<p>At the moment in my opinion, Gavin does indeed control Bitcoin Project to some extent. He is widely recognised as the main developer behind it and could probably push his authority on a lot of subjects if he so desired. However, I am under the impression that he would not perform such actions - they would undermine the credibility of Bitcoin and be bad for everyone.</p>

<p>He does appear to have a lot of influence over a lot of aspects of the Standard Client, the Protocol and overall behaviour exhibited by Bitcoin. He will most likely have the final say for example on the subject of block size limit. However, if he would change any more major aspect of Bitcoin that would undermine a lot of other people's work, say by changing the mining algorithm hard coded into the ASICs, it wouldn't be long before he would lose his position of authority and possibly create a hard fork.</p>

<p>So to sum up, at the moment Gavin is de facto the person who controls Bitcoin on its most basic level, and he will most likely hold that position of authority only as long as he remains a "benevolent tyrant" so to speak.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-08T12:26:38.913Z
I somewhat agree, but I would qualify your answer further and emphesize that there are something things that Gavin, or anyone else, just can't change. Even if somehow 99.9% of Bitcoin developers, users, and miners agree to it, **Bitcoin will never have more than 21,000,000 BTC**. There are a few other properties that will never change, or if they change it will create something new, but not Bitcoin.
ripper234
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-09T00:21:57.160Z
@ripper234 `Even if somehow 99.9% of Bitcoin developers, users, and miners agree to it` I disagree. If that were to happen, the word 'Bitcoin' would almost always refer to the new Bitcoin network. There might be some section of the internet that preferred to deal in 'old bitcoins', but they would be in the 0.1%. That being said, getting 99.9% of any group to agree on something isn't possible for groups larger than 3 people.
Nick ODell
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-09T08:08:36.067Z
@ripper234 It could be done, one would just need to create a hard fork. This, however, would undermine a huge part of the Bitcoin project.
ThePiachu
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-04-19T11:50:06.520Z
@NickODell "Getting 99.9% of any group to agree on something isn't possible for groups larger than 3 people." Which is exactly why the Bitcoin project will break up owing to disagreements over the 21M limit. History shows we like to create money out of thin air when we have that option. In Bitcoin, we have that option.
Manish
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-04-19T18:21:26.463Z
@Manish Since we already have one halving day behind us and no forks about the limit thus far, I think we are in the clear.
ThePiachu
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-04-19T19:42:34.287Z
@ThePiachu Let's see what happens when the price of a bitcoin is $10,000 and it's an important part of the economy (and not just for playing SatoshiDice). Also, see Nassim Taleb's Thanksgiving turkey.
Manish
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-04-19T22:46:59.327Z
@Manish We will see in 3 years and a bit then.
ThePiachu
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-12-29T19:06:23.840Z
History proved that to be wrong :)
Antoine Poinsot
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-12-30T00:04:39.997Z
Well, some devs have been ousted, some have forked, some people have had disagreements over which way Bitcoin development should go, and it seems Bitcoin is on the more conversative side of things. Turns out block limit is more divisive issue than total coin cap :D
ThePiachu
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-08T12:19:51.530Z
2013-03-08T16:50:03.083Z
2013-03-08T16:50:03.083Z
ThePiachu
<p>These might be a little stale, but:</p>

<p>Development process:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Development_process" rel="nofollow">http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Development_process</a></li>
</ul>

<p>Release process:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Release_process" rel="nofollow">http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Release_process</a></li>
</ul>

<p>But bitcoin is controlled by the economic majority (those who will buy the coins that are issued after the new software is released):</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Economic_majority" rel="nofollow">http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Economic_majority</a></li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-09T07:12:05.297Z
Answers should be a bit more than just links.
ripper234
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-11T10:14:35.623Z
Duplication means more places where stale or incorrect information is found.
Stephen Gornick
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-11T14:28:52.783Z
Yeah, all I'm saying is that it's best to provide a TL;DR in your answer instead of just linking.
ripper234
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-08T13:01:46.740Z
2013-03-11T10:17:18.457Z
2013-03-11T10:17:18.457Z
Stephen Gornick
<p>They control bitcoin in the same sense that Queen Elizabeth controls the United Kingdom.</p>

<p>In theory, she has the power to something highly destructive, eg. order the military to drop a nuclear weapon on France.</p>

<p>In practice, unless her decisions agree with democratic consensus, she will almost certainly be dethroned.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-28T10:08:49.167Z
2013-03-28T10:08:49.167Z
TimoY
<p>Is there one person or organization that controls Bitcoin?</p>

<p>What if Gavin Andresen, the lead developer, or Bitcoin Foundation, "the official bitcoin organization", decide to change something? What if they release a new version of the software that changes the coin limit, or enforce government regulation?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-08T12:07:38.070Z
I of course know the answer, I'm just looking for a canonical written answer so I can refer people who don't know the answer to this resource. Is there a FAQ entry? A good article that explains it?
ripper234
<bitcoin-core-development><consensus><governance><bitcoin-foundation>
Do "the official bitcoin developers" control Bitcoin?
ripper234
# Do "the official bitcoin developers" control Bitcoin?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-03-08)

Is there one person or organization that controls Bitcoin?

