Bitcoin Core functions as the backbone for a monetary network securing over two trillion dollars in value. The stakes are immense, and large portions of the codebase can harbor high impact bugs. The consensus engine, peer-to-peer (p2p) message processing code, and cryptographic libraries are areas where vulnerabilities could enable theft, grind the network to a halt, or fundamentally undermine trust in the system. Unlike traditional financial software backed by insurance and legal remedies, Bitcoin’s security relies entirely on the quality of its code and the processes that maintain that quality.

The approach to security in Bitcoin Core is not formally defined, but rather an…

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