So it looks like Cobra is planning on passing on the Bitcoin.org domain

[arbiter5]

From his recent thread on GitHub:

First of all, happy halving to everyone!

I just want to inform that I will gradually be reducing my involvement in Bitcoin.org this year, it won't happen instantly but hopefully by the end of the year, I won't be around anymore. Over the years, I'm glad to have helped contribute to a project that has let so many millions of people learn about Bitcoin. It's really a massive honour. The domain name will be left in trusted hands, I have a few people in mind already. Alternatively, if anyone knows of any individuals or organisations that would be good, feel free to suggest (either here, or privately -- just DM me on Twitter). Ultimately, trust is very hard to measure, but I plan to be thorough and meticulous here and find the right people.

I guess for a lot of people, this will probably be some sort of relief. I can't say I've gotten along well with everyone, and some people have questioned my judgement. Hopefully whoever comes after me doesn't get sucked into drama as easily as I sometimes did (though that's also largely a product of being around in pretty dramatic times). Bitcoin.org really is an amazing resource, and we need to continue working on it and keep improving it. With Bitcoin being as complicated as it is for new people to understand, sites like Bitcoin.org are key to getting more mainstream adoption. Especially in avoiding getting Bitcoin labelled as some get rich quick scheme.

If we've had any collaboration over the years; I appreciate your contributions, and have learned a lot from many of you. I wish everyone good luck and success. Thank you. No doubt Bitcoin will keep succeeding and reaching new milestones with such a great community behind it.

https://github.com/bitcoin-dot-org/bitcoin.org/issues/3332

And then, I saw this:


https://reddit.com/r/btc/comments/gj36c9/bitcoinorg_owner_cobra_on_blockstream_fucking/fqiaylq/

Though I doubt Cobra will just sell the domain to someone like Roger, holy fuck if Roger actually gets to own two high-authority Bitcoin domains.

[Room101]

It's kind of crazy that any one person can control such an important part of the ecosystem. We basically have to just hope he gives it to someone responsible, and hope is not usually a strategy. Not saying I don't think he will be responsible, just that having to hope goes against why I got into bitcoin. I wonder how long the current ICANN monopoly will last. It surely wont be the final word in domain naming. If I had to hazard a guess, I would say we end up with a lot of different ones, and which actual websites you end up at will depend on which naming authority you decide to trust. So for me bitcoin.com will go to a site about bitcoin, and for others bitcoin.com will go a site about a shit coin.

Of all the blockchain projects, DNS seems like something that could actually benefit from a distributed ledger.

[M-BTC]

Cobra isn't a huge fan of Roger Ver (and that's an understatement) so I wouldn't be too worried about that. Cobra recently replied to one of Roger's tweets:

Nobody cares about your propaganda anymore. You're mentally stuck in the scaling debate and you're not realising it ended years ago and you've been left behind. Move the fuck on and work to improve Bitcoin Cash (maybe speak out against ABC forcing miners to fund it).

Source: https://twitter.com/CobraBitcoin/status/1256615915556306954

[pooya87]

Though I doubt Cobra will just sell the domain to someone like Roger, holy fuck if Roger actually gets to own two high-authority Bitcoin domains.

i am almost sure nothing like that would happen but even if it did i seriously doubt it would change anything except the number of posts newcomers make on different tech support forums complaining about being scammed trying to buy bitcoin and received a shitcoin instead.

[arbiter5]

Though I doubt Cobra will just sell the domain to someone like Roger, holy fuck if Roger actually gets to own two high-authority Bitcoin domains.

i am almost sure nothing like that would happen but even if it did i seriously doubt it would change anything except the number of posts newcomers make on different tech support forums complaining about being scammed trying to buy bitcoin and received a shitcoin instead.

If you do a Google search query for "Bitcoin", the number 1 spot would be Bitcoin.org, followed by Bitcoin.com. I don't think the damage will be that little.

