Unauthorized change in the Bitcoin protocol?

[Max2140]

Sorry for the provocative question and it probably was already discussed here but what if any of Bitcoin core developers decide to maliciously change Bitcoin code without miners' consensus/voting? As I understand, they make minor necessary changes in the Bitcoin protocol without BIP procedure and 95% voting rule. So they have full access to the Bitcoin Core in the Bitcoin GitHub repository. I do not think Bitcoin code is audited every few minutes to find any unauthorized changes. I also understand that Bitcoin miners are not supposed to follow maliciously changed blockchain but it seems that there is still a risk that a Bitcoin core developer can potentially make an unauthorized significant change in the Bitcoin code that will become effective immediately ... I think that Bitcoin price will drop substantially if this happens and information about it becomes publicly available.

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[Yogee]

Miners still needs to update their own software before the unauthorized changes can be implemented right? Before that happens, another developer or the miners themselves would have noticed the malicious codes since its open source.

[hatshepsut93]

Unlike in many other software, there's no auto-update feature in Bitcoin, people have to do this manually, so any changes that aren't compatible with the current rules need to be adopted by all miners and full nodes, or it will cause a network split, and there would be two competing versions of Bitcoin. Or, as in case with BCH, there will be a minority chain that claims to be the real Bitcoin, despite not having any chance to convince majority of real Bitcoin's users.

So, don't worry, Bitcoin developers can't just simply change the code and make the network accept it.

[pooya87]

Bitcoin is not owned or controlled by anybody, not developers, not miners, and not nodes. the control is with a combination of all the full nodes and all the miners at the same time. the protocol is clearly defined by a set of rules known as consensus rules. any change made to these rules requires all the nodes and miners to accept them otherwise if the majority don't accept them they will be rejected.

bitcoin core as the reference implementation is 100% open source and is reviewed by many bitcoiners every time there is a change. if there were any change to the consensus rules they will be reviewed by even more people so there is no chance of any malicious change without people finding out about it.

[dothebeats]

People would immediately notice if anyone is pushing for a change in the protocol. Miners and nodes would have to manually update their version of the client if consensus rules are already met, though that would also be impossible especially if they do not accept the changes that are done on the protocol. No updates are automatically pushed into the open, and those who uploaded code on the source cannot go away with it like a thief in the night, expecting people to just accept it and be done with it.

[NeuroticFish]

if any of Bitcoin core developers decide to maliciously change Bitcoin code without miners' consensus/voting

As @pooya87 already said, the change has to be approved by a certain majority, quite a big one. And it's clearly not only the miners.
If that doesn't happen, a split/fork will go on and the majority will remain on the unchanged version's chain.
The rogue dev will have his own altcoin.

can potentially make an unauthorized significant change in the Bitcoin code that will become effective immediately

Not all the changes the devs make actually end up in a release. So there's already one filter there. Then a release has to be made and published so people will update their client. Some will also check the code and if something is strange they'll make enough noise others will not update. And such a change has to be scheduled to get live after some time, else the older clients will not accept it, resulting in a split (when such a new client's miner mines a block), altcoin.. you know the drill.


So you should not worry that much.

[fiulpro]

Miners still needs to update their own software before the unauthorized changes can be implemented right? Before that happens, another developer or the miners themselves would have noticed the malicious codes since its open source.

Yes and at the same time people don't update it periodically , a change would need the general consent of all the people since it's them who have to actually install it.
At the same time as far as I remember there is not one person who is a core developer , but quite a few and those people will sure oppose it.

If they were involved in bitcoins I believe they care about it with certain exceptions ofcourse , plus it would take time, effort and most certainly Mr. Satoshi will himself stop something like this if he sees this happening out there.

As long as you don't update and download it , you are safe and if one person decides to do it they will for sure leave their reviews and you would know if the update is worth it or no.