[Bitcoin Development Ecosystem Significantly Recovers in 2025, Activity Increases by 60% Year-on-Year]
In 2025, the Bitcoin development ecosystem experienced a significant recovery, with Bitcoin Core development activity ending its long-term stagnation. Data shows that discussions on the Bitcoin development mailing list increased by approximately 60% year-on-year, with a total of 135 independent code contributors participating in protocol optimization throughout the year, expanding the developer base.
On the technical front, 2025 marked the first third-party security audit in Bitcoin's history, conducted by Quarkslab and funded by Brink. The audit covered the peer-to-peer network layer and found no critical or high-risk vulnerabilities. Bitcoin Core v30 introduced mempool policy updates, driving the development of native Bitcoin applications.
In terms of funding support, organizations such as Brink and Btrust enhanced their contributions, while VanEck pledged to donate 5% of ETF profits to support development.
Heading into 2026, development priorities will shift toward Lightning Network scalability and improvements in Silent Payments privacy.