ZEBEDEE Launches Open-source Bitcoin Development Non-profit

According to a press release, the Bitcoin gaming company ZEBEDEE has introduced No Big Deal (NDB), a non-profit devoted to advancing open-source development for Bitcoin and the Lightning Network.

Andre Neves, co-founder and CTO of ZEBEDEE explained that NBD does not provide any goods or services for sale. “It just writes code and gives it to the world to do with it as they will,” he adds.

NBD has already made contributions to a number of initiatives like contributing code for Open Bitcoin Wallet, an advanced non-custodial Lightning wallet that supports hosted channels.

NBD also made contributions to the Core Lightning (CLN) plugin Poncho and Cliche, which provides hosted channel support for nodes.

Additionally, NBD has made contributions to Immortan, a Lightning Network library that provides plug-and-play developer capabilities, and LN Metrics.

Neves stated, “we basically created an entire suite of tools for the modern sovereign individual, from the client you’d use to set up a node, to the wallet you’d use to manage your funds in a self-sovereign way.” 

Most of the organization’s contributions to date have been concentrated on the Lightning Network and hosted channel support. By eliminating the need to lock up funds, hosted channels are able to execute cheaper transactions on Lightning much more easily. Locking up funds can become very burdensome for a number of users who lack liquidity.

With these important contributions, the continued development of hosted channel support, and the continued growth of the Lightning Network, the need for custodial services provided by ZEBEDEE and other companies will not be required.

The press release stated that this development makes it possible for more individuals to run their own software, clients, and infrastructure as opposed to utilizing commercial services like ZEBEDEE. “But that’s kind of the point of Bitcoin, so it’s No Big Deal.”