The Bitcoin SV Node team released version 0.2.1 of the Bitcoin SV Node implementation today. This version is an optional release; it adds certain improvements but it is not required for the Quasar protocol upgrade which is scheduled for July 24.
The primary feature of this release is an improvement which substantially decreases the time it takes to produce blocks with many transactions, enabling miners to produce even larger blocks than are already common on the Bitcoin SV blockchain.
Another important feature is the expansion of the RPC getblock function to enable the inclusion of transaction details. This is particularly important for large blocks as it means system integrators can retrieve all the details of a block and the transactions confirmed by the block with just one RPC call.
Changes of note include:
- Optional preloading of the UTXO set into file system cache – this results in performance improvements when validating transactions
- Calls to TestBlockValidity() call are now configurable using -blockcandidatevaliditytest option – this substantially reduces the time it takes for the node to assemble a block for mining
- Transaction details in RPC getblock – this is an improvement for integrating other systems with the node
- Support for OP_FALSE OP_RETURN as a standard transactions – this is a preparatory step before OP_RETURN is repaired to its original function in the Genesis upgrade early next year
- Remove Bitcoin ABC cashaddr address format – the Bitcoin SV Node implementation will no longer support the BCH cashaddr format addresses
- Various minor refactoring and other improvements
Source code is available on the bitcoin-sv github and the signed binaries are available here.
