nChain, the Jimmy Nguyen and Craig Wright blockchain scaling company that focuses entirely on Bitcoin Cash, is not open source. This, despite creating key generating software that is crucial for security.
nChain’s SDK, dubbed “Nakasendo” has a Github repository[1] that is completely devoid of source code. There is a file that says “source code” but inside curious users will only find the same license and readme file available separately on the Nakasendo repository.
While it is not unusual for developers to open a near empty repository in order to act as a holding page for when the real work begins, it is the license already included that disqualifies nChain from being open source.
Bitcoin Cash, of course, is a fork of Bitcoin which is entirely open source. But the new key generating software that Craig Wright recently patented, is separate from the Bitcoin Cash. While it is, allegedly, designed to work with Blockchain technologies like Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, it presumably (we can only presume because the actual source code is unavailable) is new software.
While most “open source” software uses the MIT Open Source License, or one of the other prefab licenses that work just as well but have slightly different rules, nChain decided to write their own license[2] called the “Open Bitcoin Cash License”.
That license includes condition and limitation “f” which says in bold
“Blockchain/Platform Limitation. The licenses granted in sections 2(A) & 2(B) extend only to the Software or derivative works (such as applications using the Software) that you create that operate on the Bitcoin Cash (“BCH”) blockchain.”
The “2(A)” and “2(B)” licenses are the only rights granted in the paper.
Craig Wright, who is best known for failing to prove he is Satoshi Nakamoto, has also been issuing patents
