Jonas Schnelli one of the Bitcoin Core maintainers, has resigned, motivated by interest changes and legal risk. The developer has contributed to the maintenance of the Bitcoin Core code since 2013.
Jonas Schnelli, one of the four Bitcoin core code maintainers, resigned from his position this Thursday, October 21. It was communicated through a thread on his account on the social network Twitter.
«Dear Bitcoiners I decided to step down as Bitcoin Core maintainer and contributor. The last years where amazing and I coded, discussed and learned so much! I started contributing in 2013 and went full time in 2015. What a ride! But now, it’s time for me to move on. ”
Tell the developer in a series of tweets.
Schnelli was part of the oldest Bitcoin Core developer group. As confirmed by himself, he began to contribute to Bitcoin in 2013 frequently. As of November 13, 2015, he assumed the task of the maintainer of the graphical user interface (GUI), a job he has carried out to this day.
Among the causes of his resignation, Jonas pointed out, in addition to a change in interests, the increase in legal risks for developers that, in his opinion, increase year after year, which can become very stressful.
The developer could be referring to legal pressure, such as that exerted by Craig Wright, which forced the removal of the Bitcoin whitepaper from the Bitcoin Core code repository. “New collaborators must join anonymously (it’s complicated),” says Schnelli in one of his tweets.
The developer noted that his departure should not be of general concern in the bitcoin community. The project remains in the hands of “many experienced and highly qualified developers” who recently joined. He also clarified that, for the moment, he would not be incorporated into any other project. I’ll give myself a few months to find my next adventure.
He also thanked the support of his sponsor, the Marathon Group mining pool.
The company had awarded Jonas Schnelli a grant for USD 96 thousand on January 28 to finance his contributions to the Bitcoin code.
