Bitcoin Core
| Bitcoin Core | |
|---|---|
The start screen under Fedora Linux | |
| Original author | Satoshi Nakamoto |
| Initial release | 2009 |
| Stable release | 30.2 (10 January 2026) [±] |
| Written in | C++ |
| Operating system | Linux, Windows, macOS |
| Type | Cryptocurrency |
| License | MIT License |
| Website | bitcoincore |
| Repository | github |
Bitcoin Core is free and open-source software that serves as a bitcoin node (the set of which form the Bitcoin network) and provides a bitcoin wallet which fully verifies payments. It is considered to be bitcoin's reference implementation.[1] Initially, the software was published by Satoshi Nakamoto under the name "Bitcoin", and later renamed to "Bitcoin Core" to distinguish it from the network.[2] It is also known as the Satoshi client.[3] Bitcoin Core includes a transaction verification engine and connects to the bitcoin network as a full node.[3] As of 2013, peer-reviewed measurements of the Bitcoin network's message propagation showed that new blocks reach 95% of nodes within about 40 seconds and a median delay of 12.6 seconds, underscoring the importance of efficient node software such as Bitcoin Core.[4]
The software validates the entire blockchain, which includes all bitcoin transactions ever. This distributed ledger, which has reached more than 608.9 gigabytes (not including database indexes) in size as of October 2024,[5] must be downloaded or synchronized before full participation of the client may occur.[3] Bitcoin Core includes a scripting language inspired by Forth that can define transactions and specify parameters.[6]
The original creator of the bitcoin client has described their approach to the software's authorship as it being written first to prove to themselves that the concept of purely peer-to-peer electronic cash was valid and that a paper with solutions could be written. Gavin Andresen was the former lead maintainer for the software client. Andresen left the role of lead developer for bitcoin to work on the strategic development of its technology.[7] Wladimir J. van der Laan took over as lead maintainer on 8 April 2014[7] and held the role until August 2022, when he stepped back from the project, citing burnout and a desire to further decentralize the project's governance.[8] Van der Laan removed his own merge privileges in February 2023, and the role of lead maintainer has remained vacant since his departure; Bitcoin Core is now maintained by a group of developers with commit access.[8] Bitcoin Core in 2015 was central to a dispute with Bitcoin XT, a competing client that sought to increase the blocksize.[9]
Bitcoin Core development is funded by a number of organizations and grant programs. In 2019, the MIT Media Lab announced donations of $900,000 would be used to fund the Digital Currency Initiative, which would mainly go to developers of Bitcoin Core.[10] As of 2022, organizations funding active Bitcoin Core developers included Brink, Chaincode Labs, Spiral (a subsidiary of Block, Inc.), Blockstream, and the Human Rights Foundation, according to research by BitMEX.[11]
References
- ^ Antonopoulos, Andreas (2017). "3". Mastering Bitcoin: Programming the Open Blockchain (2nd ed.). O'Reilly Media. ISBN 978-1491954386.
Bitcoin Core is the reference implementation of the bitcoin system, meaning that it is the authoritative reference on how each part of the technology should be implemented. Bitcoin Core implements all aspects of bitcoin, including wallets, a transaction and block validation engine, and a full network node in the peer-to-peer bitcoin network.
- ^ "Bitcoin Core version 0.9.0 released". Bitcoin Core. 19 March 2014. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
- ^ a b c Antonopoulos, Andreas M. (2014). Mastering Bitcoin: Unlocking Digital Cryptocurrencies. O'Reilly Media, Inc. pp. 31–32. ISBN 978-1491902646. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
- ^ Decker, Christian; Wattenhofer, Roger (9–11 September 2013). Information Propagation in the Bitcoin Network. 13th IEEE International Conference on Peer-to-Peer Computing (P2P). Trento, Italy: IEEE. pp. 1–10. doi:10.1109/P2P.2013.6688704. ISBN 978-1-4799-0521-8.
- ^ "Bitcoin Blockchain Size." n.d. Ycharts.com. https://ycharts.com/indicators/bitcoin_blockchain_size.
- ^ Antonopoulos, Andreas (29 May 2013). "Bitcoin is a money platform with many APIs". Radar. O'Reilly. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
- ^ a b Preukschat, Alex; Josep Busquet (2015). Bitcoin: The Hunt of Satoshi Nakamoto. Europe Comics. p. 87. ISBN 9791032800201. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
- ^ a b Crawley, Jamie (12 August 2022). "Bitcoin's longest-serving Lead Maintainer calls it quits, names no successor". Protos. Retrieved 22 March 2026.
- ^ Bustillos, Maria (25 August 2015). "Inside the Fight Over Bitcoin's Future". New Yorker. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
- ^ Mochari, Ilan (29 March 2016). "MIT Announces $900,000 Bitcoin Developer Fund". Inc. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
- ^ De, Nikhilesh (27 October 2022). "Brink Emerges as the Top Funder of Bitcoin Core Development, BitMex Research Says". CoinDesk. Retrieved 22 March 2026.
Further reading
- Kaushal, Puneet Kumar; Bagga, Amandeep; Sobti, Rajeev (July 2017). Evolution of bitcoin and security risk in bitcoin wallets. 2017 International Conference on Computer, Communications and Electronics (Comptelix). IEEE. pp. 172–177. doi:10.1109/COMPTELIX.2017.8003959. ISBN 978-1-5090-4708-6.
- Van Der Horst, Luuc; Choo, Kim-Kwang Raymond; Le-Khac, Nhien-An (2017). "Process Memory Investigation of the Bitcoin Clients Electrum and Bitcoin Core". IEEE Access. 5: 22385–22398. Bibcode:2017IEEEA...522385V. doi:10.1109/ACCESS.2017.2759766. ISSN 2169-3536.
- Groce, Alex; Jain, Kush; van Tonder, Rijnard; Kalburgi, Goutamkumar Tulajappa; Goues, Claire Le (21 May 2022). "Looking for lacunae in Bitcoin core's fuzzing efforts". Proceedings of the 44th International Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering in Practice (ICSE-SEIP '22). 44th International Conference on Software Engineering. New York: Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 185–186. doi:10.1145/3510457.3513072. ISBN 978-1-4503-9226-6.
- Brakmić, Harris (2019). "Bitcoin Core Wallet". Bitcoin and Lightning Network on Raspberry Pi. Berkeley, CA: Apress. pp. 141–164. doi:10.1007/978-1-4842-5522-3_5. ISBN 978-1-4842-5521-6. S2CID 213657549.