SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Feb 12, 2014) - Developers of the Master Protocol and large holders of Mastercoin (www.mastercoin.org), a metadata layer on the Bitcoin blockchain, today announced an open call for Master Protocol-based projects and funds totaling $30 million to support their development. Developers and entrepreneurs wanting to apply can find details at: www.mscdevs.com.

Approximately 150,000 Mastercoins (MSC) will be put back into the Master Protocol ecosystem for projects building on top of the MSC platform.

"We believe that this kind of reinvestment into the Mastercoin ecosystem is proof-positive of the commitment digital-currency supporters have in the future," said Brock Pierce, Mastercoin Foundation board member.

The Master Protocol enables the creation of a peer-to-peer exchange where traders can buy, sell and trade bitcoins for Mastercoins plus other digital tokens, as well as conduct other smart property transactions. The foundation supports the open-source development of applications that support the Master Protocol and does not have an operational role in peer-to-peer exchange.

According to the website launched for the effort, titled, "Develop Projects On Top of The Master Protocol," some requirements of the projects include:

Must operate on top of the Master Protocol standard

Must store its data and records in the Bitcoin decentralized blockchain

Must use one of the features of the Master Protocol for its operations

Must add to the infrastructure of the Master Protocol platform

About Master Protocol - The Bitcoin Metadata Layer

Master Protocol is a crowdfunded, Bitcoin blockchain metadata layer that allows for a plethora of new digital currencies and property sales to be created through the Bitcoin blockchain. The Master Protocol removes the typical broker middleman from trading by levering Bitcoin's decentralized, trustless transaction accounting and restoring peer-to-peer exchange as the keystone element of a trade. The principles and features of Master Protocol are detailed in its complete specification. To learn more about Master Protocol, please visit www.github.com/mastercoin-MSC/spec

About the Mastercoin Foundation

The Mastercoin Foundation is a non-profit organization whose mission is to enable and accelerate innovation worldwide by building a technological crowd-sourcing platform for community projects, coupled with a rich financial-exchange system and metadata layer. Members use the Master Protocol Open Source Project and precedents as benchmarks for their metadata embedding standards. For more information, please visit http://www.mastercoinfoundation.org.

Additional Quotes from MSC Holders

David Johnston, Managing Partner, BitAngels DApps Fund I: "It's important for the holders of a digital coin to reinvest in the ecosystem and build up the infrastructure that makes it valuable to users."

Jeremy Kandah, Managing Partner, BitAngels DApps Fund I: "Decentralized applications are going to disrupt the world. Technology will never be built the same. We're on the ground floor of changing the world."

J.R. Willett, Mastercoin Protocol Architect and Board Member: "I'm delighted to see so many start-ups building on top of Mastercoin, and I'm looking forward to being a big part of funding their success."

Brock Pierce, Mastercoin Foundation Board Member: "Experienced investors involved in the Master Protocol have a moral obligation to personally encourage the development of applications on top of the platform."

Ron Gross, Executive Director, Mastercoin Foundation: "The strength of a protocol lies in its ecosystem and usage. I am happy to help bolster the ecosystem surrounding the Master Protocol and encourage others to build around it."

Sam Yilmaz, Executive Director, BitAngels.co; Mastercoin Foundation Board Member: "I'm really enthused about giving my support to the distributed applications, by reinvesting MSC. DApps offer open participation and fair compensation to developers, testers, and miners, and also allows for the monetization of open source. I see this as an exciting expansion of Satoshi's original vision."