Neovim have a ~$800k Bitcoin donation sitting untouched since 2023

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.

https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/addresses/btc/1Evu6wPrzjsjrNPdCYbHy3HT6ry2EzXFyQ

114 points | by jakemanger 1 hour ago

9 comments

seymon 53 minutes ago
I hope they still have the private key.
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- jakemanger 32 minutes ago
  Really hope so too. Would be devastating
zicohacks 10 minutes ago
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
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Razengan 15 minutes ago
This could become the premise of a near-cyberpunk heist movie..
wyclif 53 minutes ago
The project no longer uses that Bitcoin wallet for bounties.
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- ricardobeat 43 minutes ago
  What does that mean for that donation, and why is the wallet still listed on the website?
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  - ramijames 12 minutes ago
    I think that a large part of the priced in "value" of Bitcoin is just lots and lots of Bitcoin that nobody can access anymore.
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    - abirch 4 minutes ago
      Bitcoin's supposed to be "liquid" but I'm wondering what happens when there's a forced liquidity event.
pluc 56 minutes ago
hodl
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- esskay 46 minutes ago
  I know you're joking but keeping bitcoin now really does feel like a poor investment given it's showing no signs of ever being revived.
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  - w4yai 32 minutes ago
    https://bitcoindeaths.com/
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    - suddenlybananas 1 minute ago
      The log scale is awfully misleading, especially since money doesn't really work like that.
    - pluc 1 minute ago
      what is dead may never die
  - accountrequired 39 minutes ago
    Bitcoin died *again*? hehe :P
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    - esskay 31 minutes ago
      oh i dont think its 'dead' in the way people often describe. More...done. Like, the period of obscene growth is over and its now seemingly settled into a fairly dull investment with mediocre returns.
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      - singiamtel 2 minutes ago
        Isn't that a good thing? The main argument I've heard against using bitcoin as currency is that it's too volatile.
      - sph 16 minutes ago
        Well, that’s what people have said all the way to $70k+ price.
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        ForHackernews 0 minutes ago
        It's underperformed the S&P500 over the last 5 years, but you know what they say about past performance not predicting future returns. Maybe AI will unlock an untapped reservoir of ever-greater fools.
  - zeofig 27 minutes ago
    Buy signal
colesantiago 45 minutes ago
Bitcoin really isn't money.
They should send it to a dead wallet instead.
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- AIiscoming 41 minutes ago
  True and its also not compareable to gold.
  But as long as others giving you real money for this garbage, it would be better to use it for a project like neovim :)
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  - deniska 36 minutes ago
    To never have experienced a usefulness of cryptocurrency is a privileged position to be in.
  - colesantiago 31 minutes ago
    A dead wallet has better use for Bitcoin though.
    We don't know where the Bitcoin has come from, so it needs to go extensive through anti money laundering checks.
    Save the hassle of all of that taxes, accountancy and just send everything to a dead wallet.
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    - done_lurking 8 minutes ago
      In what country does a bitcoin donation need to go through an "anti money laundering check"? Also, you could pay a lawyer 100k to handle the taxes and accounting and you would still have 700k left over.
- gitowiec 39 minutes ago
  Exactly this! It was rendered money by some minds.
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  - nullbio 34 minutes ago
    Unlike that paper money. That paper money was created by the Gods!
  - colesantiago 30 minutes ago
    It is even more useless than fiat.
JimBlackwood 1 hour ago
I imagine they might wait, to make it’s legally obtained Bitcoin.
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- yieldcrv 6 minutes ago
  Something that takes 5 seconds with bitcoin, faster than any other property type, is something you rationalize as taking 7 years
  Why does HN tolerate this level of understanding when it comes to crypto
- a3w 27 minutes ago
  In which country would waiting help?
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  - cyberpunk 21 minutes ago
    In Germany at least if you've held the coin(s) for 7 years before selling you don't need to pay tax on the profit.
    Not sure how this applies to donations though, and of course this will almost certainly be changed in the future, .nl is leading the way in taxing _unrealised_ gains; we are sure to follow!
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    - T0Bi 16 minutes ago
      It's one year, unless something changed recently.
    - la_fayette 6 minutes ago
      1 year
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      - ksk23 0 minutes ago
        One year yes, and politics wants to change it..
loopydosuette 38 minutes ago
is this (w)hole lie still hodling up? crazy! is my botnet still not out of puberty?