Media claims that there are only four core maintainers of Bitcoin left, holding the fate of Bitcoin in their hands. What is the truth?

In mid-February, a report from the Wall Street Journal titled "Bitcoin’s Future Depends on a Handful of Mysterious Coders" sparked discussions. Such reports may lead the public to perceive cryptocurrencies as always being manipulated and centralized, which is not conducive to the development and promotion of the crypto space. Are there blockchain media outlets that simply copy reports from the Wall Street Journal?

The Few Mysterious Engineers of Bitcoin

At the time of this report, there were a total of 6 core developers, but Wladimir van der Laan, who became the lead maintainer in 2014, announced his departure citing fatigue and health issues. In the past 18 months, 4 Bitcoin core maintainers have resigned citing fatigue and legal risks.

Shortly after Wladimir van der Laan's resignation, another core maintainer, MarcoFalke, also stated that he would step down from his maintainer role, causing concerns about the future development ecosystem of Bitcoin.

What Do Core Maintainers Do?

Bitcoin ecosystem developer and Casa CTO Jameson Lopp explained this in a lengthy article "Who Controls Bitcoin Core?" back in 2018, where he predicted:

The issue of who can deploy code to the codebase of Bitcoin has been a recurring topic for years, often likened to the control center of Bitcoin, which can be confusing to outsiders. Core maintainers act more like guards, and if anyone can merge code, it will quickly turn into a scene with too many chefs in the kitchen. Core developers follow the principle of least privilege, and granting anyone rights, if abused, could lead to a disaster.

Furthermore, as Bitcoin Core is client software, newly deployed code is not forced onto nodes, and clients are set not to auto-update because node operators and users must choose which version to run.

Therefore, the headline of The Wall Street Journal is essentially flawed. If core maintainers insist on deploying a version that is contrary to the community's opinion, the community can lead a hard fork, as various versions of Bitcoin nodes can be seen in the image below.

Over a Hundred Developers Contributing Code

Jameson Lopp also pointed out that even the developers who contribute the most code actually write a lot of code that is not adopted or merged.

Although over the years, only core developers have had the final authority to submit code, there have been hundreds of developers who have contributed code. One of the conditions to become a core developer is to contribute high-quality code over the long term and accumulate enough social capital to be nominated as a maintainer.

CoinShares research head James Butterfill: also refuted The Wall Street Journal's report with a lengthy article:

Bitcoin maintainers have an open mechanism for all code submissions, where code contributors can submit code changes and tests. It is a collaborative effort involving developers and code contributors from around the world, not just a small group of maintainers.

According to the CoinShares bi-weekly report, as of December last year, there were around 475 independent developers in a month, submitting 134 code changes. James Butterfill estimates that there are about 300 active developers, which is already a very large developer environment.

Beneath the sensational headlines of traditional media, what may be more worth paying attention to is the source of Bitcoin development funding. Unlike Ethereum, which has the well-funded and strategically operated Ethereum Foundation behind it, Bitcoin funds mostly come from donations from payment companies like Block and other crypto institutions. However, in the bear market slump, donations from all sectors are also scarce.