The Interlay project has been chosen to receive a Web3 Foundation grant that will allow it to keep working on Polkadot. The funds will be used to make a parachain that will connect to the Bitcoin technology. In a March 5 press release, it was announced that Interlay is one of the first-quarter grants for 2020.

The grants program funds projects that aim to improve specific parts of Polkadot. Each grant has a maximum of $100,000. The funds are tied to the creation of specific proposals and implementing them. The foundation will not say exactly how much money each recipient gets.

The funds are mostly for software developers. They will build infrastructure for Polkadot. The goal is to integrate more with other projects, tools, wallets and UIs. The foundation also plans to fund more research for security and protocols. Education may also receive some funding.

According to Interlay itself, it is a project for decentralized finances. The basis is a framework with interoperable features. Called Xclaim, its purpose is to create assets that have a one-to-one backing on different chains. It has been working on it since 2018.

Xclaim uses an intermediary with collateral when it facilitates the funds transfers from one chain to another. Its platform also allows participants to be their own intermediary. Its developers claim that it is 95 percent faster and 65 percent cheaper than the current atomic swaps that are based on hash time locked contracts.

The Polkadot project's leader is Parity Technologies. It was founded by Gavin Wood. He founded Ethereum. Parity Technologies aims to exist as a shared and interoperable blockchain firm that directly competes with Ethereum. Polkadot has been in the news lately for its integrations of players that are oriented toward Ethereum. As recently as February 25, Polkadot announced that it would be integrating with Chainlink in order to provide oracles that enable DeFi.

There was also a collaboration between Polkadot and CEler Network in mid-February. It looks like the Interlay grant could allow the Polkadot project to compete at the level of Bitcoin. There are rumors it might partner there.