[ntsdm1]

Personally, I spent very little time on this site, so even if the domain goes into other hands, I will not be particularly affected.

[The Cryptovator]

Though I doubt Cobra will just sell the domain to someone like Roger, holy fuck if Roger actually gets to own two high-authority Bitcoin domains.

Nah, nothing will happen like that. On the whole post Cobra doesn't mentioned he want to sell the domain. As he said he want to retire, although I don't know the real reason behind of this but I believe he will take an appropriate decision. But the real concern is about trust.

Personally, I spent very little time on this site, so even if the domain goes into other hands, I will not be particularly affected.

It doesn't matter either you are using this website or not, but this website helping lots of peoples and it's quite important for bitcoin community. Lots of info there and the website keeping role to spread the word about bitcoin.

[slaman29]

A bit sad that people who have cash in hand and who are willing to splash it all are all these guys. Of course BCH people have cash in hand. They forked, made free money out of thin air, and people got sold on their idea. Worse, it wasn't just the single fork but many. Ver's done enough damage with .com hope it doesn't double down.

[franky1]

get ready for bitcoin.org website to be more commercial centric in near future. no matter who takes it over. expect it to change left or right. the network itself has already swayed more to the 'reserve currency of industrialised commerce and has moved away from the 'digital cash' of everyday users.. so expect whoever takes it over to sway the website to favour industry instead of user

[arbiter5]

Nah, nothing will happen like that. On the whole post Cobra doesn't mentioned he want to sell the domain. As he said he want to retire, although I don't know the real reason behind of this but I believe he will take an appropriate decision. But the real concern is about trust.

He didn't mention selling it but it doesn't automatically mean that it's out of the picture. I'm not doubting Cobra as I really don't know him but he's quite reputable as far as I know, but let's not forget that he's using a pseudonym and that his reputation wouldn't matter that much in the end as he's planning on retiring the pseudonym anyway.

[Wind_FURY]

get ready for bitcoin.org website to be more commercial centric in near future. no matter who takes it over. expect it to change left or right. the network itself has already swayed more to the 'reserve currency of industrialised commerce and has moved away from the 'digital cash' of everyday users.. so expect whoever takes it over to sway the website to favour industry instead of user

Not only more commercial-centric. POLITICAL MANIPULATION and FRAUD! Did you see which name offered cash?

I believe theymos should be the "guardian" of the domain, temporary or not, to ensure that nothing will change.

[davis196]

Though I doubt Cobra will just sell the domain to someone like Roger, holy fuck if Roger actually gets to own two high-authority Bitcoin domains.

Nah, nothing will happen like that. On the whole post Cobra doesn't mentioned he want to sell the domain. As he said he want to retire, although I don't know the real reason behind of this but I believe he will take an appropriate decision. But the real concern is about trust.

Personally, I spent very little time on this site, so even if the domain goes into other hands, I will not be particularly affected.

It doesn't matter either you are using this website or not, but this website helping lots of peoples and it's quite important for bitcoin community. Lots of info there and the website keeping role to spread the word about bitcoin.

Giving away a domain that costs thousands of dollars isn't the best decision,if you ask me.
What if the guy,who gets the domain decides to sell it to Roger Ver?If you get something for free,you just don't cherish it that much and you are not so emotionally invested into it.
Perhaps all the true Bitcoin Core supporters and developers should start a voting poll and vote for the one who truly deserves to own the domain.
Roger Ver,the BCH shitcoin creator,to own the 2 most high-authority domains in the cryptocurrency world?
That would be a f***ing joke.

[gentlemand]

Though I doubt Cobra will just sell the domain to someone like Roger, holy fuck if Roger actually gets to own two high-authority Bitcoin domains.

If both of the most prominent Bitcoin domains were owned by one conman phallus that would actually be a pretty neat demonstration of it being bigger than any single entity. The average shitcoin would go down in shrieking flames if that happened. Bitcoin would truck straight past it, though there would be noob casualties.

