Chaincode Labs today announced Ishaana Misra, a 17-year-old senior at Stuyvesant High School in New York City, as the recipient of its inaugural Bitcoin Scholarship. Through this initiative, Chaincode Labs aims to support the next generation of developers contributing to the infrastructure of the Bitcoin network.

Misra holds the distinction of being the youngest contributor to Bitcoin Core in the technology’s 15 year history and was selected from 232 global applicants for the scholarship.

The Bitcoin Scholarship was announced in April at the MIT Bitcoin Expo and covers full academic expenses for one year for students who contribute to Bitcoin open source developments over the summer. Misra can apply to renew the scholarship annually and potentially fund her entire undergraduate education.

"This scholarship exists to encourage young people to consider a career in Bitcoin open source development," said Adam Jonas, CEO of Chaincode Labs. "In order to do that, they need experience. This scholarship seemed like the right kind of incentive where we are helping them continue their education and they spend their summers contributing to Bitcoin open source software."

Misra has been programming since she was 12 years old, but her journey with Bitcoin began before her freshman year of high school when she first read the Bitcoin whitepaper. She quickly progressed from running her own Bitcoin node to becoming an active contributor to Bitcoin Core, teaching herself the C++ programming language in the process. She has since completed internships at both Chaincode Labs and MIT's Digital Currency Initiative, where she conducted research on wallet privacy and coin join technology.

"I'm usually the youngest at Bitcoin developer meetups, but I don't think about it that much anymore," said Misra. "It's an aspect of Bitcoin that is really unique. It doesn't matter how old you are or where you're from. Your work really speaks for itself. If you're interested in it, people will naturally take you seriously."

ABOUT CHAINCODE

Chaincode Labs is a privately funded Bitcoin research and development center based in New York City. Founded in 2014, Chaincode Labs exists to support the development of the Bitcoin network by providing resources to independent innovators in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Learn more at https://chaincode.com/

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