Bitcoin Core maintainers face shake-up as Gloria Zhao revokes PGP key

Bitcoin Core maintainer Gloria Zhao has revoked her signing PGP key and stepped down, ending a six-year run of mempool-focused work that reshaped transaction policy.

Summary

• Zhao confirmed on GitHub on Feb. 5 that she revoked her maintainer PGP key, formally ending her role signing Bitcoin Core releases.
• She became the first known woman Bitcoin Core maintainer in July 2022, when her key was added to the trusted-keys file alongside Pieter Wuille’s departure.
• Backed by Brink, the Human Rights Foundation and Spiral, she specialized in mempool policy, package relay (BIP 331), TRUC (BIP 431), RBF, and P2P improvements over more than six years of contributions.

Gloria Zhao has revoked her signing PGP key for Bitcoin Core, confirming her departure from the maintainer role, according to an announcement posted on her GitHub profile on February 5.

Bitcoin Core maintainers are responsible for reviewing and approving code updates and digitally signing official releases with cryptographic keys.

Zhao joined Brink, a non-profit organization supported by the Human Rights Foundation and Spiral, in January 2021. Her PGP key was added to Bitcoin Core’s trusted-keys file on July 7, 2022, making her a maintainer coinciding with Pieter Wuille’s departure. She was the first known woman in this role, appointed by community consensus, according to Bitcoin Core records.

Zhao specialized in mempool policy, transaction relay, and fee estimation. Her work included package relay (BIP 331), TRUC (BIP 431), RBF, and peer-to-peer protocol improvements designed to reduce inefficiencies and censorship vectors. She contributed hundreds of commits to Bitcoin Core, including pull request reviews and participation in the Bitcoin Core PR Review Club.

Zhao began contributing to Bitcoin Core in 2020. As of August 2025, she had made 837 contributions in the past year across Bitcoin/bitcoin and related repositories, according to GitHub data. In January 2025, Brink announced it was celebrating her four years of full-time work on Bitcoin Core.