The reason the academics have appealed to the community for funds is because Monero is proudly an open-source and non-profit cryptocurrency ...
source https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2018/09/17/monero-crowdfund-research/&ct=ga&cd=CAIyGmM2Nzk3ODA2ZWViNjVjODI6Y29tOmVuOlVT&usg=AFQjCNERUXpIGO6LdOxT6kAOr2DRsvES-g
