Bitcoin Core lead developer Wladimir van der Laan has decided to take "even more" of a "background role" to further decentralize the project, according to a new Twitter post.
Wladimir van der Laan's decision to decentralize the Bitcoin Core
Bitcoin Core is the software behind the Bitcoin network. Although van der Laan's work is mostly of a “parenting” nature, making sure the project code runs smoothly, some in the community see him as something of a leader.
As van der Laan says, it has become a kind of "centralized bottleneck". His announcement comes after finding himself in the midst of a controversy on Thursday. Some Bitcoin users did not like his decision to withdraw the white paper from bitcoincore.org, following Craig Wright's legal threats.
But van der Laan argues that this decision is something he has been thinking about for some time and is not due to the latest events. “I'll start by delegating my tasks and decreasing my involvement.
I don't intend to stop contributing to Bitcoin, or even the project Bitcoin Core, but I would like to move away from the critical path and take (even more) a background role, ”he wrote. Van der Lan thinks this move will help decentralize the project for a digital currency that should therefore have no leader. “One thing is clear: this is a serious project now and we need to start taking decentralization seriously,” he wrote.
Opening the doors to new developers
His decision is part of a much larger effort to further decentralize the project. For example, 2020 saw a wave of Bitcoin companies handing out grants to developers working full-time on the underlying protocol.
The OKCoin exchange, for example, is funding Marco Falke, who is the most active maintainer behind van der Laan in terms of commits - code changes that have been successfully added to the project. The popular Coinbase exchange now also supports two developers, after receiving many requests to do so from the community.
Several other companies have joined them in providing grants over the past year. Bitcoin Core contributor John Newbery launched nonprofit Brink for mentoring and funding multiple developers, in an effort to engage even more contributors, particularly from diverse backgrounds.
In fact, van der Laan notes in his post that he is no longer the most active maintainer of Bitcoin Core, as many others have joined the project over the years. Additionally, he outlined other ideas for decentralizing the project.
For example, Bitcoincore.org is one of the leading websites where users can download new versions of the Bitcoin Core code. But it is privately owned and centralized. Van der Lan suggests changing it to an organization. He asked other developers to come forward to take his place as the leader of the weekly Bitcoin Core meeting, where the developers discuss the future.
