diff --git a/include/spdk/blob.h b/include/spdk/blob.h
index 2113137e8..f24851279 100644
--- a/include/spdk/blob.h
+++ b/include/spdk/blob.h
@@ -44,12 +44,8 @@
  * a few general rules regarding thread safety to avoid taking locks
  * in the I/O path. Functions starting with the prefix "spdk_bs_md" must only
  * be called from the metadata thread, of which there is only one at a time.
- * The user application can declare which thread is the metadata thread by
- * calling \ref spdk_bs_register_md_thread, but by default it is the thread
- * that was used to create the blobstore initially. The metadata thread can
- * be changed at run time by first unregistering
- * (\ref spdk_bs_unregister_md_thread) and then re-registering. Registering
- * a thread as the metadata thread is expensive and should be avoided.
+ * The metadata thread is the thread which called spdk_bs_init() or
+ * spdk_bs_load().
  *
  * Functions starting with the prefix "spdk_bs_io" are passed a channel
  * as an argument, and channels may only be used from the thread they were
@@ -201,16 +197,6 @@ uint64_t spdk_bs_free_cluster_count(struct spdk_blob_store *bs);
 /* Get the total number of clusters accessible by user. */
 uint64_t spdk_bs_total_data_cluster_count(struct spdk_blob_store *bs);
 
-/* Register the current thread as the metadata thread. All functions beginning with
- * the prefix "spdk_bs_md" must be called only from this thread.
- */
-int spdk_bs_register_md_thread(struct spdk_blob_store *bs);
-
-/* Unregister the current thread as the metadata thread. This allows a different
- * thread to be registered.
- */
-int spdk_bs_unregister_md_thread(struct spdk_blob_store *bs);
-
 /* Return the blobid */
 spdk_blob_id spdk_blob_get_id(struct spdk_blob *blob);
 
diff --git a/lib/blob/blobstore.c b/lib/blob/blobstore.c
index 801311099..c24f17acc 100644
--- a/lib/blob/blobstore.c
+++ b/lib/blob/blobstore.c
@@ -47,6 +47,9 @@
 
 #define BLOB_CRC32C_INITIAL    0xffffffffUL
 
+static int spdk_bs_register_md_thread(struct spdk_blob_store *bs);
+static int spdk_bs_unregister_md_thread(struct spdk_blob_store *bs);
+
 static inline size_t
 divide_round_up(size_t num, size_t divisor)
 {
@@ -2532,7 +2535,8 @@ spdk_bs_total_data_cluster_count(struct spdk_blob_store *bs)
 	return bs->total_data_clusters;
 }
 
-int spdk_bs_register_md_thread(struct spdk_blob_store *bs)
+static int
+spdk_bs_register_md_thread(struct spdk_blob_store *bs)
 {
 	bs->md_target.md_channel = spdk_get_io_channel(&bs->md_target);
 	if (!bs->md_target.md_channel) {
@@ -2543,7 +2547,8 @@ int spdk_bs_register_md_thread(struct spdk_blob_store *bs)
 	return 0;
 }
 
-int spdk_bs_unregister_md_thread(struct spdk_blob_store *bs)
+static int
+spdk_bs_unregister_md_thread(struct spdk_blob_store *bs)
 {
 	spdk_put_io_channel(bs->md_target.md_channel);