so strange....they could just support development....what is the angle on "owning it"
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The project would not have been sold, if the owners did not want it to be sold. This likely gave them the exit they were looking (and working so hard) for.
Having a commercial company backing an open source project (through ownership) gives it credibility and a better chance of longevity.
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Well done Swan!
Great reward for the founders and folk of Specter who have put so much into the community.
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open source software doesent get anywhere on its own. Having a company that can "advertise" / integrate / make it mainstream, can be a good thing. But im honestly just trying to be contrarian :)
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My guess is they want to do a complete custody suite with selling you bitcoin, software for managing it, and firmware for storing it in a hardware device, and the hardware device based on the DIY. It's just easier than them starting from scratch. Not quite sure why they didnt just fork the code and the specs. Maybe they wanted the team?
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For now funds at Swan are protected by same big trusts that manage coinbase and others. This firm ( forgot name) has 50/60 % share of CEX funds. So they encourage self custody but actually not practicing it. This is not pointed out enough.
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Prime Trust. Apex is another big player. Both handle the backend clearing for lots of exchanges. I think the regulatory burden is a major reason companies use these brokers, it can save a lot of time going to market.
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Yeah probably dual purpose: build a self-custody arm + aquihire a team to do it.
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Yeah, what's wrong with financing an open source Bitcoin software?
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Financing ≠ acquiring. Enjoy your stuff though Darthcoin.
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Yes, indeed financing is not acquiring. But read the Swan statement, why they did that.
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What's wrong?
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Shouldn't Specter give up their wallet and fork Sparrow instead?
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Give up the ghost... LOL
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This is actually awesome. The company that pays should be also directing the efforts towards practicality and usability.
The alternative would be to give a grant so the developers would waste it implementing nonsense toys that no one cares about, like 99% of Spiral grants, for example.
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Spiral is doing God's work IMO. While a lot the stuff seams like toys, it's just low-level, early, and exploratory work that wouldn't get done otherwise.
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Because it is not worth doing. Meanwhile they are crowding out more practical projects these grantees could be doing.
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