest efforts to the underlying development of Bitcoin. Over the past ten years, we have never hyped or promoted ourselves, because we firmly believe in the future of blockchain."

Similar expressions are not uncommon in the industry. But when this phrase is placed in the context of Bitcoin Core, its meaning is quite different—it's not a marketing slogan, but a value choice: whether or not one is willing to invest time, resources, and patience in places where no one is paying attention.

01. The people who pay salaries to the Bitcoin "operating system"

To understand the significance of this, we must first return to a core question: What exactly is Bitcoin Core?

Simply put, Bitcoin Core is the "operating system" of Bitcoin. It is the software that runs on full nodes, the rule enforcer and transaction verifier of the entire network, and the foundation for maintaining Bitcoin's security, network consistency, and censorship resistance.

The BTC price, block height, transaction confirmation, and network stability that we are familiar with—these metrics that are mentioned by countless people every day—all depend 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 the contributions of volunteers worldwide and the long-term support of external sponsors to sustain itself.

Some developers focus on network performance optimization, some research and verify rules and security, some are dedicated to privacy improvement and user experience optimization, and some do work that ordinary users will never see in their lifetime, but the entire ecosystem cannot do without them.

Because Bitcoin Core lacks a profit model and corporate backing, it requires external funding. A 1A1z report indicates that sponsors of Bitcoin Core include foundations, research institutions, infrastructure companies, and a few exchanges. This funding is primarily used for node performance optimization, security research, network synchronization, privacy enhancement, and code review.

It's fair to say that without this continued support, Bitcoin Core would have struggled to maintain stable growth over the past 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.

 Image: Bitcoin Core's main sponsoring organizations. Source: 1A1z

The criteria for being included in this core list are very clear: long-term, stable, and low-key.

This explains why, although exchanges like Coinbase, Kraken, and Gemini have had developer funding programs in the past, they are not listed as core sponsors—the report points out that these projects are currently either inactive, infrequent, or no longer focused on Bitcoin development. In contrast, OKX's funding program, which began in 2019, has continued to this day, making it the only exchange among the 13 core sponsors.

Take Marco Falke, for 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 job was to rigorously review every proposal in the codebase to prevent malicious or flawed code from entering the Bitcoin protocol. This was a crucial task for the global crypto economy, but it was unpaid.

Since 2019, OKX (and its predecessor Okcoin) has consistently provided funding to Falke, ensuring he can dedicate himself full-time to this work crucial to cybersecurity. In addition to Falke, OKX has also funded Bitcoin Core developer Amiti Uttarwar, Lightning Network developer Antoine Riard, and non-profit organizations such as Brink and Vinteum.

To date, OKX has provided nearly $2 million in funding to these projects. In fact, Okcoin had already established an open-source developer funding program before 2019.

It's worth noting that this investment was largely unpublicized for a long time. It wasn't until the recent 1A1z report that many people realized how many organizations and companies were quietly supporting the underlying infrastructure of Bitcoin.

In this industry, most companies are chasing trends and creating narratives. And these sponsors are choosing to pay for things that "someone has to do, but nobody is obligated to do."

02. Not just at the bottom, but also at the "last mile"

Support for underlying protocols is only one aspect. What's more easily overlooked are the infrastructure elements that may not seem so "high-end," but which determine whether users can actually use the service.

User-side barriers

Take OKX Wallet as an example; it has become the starting point for many people to enter Web3. Support for hundreds of chains, multiple account modes, self-hosting and MPC technology, fast ecosystem integration, and support for compliant chains may sound like "product details," but they are essentially "user-side infrastructure."

For an industry to move towards large-scale application, these details actually determine whether the last mile can be successfully completed.

Ordinary users don't care what consensus algorithm you use or how advanced your Layer 2 technology is. What they care about is: Is it easy to use? Will I lose my coins? Are the transaction fees expensive?

CeDeFi is designed to solve these problems by combining the advantages of centralized and decentralized exchanges. Users can access over 100 decentralized liquidity pools without leaving the platform, and the system automatically finds the best prices. More importantly, it eliminates the need for mnemonic phrases (using Passkey authentication) and cross-chain bridges (routing directly within the platform), solving the two biggest headaches for DeFi users: losing coins and being hacked.

These features may not seem sexy, but they are more important than the technology itself for mass adoption.

Long-termism in the developer ecosystem

In addition to the user side, OKX has been continuously promoting the development of the developer ecosystem, test network, cross-chain infrastructure, hackathons, research cooperation, and audit system in recent years.

These investments may be far removed from current trends, but they are more crucial for the healthy development of the industry.

Hackathons don't directly bring in users, test networks don't generate transaction volume, and auditing systems don't create buzz. But without these, the developer ecosystem won't thrive, security incidents will be frequent, and the foundation of trust in the entire industry will be eroded.

To some extent, the driving force behind the crypto industry is not just the trading volume on the leaderboards and the new narratives that rotate every week, but the people who write code, run nodes, test protocols, and fund the infrastructure.

03. The Value of Long-Termism

The phrase "ten years of hard work" sounds like marketing rhetoric in the crypto industry. But looking at the numbers, some things are indeed happening.

Let's look at the industry landscape in 2025:

The number of tokens surged from hundreds of thousands in 2021 to tens of millions (over 50 million) in 2025.
The issuance cycle has been shortened from two years to 3-6 months.
Less than 20% of a project's total cost is actually spent on technology; the rest is poured into listing fees, market makers, KOLs, and media promotion (ICODA DeFi Marketing Budget Guide).

In such an environment, the difficulty of choosing to invest resources in areas with "invisible returns," such as underlying protocols, developer ecosystems, and user infrastructure, lies in the fact that while there may be no immediate returns, these areas can determine survival in the long run.

This sustained investment will eventually translate into competitiveness:

Technological efficiency leads to cost advantages. When your system processes data quickly enough and costs little enough, you naturally have the space to offer users better prices. This isn't a price war; it's a technological advantage.

User experience determines large-scale adoption. No need to remember mnemonic phrases, no worries about cross-chain hacking, and the system automatically finding the best price—these features address real pain points. Good attention to detail keeps users engaged.

Infrastructure development determines future capacity. When the RWA market truly reaches $600 billion by 2030 (as predicted by Boston Consulting Group), the infrastructure capable of supporting the flow of these assets will become the scarcest resource. At that time, those who plan ahead will have the greatest first-mover advantage.

This is the value of long-termism: laying the foundation while others are chasing trends, and building a skyscraper by the time others realize what's happening.

04. Summary

Industry trends have cycles, but the development of Bitcoin has no cycles.

Market fluctuations are inevitable, but the underlying infrastructure needs to be built and maintained over a decade or two. This is perhaps the most difficult yet most important aspect of the industry.

In this sense, the reason why participants like OKX are worth paying attention to is not because of their publicity, but because they choose to do things that "the industry must do" but "no one is obligated to do".

Builders may not need applause, but they deserve to be seen.

Where the crypto industry will ultimately go depends largely on these unseen choices.

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