bitcoin/doc/release-notes.md

After branching off for a major version release of Bitcoin Core, use this template to create the initial release notes draft.

The release notes draft is a temporary file that can be added to by anyone. See /doc/developer-notes.md#release-notes for the process.

Create the draft, named "version Release Notes Draft" (e.g. "0.20.0 Release Notes Draft"), as a collaborative wiki in:

https://github.com/bitcoin-core/bitcoin-devwiki/wiki/

Before the final release, move the notes back to this git repository.

version Release Notes Draft

Bitcoin Core version version is now available from:

https://bitcoincore.org/bin/bitcoin-core-*version*/

This release includes new features, various bug fixes and performance improvements, as well as updated translations.

Please report bugs using the issue tracker at GitHub:

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

To receive security and update notifications, please subscribe to:

https://bitcoincore.org/en/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 for older versions), then run the installer (on Windows) or just copy over /Applications/Bitcoin-Qt (on Mac) or bitcoind/bitcoin-qt (on Linux).

Upgrading directly from a version of Bitcoin Core that has reached its EOL is possible, but it might take some time if the datadir needs to be migrated. Old wallet versions of Bitcoin Core are generally supported.

Compatibility

Bitcoin Core is supported and extensively tested on operating systems using the Linux kernel, macOS 10.10+, and Windows 7 and newer. It is not recommended to use Bitcoin Core on unsupported systems.

Bitcoin Core should also work on most other Unix-like systems but is not as frequently tested on them.

From Bitcoin Core 0.17.0 onwards, macOS versions earlier than 10.10 are no longer supported, as Bitcoin Core is now built using Qt 5.9.x which requires macOS 10.10+. Additionally, Bitcoin Core does not yet change appearance when macOS "dark mode" is activated.

In addition to previously supported CPU platforms, this release's pre-compiled distribution provides binaries for the RISC-V platform.

Notable changes

New RPCs

New settings

Updated settings

Updated RPCs

Note: some low-level RPC changes mainly useful for testing are described in the Low-level Changes section below.

GUI changes

Wallet

• The wallet now by default uses bech32 addresses when using RPC, and creates native segwit change outputs.

Low-level changes

Tests

• -fallbackfee was 0 (disabled) by default for the main chain, but 20000 by default for the test chains. Now it is 0 by default for all chains. Testnet and regtest users will have to add fallbackfee=20000 to their configuration if they weren't setting it and they want it to keep working like before. (#16524)

Credits

Thanks to everyone who directly contributed to this release:

As well as to everyone that helped with translations on Transifex.