Reminder: COLDCARD is not open source.

#cybersecgirl #coldcard #opensourse

Open source encourages competition, and furthers development.

Open source is a foundational principle of bitcoin and the #cypherpunk movement...FOR A REASON.

Years ago if you tried creating a wallet that was not open source, you would have been laughed out of the marketplace.

Some history:

#Trezor created the first hardware wallet and released their code as open source under the GNU General Public License (GPL).

The GPL allows others to use, modify, and distribute derivative works, as long as the license terms are maintained.

#CoinKite used a significant amount of Trezor's code as a base for ColdCard, which they also had to release under the GPL.

Similarly, #Foundation (a new competitor) built upon CoinKite's work for their own hardware wallet.

This is the power of open source - it drives innovation through sharing and building upon others' work.

However, CoinKite was apprently so unhappy about this competition that they changed their license from "open source" to "source-viewable."

They did this only after Foundation competed with ColdCard in the same way CoinKite competed with Trezor.

Open source matters.

I hope Coinkite reconsiders.