PANews reported on January 17 that Merit Systems, headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, announced the completion of a $10 million seed round of financing, led by Andreessen Horowitz's crypto fund and Blockchain Capital. Merit is committed to solving the long-standing "attribution problem" by establishing a protocol that provides fair attribution and reward mechanisms for open source developers, allowing users to pay software creators directly.

Merit was co-founded by Sam Ragsdale, Ryan Sproule and Mason Hall, and is currently valued at $55.5 million. It is expected to launch a wider product version at the end of February. The company is located in the Domino Sugar Factory office building in Brooklyn and plans to add seven employees in the next few months to create a team culture based on on-site collaboration.