Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter and the creator of decentralized apps like BitChat and White Noise, likes the idea of having a decentralized GitHub.
On X, a developer shared a screenshot of his suspended GitHub account. He said, “My GitHub account got suspended.” A second dev responded, saying there should be a distributed version to prevent suspensions.
Jack Dorsey replied to this with a “Yes.”
Dorsey pushes for a blockchain based GitHub
It’s obvious that Dorsey is pushing the idea of having a decentralized GitHub. But is he going to build a new decentralized version, like what he did with BitChat and White Noise?
The feedback on Jack Dorsey’s “Yes” was mixed.
Somebody said jokingly, “Let’s call it BitHub,” referring to BitChat. Another user questioned, “Git on blockchain?” A third wrote, “Isn’t Git already a distributed version control system without the Hub?”
Git is a tool that lets many devs work on the same project without needing a single computer or “hub” to control everything. That’s what a distributed version control system (DVCS) means. It already works great.
But the issue isn’t the tech itself, it’s the developers. Most devs still prefer easy, centralized platforms like GitHub or GitLab because they’re simple and familiar. The infrastructure, like the tools and systems for using Git in a fully decentralized way, already exists, but almost nobody uses it.
We asked Moe Amaidi, an IT consultant, about his input on the current state of coding repositories. He told us, “I’d say Git is already a robust distributed version control system, meets most technical needs, and can pretty much handle all codebase sizes, where Github thrives is in its tooling system, like issue tracking, CI/CD, and ease of use that many teams rely on.”
He further explained that “It is in fact intriguing that Jack Dorsey would push for a decentralized or distributed version of GitHub, this might involve getting on par or improve on those conveniences to gain traction, given that the amount of maintenance these systems require without a ‘hub’ in it would be very challenging.”
Based on recent stats, GitHub has over 150 million users. However, the number of Git users isn’t clear. Radicle, a peer-to-peer (p2p) code collaboration platform or “forge” built on Git, reported having 2,000 repositories and a little over 200 nodes online weekly in September last year.
Recently, GitHub has suspended many accounts. A security researcher by the name Celeste said GitHub locked her without an obvious reason. She has no access to back up her repositories.
Jack Dorsey is pushing decentralization in every aspect. This year alone, he launched two decentralized messaging apps, BitChat and White Noise. He supports David Clark, the American computer scientist who has worked on developing the Internet since the mid-1970s, and shares his belief in consensus and code.
If Dorsey builds a Git version backed by blockchain, devs would have an option to code and collaborate with zero censorship.
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