Bitcoin Core v32.0 is targeted for release in October: - Up to 3x faster initial sync. Block validation now fetches transaction inputs from disk in parallel instead of one at a time - The libevent external dependency is fully removed, continuing Core's push to cut third-party dependencies - Max peer connections raised from 125 to 200 to have more open slots for new nodes to sync from, faster block propagation, and a harder network to eclipse or partition - Mempool-based fee estimation to cut fee overestimation (in progress) - Transaction relay rate limiting is now global instead of per-peer, keeping a node's CPU and memory usage steady when transaction volume spikes - Ships with features from libsecp256k1 0.8.0 with verification up to 11% faster, plus the new Silent Payments module (BIP 352) - PSBTv2 (BIP 370) support, now the default for PSBT-creating RPCs for better coordination of unsigned transactions for multisig and hardware wallet setups - New exportwatchonlywallet command to export a wallet as a watch-only file, no private keys, and restore it on your online node - Core now enables Tor's proof-of-work DDoS defense on the onion service it creates for your node, where the Tor daemon supports it Additional tests, bugfixes, and features included as well. Feature freeze is ~August 20, rc1 ~September 10, final release targeted for ~October 10. (Test the release candidates when they ship!)