Inside Bitcoin Core’s Newest Maintainer

Explaining the latest shakeup in Bitcoin development: the addition of a sixth Bitcoin Core maintainer known as “The Charlatan.” We explore the history of Bitcoin’s governance—from Satoshi to Wladimir van der Laan—and why the project has moved away from a single lead maintainer. We also break down the “Bitcoin kernel” project, an initiative to separate consensus code to allow for a more diverse ecosystem of Bitcoin clients, and address the common conspiracies surrounding who really controls the network.

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Notes:

* Bitcoin is a $2 trillion network asset.

* Bitcoin Core has six current maintainers.

* No person officially holds lead maintainer title.

* GitHub is a Microsoft-owned product.

* Bitcoin on path to $100 trillion valuation.

* New maintainer added first time since Feb 2023.

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