May 15, 2026 Upgrade

What happened?

The planned upgrade of the eCash network has successfully been completed. The first post-upgrade block is block number 949200.

Who needs to upgrade?

All operators of a Bitcoin ABC full node must upgrade to the latest major version 0.33 (current latest version is 0.33.6). This includes node operators, Avalanche staking nodes, Miners and Exchanges. This is available at the Bitcoin ABC Releases Page.

What features are included in the Network Upgrade?

This upgrade does not include any new protocol features. However, because of the automatic replay protection that is part of the 6-month upgrade cadence, it is necessary for all full node operators to upgrade to {latestMajor}.

Versions 0.33.0 and later include improvements to the Avalanche Pre-Consensus and mining layers that enable the eCash network to handle much larger transaction volume during periods of high activity. While these improvements were not activated by the network upgrade, the mandatory update make sure it was fully deployed by the time the network upgrade activates.

How do I upgrade?

The process of upgrading your node is straightforward: simply stop the currently running node, download the new version, and start the new version. Here are some example instructions for upgrading from version 0.32.11 to the latest version (0.33.6) on Linux:

  • Shut down the node: ./bitcoin-abc-0.32.11/bin/bitcoin-cli stop
  • Download the new version archive from the website: wget https://download.bitcoinabc.org/0.33.6/linux/bitcoin-abc-0.33.6-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz
  • Extract the archive: tar xzf bitcoin-abc-0.33.6-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz
  • Restart the node with the new version: ./bitcoin-abc-0.33.6/bin/bitcoind -daemon
  • Clean up old version and archives (optional):
    • rm -rf bitcoin-abc-0.32.11
    • rm -f bitcoin-abc-0.32.11-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz
    • rm -f bitcoin-abc-0.33.6-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz

Do I need to upgrade my wallet?

The network upgrade only affects full nodes. Other eCash software, including wallets such as Electrum ABC are not affected by the network upgrade.