The activity of Bitcoin Core development has significantly rebounded, ending years of decline

The Bitcoin development ecosystem has shown a significant recovery, with Bitcoin Core development activity rising sharply, ending a long stagnation since the late 2010s. Data shows that the discussion volume on the Bitcoin development mailing list has increased by about 60% year-on-year, becoming a key signal of the development rebound; a total of 135 independent code contributors participated in protocol optimization throughout the year, significantly expanding the developer base.

On the technical side, 2025 saw the completion of the first third-party security audit in Bitcoin's history. This audit was conducted by the cybersecurity company Quarkslab and funded by the nonprofit organization Brink, focusing on the peer-to-peer network layer. The conclusion stated that the codebase is "mature and well-tested," with no serious or high-risk vulnerabilities found. This result significantly enhanced the confidence of institutional and sovereign-level participants in Bitcoin's infrastructure.

Additionally, Bitcoin Core v30 introduced mempool strategy updates, including adjustments to OP_RETURN data limits, promoting the development of native Bitcoin applications while also sparking widespread discussions about the long-term impact of on-chain data storage. In terms of funding support, the institutionalized funding for Bitcoin open-source development significantly strengthened in 2025. Funding pools from organizations like Brink, Btrust, and OpenSats expanded, and some spot Bitcoin ETF issuers began to formally "give back" to the underlying infrastructure, with VanEck continuing to pledge 5% of ETF profits to support development. This change has reduced the core maintainers' reliance on a volunteer model.

Entering 2026, the development focus has shifted to the scalability of the Lightning Network and enhancing privacy through Silent Payments. Analysts believe that Bitcoin is evolving from a "static value storage" to a financial infrastructure technology platform with continuous evolutionary capabilities.