eCash(XEC) Network Upgrade (0.29.1)

As part of its rapid development roadmap, the eCash network undergoes periodic network upgrades. Check here to find up-to-date information so you can stay informed, and be prepared for the next upgrade.

Who needs to upgrade?

All operators of a Bitcoin ABC full node must upgrade to the latest major version (0.29.1). This is available at the Bitcoin ABC Releases Page.

Exactly when will the upgrade activate?

In order to activate reliably at a predictable time, the network upgrade uses the "Median Time Past" mechanism. The upgrade activates when the median of the last 11 blocks reaches timestamp 1715774400 (12:00:00 UTC on May 15th, 2024). This means that the upgrade does not actually activate exactly at that time, but typically about one hour later, when 6 blocks with timestamps greater than the activation time have been produced.

What features are included in the Network Upgrade?

There are no consensus changes activating at the upgrade, however the upgrade release includes the Chronik indexer as an opt-in option to the Bitcoin ABC node software for Linux and Windows.

Chronik gives you access to a brand new API to get notified of finalized blocks, retrieve transaction history by eCash address, gather eToken transaction data, and much more. To enable Chronik, simply turn it on with the -chronik option.

Take a look at the full Setup and API documentation to get an overview of the features, and start building your own application with the chronik-client npm package.

Do I need to upgrade my wallet?

The network upgrade only affects full nodes. Other eCash software, including wallets such as Electrum ABC are not affected by the network upgrade.