I have been writing some threads on Twitter lately about a pattern that I have been noticing. The pattern is anti-dev sentiments.
Luke begging for donations from plebs when it turned out he was Bitcoin rich didn't help.
Inscriptions seen as an unintended consequence of Taproot didn't help.
The fact that "being a real Bitcoiner" means thinking that everything that Bitcoin does currently is all it should do, and everything it doesn't do, it shouldn't do anyway because it's stupid or something shitcoins do.
The non-technical hodler has grown distrustful of devs, misunderstanding that even if no changes are being made, devs are needed for upkeep.
Bitcoin is a wall of digital energy, Venice, a pioneer species, a fungi... Oh wait, despite what metaphors the Bitcoin philosophers come up with today, it's software, and a community based around software needs devs. For it to be very successful, it needs as many as possible. (In fact the amount of people that truly understand the cryptography of Bitcoin might be less than 20 people. Which... Isn't great.)
The last bull market being cut short by macro factors have made dev funds tight, but as soft forks are less tolerated, so is the idea of funding devs. More and more, they are seen not as necessary heroes but attack vectors.
A career in Bitcoin development means unsteady paychecks (when selling out and working for a web3 DINO coin would make you rich), risk of legal trouble, both from nation states and a professional fraud, and unfortunately, a community growing in distrust and ingratitude.
*This is based on a couple of Twitter threads I wrote, links below:
https://twitter.com/timechain_/status/1622270596720492544
https://twitter.com/timechain_/status/1621669661891870720
https://twitter.com/timechain_/status/1621560109523509249