Bitcoin Knots version 29.4.2.knots20260508 is now available from:

https://bitcoinknots.org/files/29.x/29.4.2.knots20260508/

This release includes further mitigation of the ongoing attack on the network. Please read below for important informed consent on this and upcoming planned changes.

Please report bugs using the issue tracker at GitHub:

https://github.com/bitcoinknots/bitcoin/issues

To receive security and update notifications, please subscribe to:

https://bitcoinknots.org/list/announcements/join/

How to Upgrade

If you are running an older version, shut it down. Wait until it has completely shut down (which might take a few minutes in some cases), then run the installer (on Windows) or just copy over /Applications/Bitcoin-Qt (on macOS) or bitcoind/bitcoin-qt (on Linux).

Upgrading directly from very old versions of Bitcoin Core or Knots is possible, but it might take some time if the data directory needs to be migrated. Old wallet versions of Bitcoin Knots are generally supported.

If your node is already pruned past September 21 when you upgrade, your node may need to re-sync the blockchain from scratch. You will be asked at startup if this is necessary.

Compatibility

Bitcoin Knots is supported on operating systems using the Linux kernel, macOS 13+, and Windows 10+. It is not recommended to use Bitcoin Knots on unsupported systems.

Known Bugs

In various locations, including the GUI's transaction details dialog and the "vsize" result in many RPC results, transaction virtual sizes may not account for an unusually high number of sigops (ie, as determined by the -bytespersigop policy) or datacarrier penalties (ie, -datacarriercost). This could result in reporting a lower virtual size than is actually used for mempool or mining purposes.

Due to disruption of the shared Bitcoin Transifex repository, this release still does not include updated translations, and Bitcoin Knots may be unable to do so until/unless that is resolved.

Attack Mitigation

Due to attacks from apathetic BLAKE2b incumbents looking to exploit Bitcoin for profit, the community has decided to extend the current (since 2009) 16-hour (100 blocks) maturity lock time on newly mined bitcoins up to 350 days, and possibly make it contingent on actually mining (the attackers are blind hashing instead of mining).

Because this has the potential for negative side-effects and not been discussed more broadly (only within the active #strategic chat), this release of Bitcoin Knots deploys only a 45-day maturity time, but nothing more. If consensus is reached to extend it further, or withhold payment to attackers, a future update will be needed. However, miners and hashers are now on notice that these options are being considered and they may need to wait much longer or (if not mining with their own node) never be paid at all. Users should upgrade to this new version as soon as possible, and plan for updates around mid-October and 2027 August.

If you are "mining" without running DATUM Gateway yourself, you are NOT actually mining, and are in fact attacking the network. You should expect to never get paid any rewards for that going forward. If you wish to mine properly, set up your own DATUM Gateway and use it for mining. There is volunteer tech support available on the Knots Discord ⁠#support channel. Or for basic instructions, see:

https://bitcoinknots.org/learn/mining

Please join and participate in the #⁠⁠strategic Discord channel if you hold any opinion or wish to discuss suggestions/plans on this matter.

https://bitcoinknots.org/social/discord

Notable changes

• SHA256d difficulty and BLAKE2b difficulty are entirely different units and cannot be compared or converted. To address this, the "difficulty" field has been removed where applicable (SHA256d block information retains it), and the getdifficulty RPC method has been removed. A new "difficulty_blake2b" field has been added for BLAKE2b blocks, as well as in the result for getblockchaininfo. knots#420

Validation

• knots#419 T.Softfork: Long coinbase maturity (part 1 of 3)

Net

• bitcoin#30951 net: Support -listen with -v2onlyclearnet properly
• bitcoin#35766 p2p: Assume v2transport for addresses from seeds
• seeds: update fixed dns seeds for mainnet and testnet4

RPC

• knots#420 Bugfix: RPC: Replace SHA256d "difficulty" with "difficulty_blake2b"

Misc

• knots#365 test: Skip the completion-file comparison in pull request CI

Credits

Thanks to everyone who directly contributed to this release:

• Chris Guida
• Luke Dashjr
• Martin Zumsande
• stratospher

As well as to the rest of the community for your patience and support as we mitigate the biggest attack on Bitcoin in history.