I guess the outcome will depend on which person is claiming to be Cobra that day. There seem to be several of them.

[amishmanish]

Roger has the audacity to say a smug "I have cash in hand". Yeah, you moron, like that'll ever happen.The changing over of hands for Bitcoin.org is going to be one of the most important decisions for the bitcoin ecosystem. This may well also be one of the few times when an organisation, individual or a collective of individuals will come forward to take responsibility for bitcoin.
Is there a list of early year bitcoiners who joined the league of wealthy gentlemen and who are available publicly. Most of the early people who are well known are mostly just developers. What about the other investor variety of people. Do we even know who they are?

[coolcoinz]

Giving away a domain that costs thousands of dollars isn't the best decision,if you ask me.

Only thousands? it's going to be far above 100k if it ever gets sold.
Ver is still scaming on his site, that people go to when they google "bitcoin" and find out it's all about BCH. You have to admit that if you were a newbie and went to a "bitcoin" site, you'd expect to find Bitcoin there, not an altcoin forked from it.

[fiulpro]

It should be someone who actually cares for the Bitcoins ecosystem, not someone who is trying to control it just like everyone else ..this is going to be a very hard task and I do hope in the future we can have someone who is unbiased and does not hope to be like North Korean leader.
Bitcoin.org is a place where it all started , it is a place where the newbies come and learn more about Bitcoins , it's where the companies are actually getting involved. I still remember the time when there were so many users that the site started hanging for a while.
I do think in the future one should actually get some kind of voting system , like choose bunch of people who are interested in buying it and we can vote for it .
Plus the significant people should also get a veto power plus explain their disregard to everyone so that the decision is made efficiently . 

[gentlemand]

Only thousands? it's going to be far above 100k if it ever gets sold.
Ver is still scaming on his site, that people go to when they google "bitcoin" and find out it's all about BCH. You have to admit that if you were a newbie and went to a "bitcoin" site, you'd expect to find Bitcoin there, not an altcoin forked from it.

It would be interesting to hear from someone who was drawn in by Bitcoin.com and didn't realise what it was until they had parted with some money. I guess they'd be too embarrassed to admit it but I presume the main reason he puts so much money into it is for that to happen.

[DooMAD]

Giving away a domain that costs thousands of dollars isn't the best decision,if you ask me.
What if the guy,who gets the domain decides to sell it to Roger Ver?If you get something for free,you just don't cherish it that much and you are not so emotionally invested into it.
Perhaps all the true Bitcoin Core supporters and developers should start a voting poll and vote for the one who truly deserves to own the domain.

That's not how ownership works, though.  When someone owns something, a bunch of random people on the Internet don't get to decide what happens to their property or who should inherit it.

Whatever your personal opinions on the matter might be, it's Cobra's choice.

[Pffrt]

Though I doubt Cobra will just sell the domain to someone like Roger, holy fuck if Roger actually gets to own two high-authority Bitcoin domains.

I don't think Cobra will just hand over the domain to Roger, as we can see the reply on twitter. He will definitely hand over to someone trusted and of course a supporter of BTC.
It would be better if some trusted from the bitcointalk forum could have the access of it, may be theymos?

[Tipstar]

Though I doubt Cobra will just sell the domain to someone like Roger, holy fuck if Roger actually gets to own two high-authority Bitcoin domains.

I don't think Cobra will just hand over the domain to Roger, as we can see the reply on twitter. He will definitely hand over to someone trusted and of course a supporter of BTC.
It would be better if some trusted from the bitcointalk forum could have the access of it, may be theymos?

Cobra though have made some conflicting comments, he has always spoken his mind and human opinions are never constant. There's still more to learn and know. As of the domain, it's not a personal thing for Cobra, with it comes the responsibility and he knows properly who owns the domain. It's the bitcoin community. Handing it to any other community is not in question.