The Linux Foundation spends 2% of its money on Linux (kernel) and twice as much on "blockchain".

[jay@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@swelljoe In addition to that, I'm pretty sure the Linux Foundation sold my email address to marketers when I applied for a job in the past, since I don't provide my primary email address that often, and when I did, I started getting a ton of junk mail

[swelljoe@mas.to]

@neverpanic @bagder thanks for the heads up. I didn't read very deeply. Still mad about the Linux Foundation supporting blockchain projects at any level. It's like supporting the pig butchering scam industry.

[julsboo@mamot.fr]

@swelljoe @neverpanic @bagder Blockchain isn't an industry, it's a technology. You can kill a pig with a knife, you can also use it to mince a cucumber

[neverpanic@chaos.social]

@swelljoe @bagder Agree on that. Blockchain is a solution looking for a problem, if not for cryptocurrencies, which have their own well-documented problems like enabling the ransomware industry.

[stiiin@infosec.space]

@julsboo @swelljoe @neverpanic @bagder I have yet to come across an application of a blockchain for a purpose that isn't more effectively served through any other means.

[julsboo@mamot.fr]

@stiiin @swelljoe @neverpanic @bagder I agree, but it's not surprising when you consider that the first decentralized blockchain with a public ledger is less than 20 years old and the rough idea is barely 2 or 3 decades older. The technology could prove useful in ensuring the security of the package supply chain, but that is well beyond my expertise; I imagine the Linux Foundation funds research in this area, but not the toxic industries that embody it.

[neverpanic@chaos.social]

@stiiin well, if you consider buying illicit drugs and extortion through ransomware an application, there is a very good use case for it.

@julsboo @swelljoe

[knowprose@mastodon.social]

@swelljoe I was a member, once upon a time, and it did not feel like they were pointed in the right direction years ago.

Sad to see what it has become.

[cholling@bytes.programming.dev]

@swelljoe This is how they finally get me to switch to BSD?

[stiiin@infosec.space]

@neverpanic @julsboo @swelljoe Even for money launderers, there are no upsides. All illegal activities are on a public ledger, barely pseudonymised and non-repudiable. I don't know enough about the inner workings of the network's protocol and architecture to judge the OPSEC of running one's own full node vs. that of depending on one ran by a third party. But even if a transaction can't be traced back to an IP address (and thus to a person) that way, there's always the question of getting real money, goods, or services in and out.

[kneoghau@mastodon.social]

@stiiin @julsboo @swelljoe @neverpanic @bagder I'm sure there's plenty of people on Facebook and twitter saying the same thing about decentralised social media networks. How many hacks, exploits, and outages has the bitcoin blockchain experienced over the last ~20 years compared to the average centralised network, especially considering the potential financial gains for hacking or disrupting bitcoin core network.

[jackemled@furry.engineer]

@GOKUSHRM @swelljoe Linux is just a kernel. That's why so many different operating systems use it. You're welcome to make your own complete operating system using Linux.

[michaelormsby@mastodon.art]

@swelljoe Not disputing original post but a solid operating system should have less churn than other software. Once it works just leave it alone unless there’s good reason to fix it. Kind of like the foundation of a structure. Pour it, waterproof it, bury it, and forget about it. One surviving aqueduct is 2.5 millennia old.

[fishidwardrobe@mastodon.me.uk]

@swelljoe so… 4%? probably more important to ask where the other 94% goes?

[swelljoe@mas.to]

@cholling I don't know why that would be so. It seems like the Linux Foundation has very little to do with Linux.

[swelljoe@mas.to]

@stiiin @neverpanic @julsboo no, cryptocurrency is good for crime. It's true you can trace where the money goes in terms of addresses, but law enforcement is only rarely able to identify the person who owns the address. And, they're often operating in places with no extradition treaty or cooperative government. No banks, no know your customer laws.

[mjg59@nondeterministic.computer]

@swelljoe That's a list of the sector of organisations that belong to the LF. This is the budget breakdown, which shows 3% being spent directly on the kernel. Some amount of the funding for other projects is also going to contribute to the kernel in various ways.

But, fundamentally, the LF is a trade organisation and an umbrella for multiple other foundations. A lot of the money given to them is earmarked for specific purposes, they can't just choose to spend it on the kernel.

[mjg59@nondeterministic.computer]

@swelljoe @neverpanic @bagder I'd expect a lot of those blockchain companies to be members of the Hyperledger Foundation, which is mostly focused on non-cryptocurrency uses of blockchain technology.

[swelljoe@mas.to]

@mjg59 I can't find explanation of what that chart is in the the text, so I'm not actually sure what it represents. "Serving Nearly 1,500 Open Source Project Communities" makes me think "giving some kind of support to" rather than "receiving some kind of support from". And "Communities" aint got money. I assumed the big "Project Support" category was what the "Serving" chart applied to.

So, is it misleadingly labeled? Am I missing somewhere in the text the chart is explained?

[mjg59@nondeterministic.computer]

@swelljoe And, in general, the reliability of Techrights is summed up by https://techrights.org/i/2025/12/case-judgment-summary.html