Bitcoin Core is the reference client of bitcoin. Initially, the software was published by Satoshi Nakamoto under the name Bitcoin, and later renamed to Bitcoin Core to distinguish it from the network. For this reason, it is also known as the Satoshi client. It is the reference implementation for bitcoin nodes, which form the bitcoin network. Through changes to Bitcoin Core, its developers make changes to the underlying bitcoin protocol. As of 2016, Bitcoin Core repositories are maintained by Wladimir J. van der Laan.
The MIT Digital Currency Initiative funds some of development of Bitcoin Core. The project also maintains the cryptography library libsecp256k1.
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