SoB '25: Feeling of being a Satoshi

Have you ever been fascinated by the elegant cryptographic machinery behind Bitcoin or wondered what it’s like to contribute to its ecosystem? That’s exactly where my journey began — with a keen interest in Bitcoin and cryptography, and an eagerness to understand the internals of decentralized systems beyond just reading whitepapers.

Summer of Bitcoin (SoB) is more than just an internship—it’s a global movement that empowers university students to dive deep into Bitcoin development, not just as coders, but as contributors to an open financial revolution. It’s where late-night Git commits meet purpose-driven problem solving, and where students from diverse backgrounds collaborate on real-world projects that actually matter. Unlike polished startup internships, SoB throws you into the gritty, decentralized world of open-source—with mentorship, community, and a shared belief in fixing money. It’s not about clocking in hours, it’s about becoming part of a mission that transcends borders, salaries, or short-term gains.

There are two tracks:

• Developer
• Design

You must choose one. I selected the Developer track.

The Application & Screening Process

Initially we all submitted our registration via the link given at the SoB website, while registering we were asked for 1 competetive programming profile link, since i had been doing CP for past 1 year or so i had a decent profile in leetcode as well as on codeforces. But i chose the leetcode one and submitted that .

After submitting the application (which was due by February 15, 2025), the selected students were invited to a 4-week long screening bootcamp. This wasn’t just about motivation — it was hands-on, challenging, and intense. Each week came with a new set of assignments centered around real-world Bitcoin tooling and protocols. We also received study material like:

• Grokking bitcoin
• Bitcoin Developer Guide

To qualify for the proposal round, completing all the boot-camp challenges was mandatory. This process alone gave me immense exposure to Bitcoin Core, scripting, and the broader transaction lifecycle.

Week 1 — Bitcoin Core RPC Playground
Week 2 — Crafting a P2SH-P2WSH 2-of-2 Multisig Transaction
Week 3 — Simulated Mining & Transaction Selection
Week 4 — Address Derivation & Balance Calculation

I solved all the above mentioned assignments in Python and Rust though i submitted in Python only, and made sure that i didn’t utilized any extra modules so that was able to learn everything in as much depth as i could .

The process is quite unique and different i have been a 2nd preference in GsoC also and have experience of other OSC as well but SoB was truly different in all the aspects . There was always support from the mentors throughout the weeks asking for whatever help we wanted .

So after passing all the assignments i was selected for the next-phase i.e. the organization selection and selecting preferred 3 from all the organizations listed .

The list varied with all exploring different stuff ranging from atomic-swaps,to lightning network,fuzzy-testing,decentralized mining pool development,wallet development,protocol-development etc .

Selecting 3 out of those was extremely tough since all of the organizations were doing super interesting stuff all having different outcomes but a same ideology of making bitcoin as efficient as possible .

So i went through all, reading documentation of almost all the organization understanding a lot of their codebases . Learning what the expect and how to implement those in practice. Exploring their community networks in Discord,IIRC,Telegram etc .

Fun Fact: Summer of Bitcoin is highly competitive. In 2025, ~5000 students applied, and ~70 were selected — that’s a 1.4% selection rate, making it more competitive than GSoC.

I selected these 3 - :

• BraidPool
• P2Pool/v2
• BDK

And of-course exploring the mother of all Bitcoin-core going through the PR’s understanding different BIPs, understanding the core codebase, that helped me crafting a decent proposal for my project . Since C++ is my first language i loved exploring every bit of it running tests understanding tests working with workflow how it optimizes the reduction in latency in P2P communication aspects of security such as Sybil attacks,block-withholding etc .

While exploring the project listings for Summer of Bitcoin, I came across a handful that aligned well with my tech stack. However, one stood out: the Committed Mempool of the organization Braidpool. The project’s architecture and vision resonated with my interests on a deeper level. Not only was the codebase written in Rust and Python—languages I am well-versed in—but it also hinted at future contributions in C++, particularly around Bitcoin Core compatibility, which further intrigued me.

To provide some context, Braidpool is a scalable peer-to-peer Bitcoin mining pool that also supports hashrate futures. It’s an ambitious rethinking of how mining pools operate—moving from centralized, opaque systems to open, decentralized, and transparent ones. I was drawn to Braidpool not just for its cutting-edge premise, but for its solid grounding in both networking protocols and Bitcoin internals. These are areas I am deeply passionate about.

What truly cemented my decision to focus on Braidpool was its strong technical foundation in Bitcoin Core integrations and the use of the Stratum protocol for communication between miners and pools. Having previously explored the intricacies of networking stacks, low-latency peer-to-peer communication, and Bitcoin protocol mechanics, I found this project to be the perfect intersection of my interests. Unlike other projects that merely touched on application layers, Braidpool challenged contributors to think from the protocol level up.

After joining Braidpool’s Discord, I was welcomed into a vibrant and intellectually curious community. Bob, the project maintainer and mentor, was incredibly helpful—walking me through the architecture, core components, and vision of the project. He introduced me to the internals of the mempool design, consensus logic, and how Braidpool leverages a BlockDAG model to improve upon traditional linear blockchain structures. This sparked a deeper curiosity, and I began studying several academic papers and design proposals related to DAG-based consensus.

Engaging with the community and actively discussing the design principles helped me connect theory to practice. I started contributing by tackling a few starter issues and gradually progressed toward working on the

It was this convergence of technologies—Rust systems programming, decentralized networking, Bitcoin consensus design, and protocol-level mining logic—that ultimately convinced me to write a full proposal for Braidpool under Summer of Bitcoin. Among all the opportunities, this project stood out as the one where I could truly make a meaningful contribution while also pushing my own boundaries as a systems and Bitcoin developer.

My Proposal Link