What impact does Bitcoin Client 28.0 have on users?

Bitcoin Core 28.0: Comprehensive Enhancements in Privacy Protection, Performance Optimization, and Wallet Management.

Written by: 0XNATALIE

On October 2, the Bitcoin Core client, Bitcoin Core 28.0, was officially released. This version was led by several senior developers, including Blockstream co-founder Pieter Wuille (a major contributor to SegWit and Taproot technologies), former Blockstream CTO Greg Maxwell (involved in the development of BIP66 and BIP174), and veteran Bitcoin developer Luke Dashjr, among others.

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 via GitHub.

For regular users, Bitcoin Core 28.0 introduces automatic detection of transaction conflicts and optimized fee estimation, effectively improving transaction success rates and reducing costs. Meanwhile, improvements to wallet functionality make address and key management more convenient, and backup and recovery simpler. For developers, the new version provides a more stable development environment and stronger node communication capabilities.

Main New Features and Improvements

Wallet Function Upgrades

The wallet in Bitcoin Core 28.0 can automatically detect conflicts with unconfirmed transactions in the mempool, preventing users from encountering duplicate or conflicting situations when sending transactions. This increases transaction success rates and reduces the risk of funds being frozen or delayed due to transaction conflicts. The new version also introduces descriptor wallets, a more modern wallet management method. With descriptors, users can define complex address generation rules, including single-signature, multi-signature, and nested addresses, to meet different usage needs. Descriptor wallets use a unified descriptor file to record all address and key information, so users only need to back up one descriptor file to fully restore all wallet functions and funds, simplifying the backup and recovery process.

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

User Interface Improvements

Bitcoin Core 28.0 adds a "Migrate Wallet" feature to the user interface, allowing users to easily migrate wallet data from older versions to the new version without complex operations, completing wallet data transfer and updates. In addition, the information window now displays detailed mempool capacity, including current usage. With this feature, users can better monitor 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, enhancing 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, a secure communication method between different programs on the same computer. This provides advanced users and developers with a more secure and efficient way to communicate, especially when interacting between local applications and Bitcoin nodes, significantly improving performance and security.
• Improved Remote Control Interface: The new version enhances the compatibility of the JSON-RPC interface, supporting the JSON-RPC 2.0 standard. This improvement allows third-party applications to interact with Bitcoin nodes more stably and reliably, providing developers with a more stable development environment.

Performance Improvements

In terms of performance, Bitcoin Core 28.0 optimizes the block database caching mechanism, speeding up block synchronization. Users running Bitcoin Core for the first time can synchronize to the latest blockchain state in a shorter time. The new version also removes obsolete components, reducing software complexity and lowering potential security risks. At the same time, the external libraries and tools (build dependencies) required to build the software have been upgraded to the latest versions.

Review of v27: Important Bug Fixes

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

• RPC Security Improvements: In version 27.1, a handling issue with the setmocktime parameter was fixed. setmocktime is used to set the test time. This fix addressed incorrect handling of this parameter, preventing node failures caused by incorrect time settings. In addition, error messages were improved to better describe the source of problems, allowing developers to identify issues more quickly during troubleshooting.
• Miniscript Optimization: Miniscript is a Bitcoin scripting language used to ensure transaction security, such as who can spend certain funds or how many people must sign to transfer funds. In version 27.1, developers improved Miniscript parsing, allowing even very complex transaction rules to be correctly recognized and executed.
• Network Communication Optimization: The node identification mechanism in the P2P network was improved, ensuring more stable and efficient connections between nodes and enhancing overall network reliability.
• Memory Leak Fix: Memory leak is a type of "resource waste" in computer programs, caused by not properly releasing unused memory. Memory leaks can degrade program performance and even cause node crashes. In version 27.2, a memory leak issue was fixed.
• Wallet Security Patch: Version 27.2 improved the wallet's transaction processing logic, fixing some issues that could cause transaction errors. For example, when users attempt to create unsigned transactions, the system can more accurately identify and prompt potential errors. Additionally, the Proxy IP settings issue was fixed, improving security and stability when connecting via proxy.

The next version, 29.0, is planned for release in early April 2025 and is expected to introduce more transaction optimizations, a more efficient block transmission protocol, and stronger privacy features.