Gloria Zhao Steps Down from Bitcoin Core
Gloria Zhao, a key maintainer of Bitcoin Core, has officially stepped down from her role after six years, marking a significant change in the project’s leadership. Her resignation was made public on February 5 through an announcement on her GitHub page, where she also declared the revocation of her signing PGP key. This decision follows her impactful tenure which focused heavily on the mempool and transaction policies that have shaped Bitcoin’s operational framework.
Background and Contributions
Zhao entered the Bitcoin Core maintainer position after the exit of another prominent maintainer, Pieter Wuille, with her PGP key being added to the trusted-keys file on July 7, 2022. Notably, she was recognized as the first woman to assume this role, appointed through a consensus-driven process within the community. Her journey began in 2020, and throughout her time with Bitcoin Core, she specialized in key areas such as mempool policy, transaction relay, and fee estimation.
During her tenure, Zhao contributed significantly to Bitcoin Core, participating in various technical initiatives including the development and implementation of package relay (BIP 331), transaction replacement (RBF), and the TRUC proposal (BIP 431). Her efforts were directed towards reducing inefficiencies in the network and mitigating censorship risks. Her commitment led her to make hundreds of commits and actively engage in code reviews, earning recognition within the Bitcoin community.
Recognition and Legacy
Zhao’s contributions have not gone unnoticed; by August 2025, she had made 837 contributions in the previous year alone. Moreover, in January 2025, the non-profit organization Brink, with ties to the Human Rights Foundation and Spiral, honored her four years of dedicated work on Bitcoin Core. Zhao’s exit signifies the end of an era for the maintainer team, which is now set to navigate a crucial transition period.
