Michael Ford (@fanquake) / X

Michael Ford

4,837 posts

Michael Ford

@fanquake

software maintainer

Joined March 2011

Pinned
Michael Ford
@fanquake
Apr 8
Fully-static, reproducible, release binaries for Bitcoin Core, have been a long-time goal of mine, and we are getting are closer to making them a reality. I've produced test binaries from a PR of mine (#25573), and am looking for feedback, questions, and hopefully testing on
5.8K
Michael Ford
@fanquake
Dec 12, 2022
Bitcoin Core 24.0.1 is now available:
bitcoincore.org
Bitcoin Core 24.0.1 released
Bitcoin Core 24.0.1 released
Michael Ford
@fanquake
Oct 15, 2020
Today is the feature freeze for the 0.21.0 release. The Taproot implementation, libsecp256k1 endomorphism, Tor v3 support, BIPs 155, 157, 158, Descriptor wallets (using SQLite), initial C++17 migration work and much more has made it in.
Release schedule for 0.21.0 · Issue #18947 · bitcoin/bitcoin
From github.com
Michael Ford
@fanquake
Oct 12, 2025
The Bitcoin Core development process and distribution model actually makes it somewhat harder to fix security issues, compared to other serious software distributors. Take Google Chrome as an example. The CVE fixing happy path is to develop and review a fix in private, push that
Adriano
@chataros
Oct 12, 2025
Replying to @adam3us
They can always push security fixes in v29 like any serious software distributor does, not forcing anyone to upgrade to unwanted/unprepared for functional changes… and I should know I work for a software editor for 15+ years
GitHub - bitcoin/bitcoin: Bitcoin Core integration/staging tree
From github.com
273K
Michael Ford
@fanquake
Jun 1, 2025
Truly crazy that 10s of thousands of people, and trillions in capital, aren’t quickly and easily coming to unanimous agreement over changing a global protocol for value exchange. Could be a feature
Eli Ben-Sasson | Starknet.io
@EliBenSasson
Jun 1, 2025
Bitcoin, a $2T ecosystem based on software, can't reach consensus on 9 lines of code needed to allow more and better scale (op_CAT). And it can't agree, for past 4 years, on any other minor change/update. Pretty insane.
38K
Michael Ford
@fanquake
May 10, 2025
This upgrade is a downgrade in security. 27.x is unpatched against CVE-2024-52919, as well as anything not-yet-disclosed, fixed in Core v28.x or v29.x. You should run whatever you want, but I'd advise against publicly announcing switching to software that can be crashed remotely.
Preston Pysh
@PrestonPysh
May 10, 2025
Just upgraded my node from Bitcoin Core to Bitcoin Knots. Running (v27.1.knots20240801 via Docker). 😙 You can't stop all spam on the blockchain. But you can choose not to relay BS.
63K
Michael Ford
@fanquake
Oct 12, 2025
In ~2 weeks from now, we'll be disclosing 5 low severity vulnerabilities. We'll also shortly be releasing v29.2 & v28.3. The 27.x branch has now reached its end of li fe.
104K
Michael Ford
@fanquake
Oct 10, 2025
v30.0 has been tagged. Binaries will be available shortly, and the website updated soon after that: github.com/bitcoin-core/b….
42K
Michael Ford
@fanquake
Apr 22, 2022
If you've never taken part in Bitcoin Cores release process before, now is a great first time to get involved. The v23.0 release has just been tagged, and so far 13 people have submitted attestations for their reproducible builds.
bitcoin/contrib/guix/README.md at master · bitcoin/bitcoin
From github.com
Michael Ford
@fanquake
Aug 2, 2025
The @obscuravpn signup flow, is how paying on the internet should work (by default): Identifier -> Options -> Lightning Invoice -> Product
44K
Michael Ford
@fanquake
Nov 4, 2025
HUGE
ReproducibilityMatters
@sedited_
Nov 4, 2025
Bitcoin Core now has an interface for its consensus code - it only took a decade. github.com/bitcoin/bitcoi…
98K
Michael Ford
@fanquake
Nov 7, 2025
Nice write up by @bitcoinbrink grantee @theStack, comparing the performance of ECDSA signature validation in libsecp256k1 and OpenSSL. Nearly 10 years on, libsecp256k1 is ~8x faster than OpenSSL, and performance improvements continue to be made. The devs have been doing
delvingbitcoin.org
Comparing the performance of ECDSA signature validation in OpenSSL vs. libsecp256k1 over the last...
Introduction With the upcoming release of v31.0 in spring next year, Bitcoin Core will celebrate its ten-year anniversary of replacing OpenSSL with libsecp256k1 for ECDSA signature validation in...
62K
Michael Ford
@fanquake
Oct 21, 2025
We’ve released v28.3. If you’re running a 28.x release of Core, consider updating. This release contains a number of bug fixes.
Bitcoin Core Project
@bitcoincoreorg
Oct 21, 2025
Bitcoin Core v28.3 was released! It is available from: bitcoincore.org/bin/bitcoin-co… Release notes: bitcoincore.org/en/releases/28…
28K
Michael Ford
@fanquake
Dec 3, 2019
Harvest finished for 2019. Hopefully mum and dad get to take some time off the farm after a tough year.