The Bitcoin Core development team released the first candidate version, v32.0rc1, on September 14. This update focuses on client software improvements, including a new fee estimation mechanism, faster block validation, and security patches. The stable release of Bitcoin Core 32.0 is scheduled for October 10.
The new estimatesmartfee mechanism integrates mempool_policy alongside the existing block_policy. The client will return the lower of the two estimates to potentially reduce transaction fees during periods of low network activity. Users can manually select the estimation algorithm via the fee_rate_estimator parameter.
Block validation performance is improved through parallel prefetching of transaction outputs (prevouts). By default, the client uses eight threads, with a maximum of 16, to speed up data retrieval from disk. Additionally, the txindex will occupy less than half its previous disk space after a full rebuild.
The update addresses two security vulnerabilities. One fix resolves an issue with the walletnotify parameter that could allow unauthorized command execution on non-Windows systems. The second patch prevents potential memory exhaustion in the new HTTP server by limiting data intake during request processing.
