Bitcoin Core speeds up security fixes as 44% of surveyed nodes run unsupported versions

What happened

Bitcoin Core merged a policy amendment on Oct. 24, 2026 3 min read Quick Take 01 Bitcoin Core will backport fixes for easily rediscovered flaws to maintained releases as soon as possible and publish an advisory with them.

Make CryptoSlate preferred on Share Share Bitcoin Core merged a policy amendment on Oct. 18 shows that 3,671 of 8,422 self-reported Bitcoin Core peers (43.6%) ran release lines that had already reached end of life.

22 that lets developers backport fixes for easily rediscovered vulnerabilities to every maintained release line and publish an advisory alongside them. BTC 1.44% · 24h Bitcoin Core speeds up security fixes as 44% of surveyed nodes run unsupported versions Bitcoin Core speeds up AI-era security fixes as 43.6% of surveyed nodes run unsupported software, a share that could surpass 50% after its next major release.

02 About 43.6% of sampled Core peers run unsupported lines, and that could reach 51.1% after version 32. 03 Faster fixes help only when operators install them.

The count comes from connected public peers in the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology's Bitcoin network monitor and reflects maintenance eligibility. A node on an unsupported version can keep validating blocks correctly, and the figure doesn't measure compromise.

22 Under the old policy, medium- and high-severity vulnerabilities stayed under embargo until two weeks past the end of life of the last affected release. That can mean about a year between a fix and the publication of its details.