CoinShares Contributes to MIT Digital Currency Initiative to Fund Independent Research and Open-Source Development

Europe's largest digital asset investment firm pledges four-year gift to secure Bitcoin protocol over the long-haul

SAINT HELIER, Jersey, Feb. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CoinShares, Europe's largest digital asset investment firm, today announced it has made a four-year, $500,000 (USD) donation to the Digital Currency Initiative (DCI) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Media Lab (read more here). The MIT DCI will use the funds to support open-source software development and advance the security of the Bitcoin protocol.

This contribution to the DCI will support a growing team of senior, specialized open-source developers focused on systemic threat mitigation and rigorous improvements to Bitcoin's underlying infrastructure, including code audits, increasing automation, and novel research into Bitcoin's long-term economic security. CoinShares joins a growing core of other industry leaders as part of a new DCI Guardian's Circle committed to long-term foundational funding of open-source development and systemic security improvements to the Bitcoin protocol.

CoinShares CEO, Jean-Marie Mognetti, stated, "As a beneficiary of the work of hundreds of developers who secure, upgrade, and maintain the open-source protocols that underlie the Bitcoin network and the applications built on top of it, we believe for-profit firms in the digital asset industry have an obligation to fund independent, neutral development efforts and research that advances the mutual interest of all ecosystem participants."

This donation follows several other contributions CoinShares has made since pioneering digital asset ETPs in 2015. CoinShares has sponsored a two-year research grant at London's Imperial College Centre for Cryptocurrency Research and Engineering, which resulted in the development of a new indexation methodology. CoinShares also employs a full-time market analysis team which has published research considered a bellwether for the industry, including the firm's widely cited mining report, weekly fund flows, and many others. In addition, CoinShares produces a regular series of events that educate and advocate for the digital asset class.

CoinShares Chairman, Danny Masters, added, "We are proud to support Bitcoin Core development and believe it is important for industry leaders to provide the financial, social, and political capital needed to allow institutions like MIT DCI and others to maintain their independence and pursue an agenda informed by their expertise and free of corporate influence."

About the CoinShares Group
CoinShares is Europe's largest digital asset manager, managing billions of assets on behalf of a global client base. Our mission is to expand access to the digital asset ecosystem by pioneering new financial products and services that provide investors with trust and transparency when accessing this new asset class.

For more information on CoinShares, visit: https://coinshares.com

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