Claiming to be exhausted and stressed, Wladimir van der Laan abandoned his position as Bitcoin maintainer after eight years. The developer was the second successor to Satoshi Nakamoto, with Gavin Andresen being between the two. So far, no new name has been mentioned to assume the role. Van der Laan’s desire to abandon Bitcoin had already been reported by himself in January of this year, where he used similar words to Nakamoto’s when abandoning the project, citing a shift to “other interests”. In the same post, the developer cites that he was feeling like a “centralized bottleneck” for Bitcoin development, showing his willingness to see the protocol even more decentralized.
Wladimir van de Laan leaves Bitcoin
Taking over as Bitcoin maintainer in April 2014, when BTC was in the $400s after a big drop, Wladimir van de Laan was the longest-serving developer in that role, surpassing Gavin Andresen and Satoshi Nakamoto. It’s hard to credit all of his contributions, as van der Laan has been daily improving the protocol with updates, reviews, bug fixes, and more for the past eight years. Thus, the developer himself mentioned being exhausted and stressed with the role, leaving his position free for the next, without mentioning who will be his successor.
“It is not a thing! I’m kind of burnt out, it’s stressful and [estou] tired of the same discussions, the same problems. It’s been a long time! I’ve changed, the world has changed, and I feel like it’s time for something else.”
it isn’t one thing! i’m just kinda burnt out, it’s stressful, and tired of the same discussions, the same issues
it’s been a long time! i changed, the world changed, and i feel it’s time for something else — orionwl (@orionwl) August 9, 2022
replying to another tweetwhere another developer is accused of purposely introducing a bug, in 2016 van der Laan points out that this is one of the reasons why finding new contributors to the project is so difficult.
“This is one of the reasons why it is so difficult to find developers willing to contribute to Bitcoin Core, sometimes expectations are irrational and inhumane, there is no other industry where you get personally criticized for bugs ~a decade ago.”
Added to this, we can mention the low salaries of these developers when compared to professionals of the same level, after all, they depend on donations. Also, it is worth remembering that van der Laan was sued by Craig Wright, a man who claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto.
No successor in sight
Finally, Wladimir van der Laan does not mention who will be the successor who will take care of the Bitcoin code after his departure. This could be a suggestion for the project to become even less dependent on a central person and for the bitcoincore.org website to be abandoned, seeking a more decentralized solution that cannot be taken down with a few clicks. Although it has no connection with the Tornado Cash case, where its developer was arrested and the project massacred, van der Laan’s departure comes at a unique moment in history, where the community fights against censorship and in defense of freedom. Meanwhile, a Brazilian project called Vinteum, started this month, is looking to help Bitcoin developers in Latin America. Therefore, we can expect Bitcoin to continue to evolve, without losing its essence.
