---
layout: base-en
title: Development - Bitcoin
---
<h1>Bitcoin development</h1>

<h2>Specification</h2>
<p>If you are interested in learning more about the technical details of Bitcoin it is recommended you start with these documents.</p>
<ul class="list">
  <li><a href="/bitcoin.pdf">Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System</a></li>
  <li><a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Protocol_rules">Protocol rules</a></li>
  <li><a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Category:Technical">Bitcoin Wiki</a></li>
</ul>

<h2>Developers</h2>
<ul class="list">
  <li>Satoshi Nakamoto</li>
  <li>Gavin Andresen - <a href="mailto:gavinandresen@gmail.com">gavinandresen@gmail.com</a> (<a href="/gavinandresen.asc">PGP</a>)</li>
  <li>Pieter Wuille - <a href="mailto:pieter.wuille@gmail.com">pieter.wuille@gmail.com</a> (<a href="/pieterwuille.asc">PGP</a>)</li>
  <li>Nils Schneider - <a href="mailto:nils.schneider@gmail.com">nils.schneider@gmail.com</a> (<a href="/schneider.asc">PGP</a>)</li>
  <li>Jeff Garzik - <a href="mailto:jgarzik@exmulti.com">jgarzik@exmulti.com</a> (<a href="/jgarzik-exmulti.asc">PGP</a>)</li>
  <li>Wladimir J. van der Laan - <a href="mailto:laanwj@gmail.com">laanwj@gmail.com</a> (<a href="/laanwj.asc">PGP</a>)</li>
  <li>Gregory Maxwell - <a href="mailto:gmaxwell@gmail.com">gmaxwell@gmail.com</a> (<a href="/gmaxwell.asc">PGP</a>)</li>
</ul>

<h2>Get involved</h2>
<p>Bitcoin development is open source and any developer can contribute to the project. Everything you need is in the <a href="https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin">Github repository</a>. Please make sure to read and follow the development process described in the README as well as to provide good quality code and respect all guidelines.</p>

<section id="contributors">
        <h2>Contributors</h2>
        <p>(Ordered by number of commits)</p>
        <table class="contributors">
          <tr>
            {% for c in site.project.contributors %}
            <td>
                {% if c.gravatar_id %}
                    <img class="icon" height="16" width="16" src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/{{c.gravatar_id}}?s=140&d=http%3A%2F%2Fbitcoin.org%2Fimg%2Fgravatar-140.png" />
                {% else %}
                    <img class="icon" height="16" width="16" src="http://bitcoin.org/img/gravatar-140.png" />
                {% endif %}
                {% if c.login %}
                    <a href="http://github.com/{{c.login}}">
                        {{ c.name }} ({{ c.contributions }})
                    </a>
                {% else %}
                    {{ c.name }} ({{ c.contributions }})
                {% endif %}
            </td>
          {% cycle nil, nil, nil, nil, '</tr><tr>' %}
            {% endfor %}
          </tr>
        </table>
</section>