biohazel on Nostr: 2024 is the most challenging year of my professional life. I am a passionate advocate ...
2024 is the most challenging year of my professional life. I am a passionate advocate and promoter of the Bitcoin FOSS development world. However, we are witnessing a bad-faith co-option of the open-source ethos. For those who are investing, there is a belief that we have to listen to the community, or to the voices of the majority, no matter what.
In the trenches of the Global South and in some international spaces for beginners, however, such communities, often led by men with an agenda to exclude women in various ways, are exploiting this mindset to synchronize ostracism motions against perfectly capable individuals, especially if they are women. The idea is to keep their groups tight and unscalable, guaranteeing a first-mover advantage for as long as possible.
In Brazil, we have a large, organized hate group that has, over the years, recruited developers interested in Bitcoin technology. They've reached a level of organization that is beyond what the average bystander or a foreign individual or institution might suspect.
Their impact is not mild. Although they are able to deliver in technical circles, they do so at the expense of exploiting an entire local population. Most beginners who try to approach them perceive Bitcoin as a hostile field, which is why we are taking so long to gain the traction we should be gaining in Brazil.
On the other hand, they are lovely and perfect when they have a higher interest, such as in the elite development circles. The exploitation is of those below them and is beyond suspect. As a result, the community is growing in a single direction, benefiting the protection and rise of people who align with the group's ideologies and supremacist agendas.
It is easy to verify for yourselves. There is only one group monopolizing Bitcoin development in Brazil. If you search, you'll find them. They have a few women who agree with their agenda and work along with them, bringing out the illusion of inclusion to the rest of the world.
I've been working tirelessly to document and prove what is happening, making a case that it is bad for Bitcoin and could ultimately lead to its ruin. I am risking my life and legal health, grabbing the bull by the horns, all on behalf of women and people who actually need Bitcoin throughout the world.
When I enter FOSS servers, I can identify: bad actor, bad actor, bad actor. All from my real-life experiences participating in their communities. They have a loathsome agenda against women and anyone who doesn't join their bullying practices—their echo chambers of anti-woke and anti-feminist rhetoric. It is a very toxic culture. Given their level of organization, they operate in their best behavior in public servers. But I am aware of the covert power they wield to undermine communities in the long run.
As the first and only person with the courage to fight against this, I feel helpless and forsaken. I believe that the sponsors of Bitcoin FOSS development need code. They need Bitcoin developed, period. They need headcounts of users no matter the underlying strategies. They don't seem to have the bandwidth to fully support me and join me in this fight because that would mean finding themselves in a difficult position with some of the best developers we have.
This is a sad and cognitively dissonant fate for Bitcoin at the moment. Sometimes I lie in the depths of despair, thinking that I won't be able to fix it in time. Sometimes I find myself subpoenaed to testify in court over Bitcoin's social and technical failures. Yet my urge to save Satoshi is larger than myself, and that inspires me to keep doing the hardest jobs.
In the trenches of the Global South and in some international spaces for beginners, however, such communities, often led by men with an agenda to exclude women in various ways, are exploiting this mindset to synchronize ostracism motions against perfectly capable individuals, especially if they are women. The idea is to keep their groups tight and unscalable, guaranteeing a first-mover advantage for as long as possible.
In Brazil, we have a large, organized hate group that has, over the years, recruited developers interested in Bitcoin technology. They've reached a level of organization that is beyond what the average bystander or a foreign individual or institution might suspect.
Their impact is not mild. Although they are able to deliver in technical circles, they do so at the expense of exploiting an entire local population. Most beginners who try to approach them perceive Bitcoin as a hostile field, which is why we are taking so long to gain the traction we should be gaining in Brazil.
On the other hand, they are lovely and perfect when they have a higher interest, such as in the elite development circles. The exploitation is of those below them and is beyond suspect. As a result, the community is growing in a single direction, benefiting the protection and rise of people who align with the group's ideologies and supremacist agendas.
It is easy to verify for yourselves. There is only one group monopolizing Bitcoin development in Brazil. If you search, you'll find them. They have a few women who agree with their agenda and work along with them, bringing out the illusion of inclusion to the rest of the world.
I've been working tirelessly to document and prove what is happening, making a case that it is bad for Bitcoin and could ultimately lead to its ruin. I am risking my life and legal health, grabbing the bull by the horns, all on behalf of women and people who actually need Bitcoin throughout the world.
When I enter FOSS servers, I can identify: bad actor, bad actor, bad actor. All from my real-life experiences participating in their communities. They have a loathsome agenda against women and anyone who doesn't join their bullying practices—their echo chambers of anti-woke and anti-feminist rhetoric. It is a very toxic culture. Given their level of organization, they operate in their best behavior in public servers. But I am aware of the covert power they wield to undermine communities in the long run.
As the first and only person with the courage to fight against this, I feel helpless and forsaken. I believe that the sponsors of Bitcoin FOSS development need code. They need Bitcoin developed, period. They need headcounts of users no matter the underlying strategies. They don't seem to have the bandwidth to fully support me and join me in this fight because that would mean finding themselves in a difficult position with some of the best developers we have.
This is a sad and cognitively dissonant fate for Bitcoin at the moment. Sometimes I lie in the depths of despair, thinking that I won't be able to fix it in time. Sometimes I find myself subpoenaed to testify in court over Bitcoin's social and technical failures. Yet my urge to save Satoshi is larger than myself, and that inspires me to keep doing the hardest jobs.