What if Gavin Andresen, the lead developer, or Bitcoin Foundation, "the official bitcoin organization", decide to change something? What if they release a new version of the software that changes the coin limit, or enforce government regulation?

**Tags:** bitcoin-core-development, consensus, governance, bitcoin-foundation

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I of course know the answer, I'm just looking for a canonical written answer so I can refer people who don't know the answer to this resource. Is there a FAQ entry? A good article that explains it?  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2013-03-08. Score: 9

At the moment in my opinion, Gavin does indeed control Bitcoin Project to some extent. He is widely recognised as the main developer behind it and could probably push his authority on a lot of subjects if he so desired. However, I am under the impression that he would not perform such actions - they would undermine the credibility of Bitcoin and be bad for everyone.

He does appear to have a lot of influence over a lot of aspects of the Standard Client, the Protocol and overall behaviour exhibited by Bitcoin. He will most likely have the final say for example on the subject of block size limit. However, if he would change any more major aspect of Bitcoin that would undermine a lot of other people's work, say by changing the mining algorithm hard coded into the ASICs, it wouldn't be long before he would lose his position of authority and possibly create a hard fork.

So to sum up, at the moment Gavin is de facto the person who controls Bitcoin on its most basic level, and he will most likely hold that position of authority only as long as he remains a "benevolent tyrant" so to speak.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I somewhat agree, but I would qualify your answer further and emphesize that there are something things that Gavin, or anyone else, just can't change. Even if somehow 99.9% of Bitcoin developers, users, and miners agree to it, **Bitcoin will never have more than 21,000,000 BTC**. There are a few other properties that will never change, or if they change it will create something new, but not Bitcoin.  
> **username_2**: @username_0 `Even if somehow 99.9% of Bitcoin developers, users, and miners agree to it` I disagree. If that were to happen, the word 'Bitcoin' would almost always refer to the new Bitcoin network. There might be some section of the internet that preferred to deal in 'old bitcoins', but they would be in the 0.1%. That being said, getting 99.9% of any group to agree on something isn't possible for groups larger than 3 people.  
> **username_1**: @username_0 It could be done, one would just need to create a hard fork. This, however, would undermine a huge part of the Bitcoin project.  
> **username_3**: @username_2 "Getting 99.9% of any group to agree on something isn't possible for groups larger than 3 people." Which is exactly why the Bitcoin project will break up owing to disagreements over the 21M limit. History shows we like to create money out of thin air when we have that option. In Bitcoin, we have that option.  
> **username_1**: @username_3 Since we already have one halving day behind us and no forks about the limit thus far, I think we are in the clear.  
> **username_3**: @username_1 Let's see what happens when the price of a bitcoin is $10,000 and it's an important part of the economy (and not just for playing SatoshiDice). Also, see Nassim Taleb's Thanksgiving turkey.  
> **username_1**: @username_3 We will see in 3 years and a bit then.  
> **username_4**: History proved that to be wrong :)  
> **username_1**: Well, some devs have been ousted, some have forked, some people have had disagreements over which way Bitcoin development should go, and it seems Bitcoin is on the more conversative side of things. Turns out block limit is more divisive issue than total coin cap :D  

---

### Answer by username_5 on 2013-03-08. Score: 2

These might be a little stale, but:

Development process:

* <http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Development_process>

Release process:

* <http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Release_process>

But bitcoin is controlled by the economic majority (those who will buy the coins that are issued after the new software is released):

* <http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Economic_majority>

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Answers should be a bit more than just links.  
> **username_5**: Duplication means more places where stale or incorrect information is found.  
> **username_0**: Yeah, all I'm saying is that it's best to provide a TL;DR in your answer instead of just linking.  

---

### Answer by username_6 on 2013-03-28. Score: 1

They control bitcoin in the same sense that Queen Elizabeth controls the United Kingdom.

In theory, she has the power to something highly destructive, eg. order the military to drop a nuclear weapon on France.

In practice, unless her decisions agree with democratic consensus, she will almost certainly be dethroned.


---

