I remember there was what sounded like a sensible discussion on refactoring bitcoind into two distinct modular programs, namely one that does the network/verification logic (bitcoin_node) and another which is the reference wallet (bitcoin_wallet) that speaks to bitcoin_node.
Is this still the plan and/or is anyone already working on it?
Bitcoin is open source. So, if you have the skills, you are welcome to make these changes yourself.
If you do not have the skills, then you'll either have to wait until someone with the skills wants to do it, or until someone decides to pay someone with the skills to do it.
