Bitcoin 0.11.0 Released

New bitcoin core version 0.11.0 has already been announced and it’s ready to be downloaded. To upgrade the version all that you need to do is shut down the older version and then run the installer.

In order to upgrade, user have to shut down the previous version then run the installer. It is compatible for Mac and Windows as well.

Bitcoin Core Version Changes

A significant modification to this newest release of bitcoin core is an option of block file pruning. That means, users are allowed to get rid of their version of bitcoin core from data included in previous blocks that aren’t needed to run a complete node. It isn’t mandatory to locally store the whole blockchain, it can be limited to a minimum of 550 blocks.

This change is very beneficial for the users who don’t have enough space in their hard drives, as the current blockchain’s size is approx 40 GB. The block pruning isn’t yet available for users of the bitcoin core wallet software, but it will be in future.

The latest version of bitcoin core also covers an increased fee-estimation mechanism. This gives users the liberty to add correct amount of fees to have their transaction processed faster. To successfully complete the task, bitcoin core 0.11.0 scans the mempool, latest block, and unconfirmed transactions to determine how high a fee should be in order to be counted in the next block. This mechanism will be absolutely helpful in establishing a functioning fee market, as there has been cases of spam attacks.

According to experts, an older problem regarding the increased volume of transactions has drastically affected the transaction verification time in the network; the bitcoin core version 0.11.0 addresses this issue.

The version also includes enhanced privacy functions, especially for it connects to the anonymizing TOR network efficiently. Other benefits in the latest version are enhanced performance, memory use etc.