Former Bitcoin Core developer Gavin Andresen has hit out at Blockstream and called Greg Maxwell and Samson Mow “toxic trolls.”
The uninhibited tone of the criticism, which surfaced on Twitter Tuesday, appears to mark a U-turn in Andresen’s allegiances.
"Maxwell is a current Core developer and former colleague of Andresen, while Mow is former COO of Chinese exchange BTCC. Both are ardent Core proponents."
Commenting on his opinion of Blockstream, which Maxwell founded along with Adam Back, Andresen said he “was wrong.”
I was wrong; stay away from Blockstream, Greg and Samson are toxic trolls.
— Gavin Andresen (@gavinandresen) May 2, 2017
The spat appears to have originated on Reddit after Maxwell posted comments on one of Andresen’s previous tweets which both he and fellow community members took to be malicious.
Bitcoin’s scaling debate has been marked by similar public arguments between well-known parties behind network development. Aside from the rivalry between Bitcoin Core and Bitcoin Unlimited, as here, infighting among Core supporters has also become a phenomenon in the past.
Overall network resilience to such occurrences has increased over time, with Bitcoin metrics showing barely any exposure to the fragility of relations between developers.
In March, Andresen openly voiced support for Bitcoin Unlimited, calling it a “viable, practical solution to destructive transaction congestion.”