Bitcoin Privacy Boosted: Payjoin Receives $100,000 Grant
The Bitcoin privacy landscape just got a significant upgrade. Bitcoin developer Ben Allen, in collaboration with Dan Gould, has secured a substantial $100,000 grant from Maelstrom, a prominent investment firm, to further develop Payjoin. This innovative tool promises to enhance both Bitcoin’s scalability and privacy.
Announced in May 2025, this funding will propel Allen’s work on the Payjoin developer kit. Payjoin leverages batched transactions, a method that significantly benefits both the scalability and privacy of Bitcoin (BTC) transactions. Senders and receivers jointly contribute inputs, resulting in more efficient and anonymous transactions.
Originally proposed in 2019 by Nicolas Dorier as Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) 78, Payjoin’s core strength lies in its collaborative approach. Both parties contribute to the transaction’s inputs, thus increasing privacy and output consolidation, contributing to scalability improvements.
Maelstrom’s approach is unique. The $100,000 grant is paid monthly over a year in Bitcoin, with a hands-off management style, empowering Allen to focus on the most impactful developments. A Maelstrom representative highlighted their belief that “grantees may work better with freedom to work on what they wish, rather than being tightly controlled by those who provide the funding.”
Payjoin’s Impact: Beyond Just the Users
Allen’s focus is on making Payjoin integration easier for wallet developers, ensuring its widespread adoption. He aims to streamline the user experience, shifting the complexities away from the end-user and making Payjoin more accessible.
Arthur Hayes, BitMEX co-founder and Maelstrom’s Chief Investment Officer, emphasized the critical importance of this project, stating that “improving financial privacy in Bitcoin is extremely important.” He explained Payjoin’s impact: “The great thing about Payjoin is that if only a small amount of adoption is achieved, it breaks a key assumption used by financial surveillance companies. The assumption they have is that if a Bitcoin transaction has multiple inputs, all the inputs must all belong to the same entity.”
The success of Payjoin hinges on integration into popular open-source Bitcoin wallets. The ultimate goal? Integration into the Bitcoin Core wallet itself.
Maelstrom is actively searching for more privacy-focused projects to support, showcasing a strong commitment to enhancing Bitcoin’s privacy features.