Bitcoin core developer Samuel Dobson decides “Time to go”

Programmer Samuel Dobson announced via a series of tweets Thursday night that he is retiring after 3 years as a Bitcoin Core supervisor. His apology was that he “could no longer find the time he needed because I was about to finish my doctorate.”

I am officially resigning as Chief Bitcoin Maintainer.

Working as a wallet maintenance technician for the past three years has been an absolute privilege for me, and I would like to thank my incredibly generous sponsor John Pfeffer (@jlppfeffer) for his continued support. / First

– Samuel Dobson (@meshcollider) December 9, 2021

As a Bitcoin Core wallet maintainer, Dobson has direct access to the cryptocurrency code on GitHub with the authority to approve changes and make improvements to the Bitcoin software. He is also responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of the protocol.

When asked if there was a way to someday return to developing the BTC core, Dobson told Cointelegraph that his PhD is currently his main focus. And although he has not yet decided what to do after graduation, he is not interested in the development of other cryptocurrencies.

Dobson said he is especially grateful for the support of “extremely generous donor” John Pfeffer, without whose support he would not have been able to prioritize part-time work in Bitcoin.

He urged the Twitter community to consider funding a developer due to the nature of open source projects. He also told Cointelegraph:

“Bitcoin Core development has clearly grown exponentially since its origins in Satoshi. As an open source project, it will always be in an interesting and difficult funding position, but things like Brink, Chaincode, Spiral, and direct developer funding through GitHub have helped a lot. ”

Bitcoin has lost two supervisors since October, and with Dobson’s departure, the number of developers with direct access to bitcoin code has dropped to five, according to an updated list on the Bitcoin forums.