Release Announcement: Dash Core v0.16 on Mainnet

Dash Core Group is pleased to share that Dash Core v0.16.0.1 binaries are released and ready for deployment on mainnet by node operators. This is a major release and is a mandatory upgrade for all miners and masternodes. We would like to thank our community members who have helped us with code changes and testing.

This release includes significant upgrades to the core protocol and wallet user interface with the following highlights:

• Block reward reallocation to improve the economics of Dash by adjusting the percentage of reward
• Core wallet UI/UX improvements throughout for greater quality, consistency, and flexibility
• Minimum protocol check to ensure masternodes are running the proper version when forming quorums
• Dynamic activation thresholds to provide a safe, non-blocking method of proposal activation
• Concentrated recovery to recover signature shares using a deterministic approach
• PrivateSend enhancements including random round mixing and an improved create denominations algorithm
• Bitcoin backports through BTC version 0.16 are included in Dash Core v0.16.0

Read more about these features in the Dash Core v0.16.0 Product Brief and download the binaries from the Dash website.

The changes included in this major upgrade a part of the Dash Evolution vision, a decentralized payments platform built on top of the Dash blockchain. Dash already offers instant, peer-to-peer payments with micro-fees and is accepted by thousands of merchants worldwide. Dash aims to make ours the most user friendly blockchain-based payments platform in the world. Dash will provide businesses and developers with the ability to build user-friendly, Venmo-like applications that allow people to create accounts with customized user names instead of cryptographic addresses to exchange Dash. Additionally, Dash Platform will enable developers to build decentralized applications without the infrastructure needed to run a full node, made possible through decentralized hosting.

Important Message for Partners and Network Operators

We ask partners, network operators, and other stakeholders to please begin upgrading as soon as possible. Masternodes must update before the activation of spork 21 in order to continue receiving block rewards. The exact date of spork 21 activation will be announced at a later time, once enough masternodes have successfully migrated to v0.16.

Please contact the support desk if you need assistance with the upgrade.

Congratulations to the core development team and community contributors on this tremendous step forward for the Dash network.