Neovim have a ~$800k Bitcoin donation sitting untouched since 2023
304 points - yesterday at 10:44 AM
I was looking at neovim's donation footer at the bottom of their site and saw a bitcoin donation address.
Thought I'd check how much in donations they've gotten. And I saw this massive 10 Bitcoin donation from back in 2023 (worth $800,000 now...)
From the activity history, neovim last sent bitcoin out of the address in 2019 so it's been max 7 years since they've definitely had access.
Does anyone from the neovim project know about this?
Seems like a pretty significant amount of funding to have sitting there. Hope it can come to good use as I use neovim daily.
For a reference point, when I was unemployed and between jobs, I got involved with Neovim for fun, and after some contributions, I eventually tried some full(ish)-time paid work. I wrote the native lua LSP client (:h vim.lsp, and the nvim-lspconfig repo) for Neovim in a few weeks for about $3k USD (circa 2019)? This amount could fund quite a lot of work to be sure.
mateszyesterday at 12:30 PM
I’ve read so many news stories of people gone missing who had been know to have sole access to bitcoin wallets with large amount of bitcoins in them.
I wonder how people at large crypto exchanges handle that. Perhaps shamir share the access to the pkey password and store parts at secure places like a bank? And make official access protocol akin to dnssec, but simplified?
seymonyesterday at 11:24 AM
I hope they still have the private key.
wavemodeyesterday at 2:38 PM
well, I just emailed the project just to see if they're aware of it
part of me feels like this is most likely a defunct wallet and nobody involved with the project has the keys anymore
tostiyesterday at 2:40 PM
At least a part of it should go to Kibaale Children's Centre imho.
cranberryjoeyesterday at 1:39 PM
Rainy day fund. Everybody needs one. Love neovim for living under their means, great program!
DataDiveyesterday at 1:35 PM
What happens if some of those tax the unrealized gains bills pass in some country where they have obligations?
They would have to either pay the tax on gains or write off losses.
zicohacksyesterday at 12:07 PM
I checked their official donation channel is OpenCollective. I think the Bitcoin address is no longer being used and they just forgot to update the footer
captainsinclairtoday at 2:00 AM
I love vim and neovim. Thank you
wyclifyesterday at 11:24 AM
The project no longer uses that Bitcoin wallet for bounties.
deletedyesterday at 12:11 PM
Razenganyesterday at 12:03 PM
This could become the premise of a near-cyberpunk heist movie..
Similar to Swordfish? :)
doreenjentzsch9today at 8:30 AM
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plucyesterday at 11:21 AM
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colesantiagoyesterday at 11:32 AM
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loopydosuetteyesterday at 11:39 AM
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JimBlackwoodyesterday at 11:17 AM
I imagine they might wait, to make sure it’s legally obtained Bitcoin.