Real talk time. I've watched NVK attack devs, contributors, and competitors for years. I've also met him a few times in person, had a good time, and gave him a few 🤙🏼 and 🫂.

If I'm being honest, NVK is that friend who's just a dick sometimes. Hell, I'm a dick sometimes. A lot of us have someone like that in our circles. We know they're a dick. We look past it for various reasons.

For me, and I think for a lot of people in this ecosystem, we kept looking past it because he had the best product. Or at least we perceived he did. Coldcard was cyberpunk as fuck and you couldn't fuck with it. So he got a pass.

He knows he's the best, and he acts like it. He's a dick about it. But he's also kind of a friend, someone you can hang out with, joke with, have a good time. Again, so we look past some things.

Except apparently we were wrong. Coldcard isn't the best. It has failed people, many, many people. The one thing that justified all the dick behavior, the product excellence, turned out to be a mirage. The patience we all extended was spent on a product that didn't hold up its end of the deal.

And that changes everything. The product was the excuse. Without it, there's nothing left to look past.

I think that's why so many of us are having a really hard time here. We let cool as fuck tech cloud our judgement.