Bitcoin Core 32.0 Targets Oct. 10 Release After Final Testing

Bitcoin Core 32.0 entered final testing Sept. 14 and is scheduled for release Oct. 10, adding a second fee estimator and multithreaded database retrieval during block checks without altering Bitcoin’s consensus rules.

The update adds a second fee estimator that can consider pending transactions. This is designed to lower recommended fees more quickly when network congestion declines.

Nodes will also be able to use multiple threads to retrieve transaction data from databases during block checks. The default configuration uses eight threads to reduce disk-wait time.

The release fixes a security vulnerability affecting non-Windows systems since Bitcoin Core 24.0. Under specific conditions, an authenticated user with permission to create wallets could execute commands through a specially crafted wallet name when the walletnotify feature was enabled.

Four commands used to create partially signed transactions will default to Partially Signed Bitcoin Transaction version 2. Services that use those commands will need to support the newer format.

An audit identified a memory-exhaustion risk in the new web server. Sixteen unauthenticated REST connections could increase node memory use from 46 megabytes to about 3 gigabytes within one minute. The issue was fixed before the 32.0 release.

The planned release date is Oct. 10.