Bitcoin Core v32.1 Released

With this update, those older versions are now at "End of Life" and will not receive any further updates or security patches. The new release introduces several features, bug fixes, performance enhancements, and updated translations. Users are encouraged to report any bugs through the project's GitHub issue tracker. In line with the security policy, disclosures of vulnerabilities fixed in this release follow a defined schedule, including the forthcoming disclosure of three medium or high severity issues that were resolved in version 30.0.

To upgrade, users running an older version should completely shut down their current node before installing the new software. On Windows, use the installer; on macOS, copy over the /Applications/Bitcoin-Qt directory; and on Linux, replace the bin/ and libexec/ directories. Upgrading from an End-of-Life version is possible but might require additional time if the data directory needs migration. Wallets from older Bitcoin Core versions remain generally supported.

This release maintains compatibility with recent operating systems: Linux Kernel 3.17 or newer, macOS 14 or newer, and Windows 10 (version 1903) or newer. While Bitcoin Core may function on other Unix-like systems, support and testing focus on the recommended platforms, and usage on unsupported systems is discouraged.

Among notable peer-to-peer (P2P) and network changes, Tor hidden services initiated by Bitcoin Core now enable proof-of-work defenses when the supporting Tor daemon is present. Outgoing transaction relay rate-limiting now utilizes a global backlog rather than per-peer limits, optimizing memory and CPU usage during high transaction volumes. This can be configured via the -txsendrate option, with default limits set for both transaction count and total bandwidth. Security improvements address a potential leak of the transaction originator's IP address in specific private broadcast scenarios involving protocol version fallback and Tor proxying. Additionally, the private-broadcast queue is capped at 10,000 entries, and individual transactions sent via private broadcast are limited to 1,000 send attempts, after which manual intervention is required.

I2P networking is transitioning away from legacy ElGamal encryption, with removal planned on or before version 34. Nodes using outdated versions will increasingly face network isolation. CJDNS support is under review due to low adoption, and related documentation has been updated to simplify its configuration. The default maximum number of automatic peer connections (-maxconnections) has increased from 125 to 200, enhancing inbound capacity for block-relay-only peers, while maintaining adjustable limits and safeguards against excessive peer counts.

In the mempool subsystem, deprecated Replace-by-Fee (RBF) arguments have been fully removed unless explicitly requested via deprecated options. Several mempool-related RPC responses no longer include legacy fields unless enabled by startup arguments. RPC improvements introduce more detailed fields for transaction size measurements and provide enhanced feedback regarding non-standard transaction inputs. The dumptxoutset RPC can now write directly to named pipes for efficient UTXO set handling. Fee estimation through estimatesmartfee now combines block policy and mempool policy estimators, offering a more nuanced approach based on current network conditions, with persistent statistics and configurable verbosity.

Wallet functionality receives multiple enhancements. New RPCs such as addhdkey, exportwatchonlywallet, and derivehdkey simplify key management workflows, multi-signature setup, and watch-only wallet export. The wallet interface now reports clearer reasons for fee selection and restricts potentially unsafe wallet naming conventions. Experimental status has been removed from the send and sendall RPCs, and outdated command behaviors have been deprecated or removed for robustness. Security is strengthened by correcting the handling of wallet notification placeholder replacements.

The graphical user interface (GUI) now supports creating watch-only wallets via a dedicated menu action and aligns transaction replaceability settings with the wallet's global configuration, removing the explicit BIP 125 checkbox. Additional GUI improvements include streamlined wallet migration and building with Qt 6.8.4.

Mining and IPC interfaces have been improved for transparency and error handling. Mining template submission now provides explicit reasons for rejection and debug details, and duplicate submissions are properly flagged. Block template options are now strictly validated, and mining logs are managed via a new logging category.

REST API responses now include appropriate cache-control headers, distinguishing between immutable and dynamic content. At the lower level, transaction indexes consume less disk space, with backward compatibility preserved for existing users and instructions provided for reclaiming storage by rebuilding indexes. The HTTP server stack has migrated from Libevent to a custom solution, introducing stricter RFC compliance in request handling and immediate disconnection for unauthorized RPC clients