This was always the case till recently the patches has been removed here
We always want to implement the newest features for various curves as they become available in Algebra so we need it to be patched to be able to use Algebra master. Perhaps, It makes sense to have a release branch in curve which depends on the corresponding release in Algebra, but it also makes sense that the master to be patched to depends on Algebra's bleeding edge master as it is the case for Algebra itself.
Otherwise, the curve developers will be blocked from taking advantage of new features in Algebra till next release.
Summary of Bug
This was always the case till recently the patches has been removed here
We always want to implement the newest features for various curves as they become available in Algebra so we need it to be patched to be able to use Algebra master. Perhaps, It makes sense to have a release branch in curve which depends on the corresponding release in Algebra, but it also makes sense that the master to be patched to depends on Algebra's bleeding edge master as it is the case for Algebra itself.
Otherwise, the curve developers will be blocked from taking advantage of new features in Algebra till next release.