Don’t download your full node Bitcoin software from Bitcoin.org

Despite Bitcoin.org offering Bitcoin Core software for download, its owner has been trying for years to discourage website visitors from getting their Bitcoin software from the site, instead pointing them toward BitcoinCore.org.

That’s correct: Bitcoin.org has Bitcoin software, but it is not the right software. Specifically, Bitcoin.org currently offers version 25.0 of the software which was last updated on May 26 last year. BitcoinCore.org, however, has the far more up-to-date 26.1 version, updated just two weeks ago.

Cobra, Bitcoin.org’s pseudonymous operator, posted the warning to X — even though the download page on Bitcoin.org itself doesn’t have a warning.

Read more: Did Michael Saylor pay Bitcoin developers to stop working?

Bitcoin.org has become a particularly problematic website to keep up-to-date in recent years. Craig Wright, the legal troll famous for not being Satoshi Nakamoto, targeted Cobra and other Bitcoin.org backers with lawsuits and legal threats. For months, Cobra simply abandoned the website altogether for fear of personal legal and financial ramifications.

Naturally, Bitcoin users are quite wary of trusting ‘Bitcoin+Word’ brands that pretend to be the real Bitcoin, such as Bitcoin Unlimited, Bitcoin Gold, Bitcoin Cash, or Bitcoin SV. Despite this reservation, however, they shouldtrust Bitcoin Core and shouldconsider BitcoinCore.org as an official Bitcoin website. Core is one of the only allowable words to append to Bitcoin.

Mark Erhardt of ChainCode Labs, the largest Bitcoin developer training company, confirmed that BitcoinCore.org is the official website for downloading Bitcoin software, not Bitcoin.org.