Open Source · Bitcoin · Bitcoin Magazine
Open Source vs. Source-Available: What the Coldcard Failure Teaches About Bitcoin Software Incentives
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◌ Single Source
Closed versus Open Source code has divided the Bitcoin and broader crypto industry for well over a decade.
Key facts
- Yet the recent Coldcard hack, a popular self-custody hardware wallet where users lost over $100 million worth of bitcoin (more than 1,500 BTC), cast doubt over what “Open Source” means
- Compare that to the 512 stars worn by the trezor-crypto library alongside 212 forks, or the 793 forks and 1.8k stars of the more modern trezor-firmware
- Granting the full set of rights defined by the Free Software Definition or the Open Source Definition is what makes software FOSS or FLOSS
- The Commons Clause’s own FAQ states the difference explicitly: “Is this ‘Open Source
Summary
Yet the recent Coldcard hack, a popular self-custody hardware wallet where users lost over $100 million worth of bitcoin (more than 1,500 BTC), cast doubt over what “Open Source” means. The Free Software Foundation (FSF) defines free software through four essential freedoms:. Freedom 0: The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose. Freedom 1: The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish (access to the source code is a precondition for this).