The Bitcoin Foundation has announced the appointment of a new core security auditor as part of its broader shift to focus on bitcoin core development.

Sergio Demian Lerner will become the fourth full-time core developer funded by the Foundation, and will be responsible for reviewing the core code for potential security vulnerabilities. Chief scientist Gavin Andresen announced the hire in a new blog post that comes weeks after issuing a call for developers interested in auditing and testing the core code.

Lerner has long been involved with core development on security matters – having identified a number of vulnerabilities in the bitcoin code over the last few years, and currently works as a security consultant for bitcoin startup Coinspect. He has also called for more robust security reporting standards on bitcoin and has advocated for increased testing of bitcoin’s core code.

Andresen wrote:

Andresen also announced that the core development team is preparing release candidates for bitcoin version 0.10, and said he hopes the update will be ready for release in January.

Andresen suggested in the blog post that bitcoin core progression will benefit significantly from the addition of another full-time developer.

While arguing that bitcoin wouldn’t be where it is today without the vast network of volunteers worldwide, Andresen continued by saying that full-time support is needed to ensure the technology’s long-term success.

He explained:

According to Andresen, Lerner will continue acting as an independent consultant while he also works as the Foundation’s new security guru.