Longtime Bitcoin Core developer resigns
Gloria Zhao, a Bitcoin Core developer who focused on memory pool validation and transaction relaying, has stepped down from her position. She also revoked her cryptographic signing key, which is a common practice when officials leave office.
Zhao had been involved with Bitcoin Core for over six years. During this time, she worked on important areas such as memory pool policy, transaction relaying, and fee estimation. His contributions helped improve the network’s efficiency, but they did not change Bitcoin’s consensus rules, the fundamental rules that all nodes follow.
Understand the role of the manager
Bitcoin Core maintainers are a small group of trusted developers with special access to the codebase. They function as project janitors of sorts, reviewing and approving code updates. They also digitally sign official releases with cryptographic keys to verify their authenticity.
When someone leaves this position, they usually revoke their signing key. This ensures that old keys cannot be misused in the future. It’s really a security measure, and it happens quite regularly in open source projects.
Questions about leaving
Zhao’s decision sparked some questions within the community. People wondered why she was suddenly leaving. Reports asked her for clarification, but she declined to comment. This isn’t unusual either: developers sometimes prefer to keep their reasons private.
In the Bitcoin blockchain community, managers often reduce their involvement for various reasons. Funding changes, sustainability concerns or personal commitments can all play a role. The work is demanding and relies primarily on volunteer work, making it difficult to sustain long-term.
Resolve unfounded connections
Some social media posts have attempted to link Zhao’s departure to controversial figures in Bitcoin’s development history. There have been suggestions of links to Jeffrey Epstein, the financier convicted of sex trafficking.
But here’s what really happened: Epstein donated to MIT from 2002 to 2017. In 2015, after the collapse of the Bitcoin Foundation, there was a shortage of funding for the development of Bitcoin Core. The MIT Digital Currency Initiative has provided temporary support to some developers during this time.
Part of MIT’s funds at this time came from donations from Epstein. However, there is no evidence that Epstein directly funded individual developers or influenced the code of Bitcoin Core. More importantly, Zhao wasn’t even involved in Bitcoin Core in 2015 – she started contributing around 2019-2020.
No records show that Zhao received funding from MIT’s Digital Currency Initiative or any other funds linked to Epstein. She also had no contact with figures of that era regarding financing or governance. Speculation on social media appears to be just that: speculation with no basis in fact.
Look forward to
The Bitcoin Core project continues despite changes in leadership. It is designed to withstand individual departures. Consensus rules remain unchanged and network security is not affected when a manager steps down.
Zhao’s work on memory pool validation and transaction relaying will likely continue to influence the project. Other developers will pick up where she left off. This is how open source projects work: they are collaborative efforts that do not depend on any one person.
It is worth remembering that the development of Bitcoin has always been a community effort. People come and go, but protocol continues to evolve. The important thing is that the process remains transparent and the code remains secure.
