What impact does Bitcoin Client 28.0 have on users?

Author: 0xNatalie Source: chainfeeds

On October 2, Bitcoin Core 28.0 was officially released. This version was led by several senior developers, including Blockstream co-founder Pieter Wuille (the main contributor of SegWit and Taproot technology), former Blockstream CTO Greg Maxwell (participated in the development of BIP66 and BIP174), and senior Bitcoin developer Luke Dashjr, etc.

Bitcoin Core is the most widely used Bitcoin full node client, maintained and developed by the global open source community to ensure the security, stability and decentralization of the Bitcoin network. Anyone can contribute through GitHub.

For ordinary users, the automatic detection of transaction conflicts and optimized fee estimation introduced in Bitcoin Core 28.0 have effectively improved the success rate of transactions and reduced costs. At the same time, the improvement of wallet functions makes address and key management more convenient, and backup and recovery are also simpler. For developers, the new version provides a more stable development environment and stronger node communication capabilities.

Major new features and improvements

Wallet function upgrade

The wallet of Bitcoin Core 28.0 can automatically detect conflicts with unconfirmed transactions in the memory pool, avoiding users from encountering duplication or conflicts when sending transactions. It improves the success rate of transactions and reduces fund freezing or delays caused by transaction conflicts. The new version also introduces descriptor wallets, a more modern way to manage wallets. Through descriptors, users can define complex address generation rules, including single signature, multi-signature (multi-signature) and nested addresses, etc., to meet different usage needs. The descriptor wallet uses a unified descriptor file to record the information of all addresses and keys, so users only need to back up a descriptor file to fully restore all functions and funds of the wallet, simplifying the backup and recovery process.

In order to help users save costs, Bitcoin Core 28.0 optimizes the estimation of transaction fees. By default, the system will automatically select the most economical fee model, automatically estimate more reasonable transaction fees to help users save costs. At the same time, the "conservative mode" is retained for users who need higher fee estimates. To meet different needs.

User Interface Improvements

Bitcoin Core 28.0 adds a "Migrate Wallet" function to the user interface, allowing users to easily migrate wallet data from the old version to the new version, without complex operations, to complete the transfer and update of wallet data. In addition, the information window has added a detailed display of the memory pool capacity, including the current usage. Through this feature, users can better monitor the node status and optimize node configuration and performance.

Network and Privacy Optimization

• Testnet4:According to BIP94, the new version introduces a new test network Testnet4, gradually phasing out the old Testnet3. Testnet4 provides a more stable and modern testing environment, and improves the reliability and security of the test network.

• More Flexible Privacy Protection: The new version optimizes Tor connections. Tor is a privacy-protecting network tool that can hide real IP addresses and enhance online privacy. With this update, users can more easily configure Tor connections, thereby improving the anonymity and security of node communications.

• UNIX domain socket support: The new version adds support for UNIX domain sockets, which is a secure way for different programs on the same computer to communicate. It provides a more secure and efficient way of communication for advanced users and developers, especially when local applications interact with Bitcoin nodes, significantly improving performance and security.

• Improved remote control interface: The new version improves the compatibility of the JSON-RPC interface. Supports the JSON-RPC 2.0 standard. This improvement enables third-party applications to interact with Bitcoin nodes more stably and reliably, providing developers with a more stable development environment.

Performance improvement

In terms of performance, Bitcoin Core 28.0 optimizes the cache mechanism of the block database and speeds up block synchronization. Users who run Bitcoin Core for the first time can synchronize to the latest blockchain status in a shorter time. The new version also removes old components that are no longer used, reducing the complexity of the software and reducing potential security risks. At the same time, the external libraries and tools (compilation dependencies) required to build the software have been upgraded to the latest versions.

Review of v27 version: Important vulnerabilities fixed

In the minor versions (27.1 and 27.2) before the release of Bitcoin Core 28.0, developers fixed several issues that affect system security and stability:

• RPC security improvements: In version 27.1, a processing problem of the setmocktime parameter was fixed. setmocktime is a parameter used to set the test time. Fixed the error handling of this parameter to avoid node failures caused by incorrect time settings. In addition, the error message prompts have been improved to better describe the source of the problem, allowing developers to find the cause more quickly when troubleshooting.

• Miniscript optimization: Miniscript is a Bitcoin scripting language used to ensure the security of transactions, such as who can spend a certain amount of funds, or how many people need to sign at the same time to transfer money. In version 27.1, developers have improved the way Miniscript is parsed so that even very complex transaction rules can be correctly identified and executed.

• Network communication optimization: Improved the node identification mechanism in P2P networks to ensure that the connection between nodes is more stable and efficient. Improved the overall reliability of the network.

• Memory leak fix: Memory leak is a "waste of resources" in a computer program because the program does not properly release memory that is no longer used. Memory leaks can cause program performance to degrade and may even crash the node. In version 27.2, a problem that caused a memory leak was fixed.

• Wallet security fixes: Version 27.2 improves the transaction processing logic of the wallet and fixes some issues that may cause transaction errors. For example, when a user attempts to create an unsigned transaction, the system will more accurately identify and prompt potential errors. In addition, the problem of Proxy IP settings has been fixed, improving security and stability when connecting through a proxy.

The next version 29.0 is scheduled to be released in early April 2025, and is expected to introduce more transaction optimizations and a more efficient block transfer protocol, as well as stronger privacy features.