DeFCoN Core v23.0.0 — Mainnet Activation Release

Mandatory for every node. Nine consensus changes turn on at one block height.

What you must do

1. Back up your data directory, with the node stopped.
2. Install v23.0.0 before block 144 768 — not before the activation, before 144 768. From that
   block an upgraded node drops any peer still speaking the old protocol, in both directions and
   with no grace period. A node left on v22.1.4 stops following the chain there.
3. Do not upgrade all at once. A fleet-wide restart inside a few minutes can fail the quorum
   round covering that window.

Heights are exact; wall-clock estimates are not — mainnet runs at about 157 s per block.

From 144 778 there is no way back to v22.1.4, with or without a reindex.

What is in it

ChainLocks and InstantSend move to the new 60-member Q60 quorum. Five proof-of-stake rules tighten
(kernel, coinbase bound, stake modifier, block time, fee destruction), a DKG threshold is raised,
and the unused superblock machinery is retired. All nine come from one constant.

The Sentinel liveness layer ships and starts recording at 145 464. It does not punish; the half
that would is not in this release.

Three things that will look wrong and are not: ChainLocks pause between 144 768 and 144 887
(blocks and transactions are unaffected; from 144 888 locks resume once a Q60 quorum has formed and
signs, and Q60 quorums form only from upgraded masternodes); your peer count drops at 144 768, when
upgraded nodes stop talking to v22.1.4 peers, or at once if you upgrade after that block; and if
you stake, your weight rises at 144 888, because coins older than 60 days become eligible again.

Downloads

defcon-linux.tgz (Linux x86-64) · defcon-windows.zip (Windows x86-64) ·
defcon-apple.tgz (macOS 11+ Intel, unsigned, no Apple Silicon build)

sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS                            # Linux
shasum -a 256 -c SHA256SUMS                        # macOS
# Windows, PowerShell: prints True when the file matches
(Get-FileHash defcon-windows.zip -Algorithm SHA256).Hash -eq 'c89e550ba2d5b5f1c75c8fd06df177b1625b60468c09f0432d307bc3192abfa1'

There is no signature; this project has not published one for any release. The checksums
show that a download arrived intact. They cannot show that the release itself is authentic, because
SHA256SUMS and the list below both come from this page.

📄 Full release notes (attached below) — every change in detail, what masternode operators
and exchanges must know, what to do if a node will not follow the chain, and the complete list of
what was and was not tested before this release.

Updated 2026-09-22: the height from which v22.1.4 can no longer follow the chain corrected from
144 888 to 144 778, as measured; two further rehearsals added to the tested list in the full notes.
The binaries, checksums and tag are unchanged.

Built from commit a06830fd4281

18341a5e14b26fee4c20e1eb8f63f4ef3062b6e14cb87f96a8e2fe8beb0c6df2  defcon-linux.tgz
c89e550ba2d5b5f1c75c8fd06df177b1625b60468c09f0432d307bc3192abfa1  defcon-windows.zip
f70ebe96dc400d53bfed18512d5bb720516dc41f7604e5bdf92c37011671d80d  defcon-apple.tgz

DeFCoN Core v22.1.4

DeFCoN Core v22.1.4 is the tested final production release for the July 2026 fork recovery. This is a mandatory network upgrade.

All wallets, masternodes, full nodes, seed nodes, exchanges, bridges, explorers, and other services must upgrade before block 113,117.

What happens at activation

The release uses the DAO-selected chain's block at height 103,536 as a fixed recovery reference. Starting at block 113,117, upgraded nodes verify that this reference block exists in their chain history.

• Nodes already following the selected chain continue normally.
• Fresh or reindexed v22.1.4 nodes are prevented from accepting the obsolete July fork.
• A node with an incompatible local chain database fails safely and must reindex onto the selected chain.
• Older clients using the previous protocol are disconnected after activation and must upgrade to participate normally.

Seed nodes only provide peer addresses; they do not decide which chain is valid.

Operator checklist

1. Back up wallet.dat before upgrading.
2. Install v22.1.4 before block 113,117.
3. Nodes already on the selected chain do not require a reindex.
4. Nodes on the obsolete chain require a full -reindex after upgrading.
5. Never delete wallet.dat during recovery.

Main improvements

• Deterministic one-time recovery from the July 2026 chain split
• Updated checkpoints, minimum chain work, and assume-valid reference
• Mandatory protocol version 70239 after activation
• Signed public fork-evidence package in the source tree
• More reliable ChainLock signing behavior
• Safer BLS state handling and encrypted stored BLS private keys
• Hardened bootstrap seed infrastructure
• Dedicated Multisig GUI with PSBT-based signing
• Clearer locked-wallet message during multisig import
• Final release mode with no pre-release warning

Validation

• Built from merged source commit 113c644501c9352943b438bd5dba62d1b283ad9f
• Linux x86-64, Windows x86-64, and macOS Intel x86-64 builds completed successfully
• 5/5 fork-recovery tests passed
• 1,035,699 assertions passed
• Fork-evidence signature and every evidence checksum verified
• Release archives and individual binaries include SHA256 checksums

The macOS binaries are currently unsigned. Verify downloads with the accompanying checksum files.

This release provides a one-time recovery safeguard for the July 2026 fork. Broader LLMQ and ChainLock improvements for future network resilience will be handled separately.
EOF

Highlights

• LLMQ / ChainLock hardening and race-condition fix
• ISDLOCK inv relay refinement (backport of dash#6994 / dash#7293)
• Versionbits performance optimizations (backport of dash#7064)
• Wallet BLS key-handling hardening
• New GUI multisig wallet dialog (createmultisig / addmultisigaddress)
• protx policy update: min_confirmations filter
• Mainnet seed reliability: refreshed fixed seeds (port 8192), primary DNS
  seeder dnsseed.deftrack.xyz, backup dns.dfcn.io

Consensus

No consensus changes. Upgrading is recommended for all node and
masternode operators but is not a mandatory protocol upgrade.

Validation

• Public test cycle on mainnet: 60+ masternodes ran v22.1.3 for
  two weeks with no chain divergence and no PoSe regressions.
• The Linux defcond, defcon-cli, defcon-wallet and all Windows
  executables in this release are byte-identical to the binaries
  that completed the two-week test (see per-binary SHA256 below).
• Linux defcon-tx and defcon-qt were built from the same commit in
  the same build environment and smoke-tested.

Downloads

Always verify checksums before running.

Note: macOS binaries are unsigned; on first launch use right-click → Open,
or run xattr -d com.apple.quarantine <file>.

SHA256 — archives

​ 0bc08abfaf7b31fbf8f9b9118eec1eb24e64da41db3d5a42bba15e95544b44ee defcon-linux.tgz 5bf3748bdc59e4043e2faaf876c31afbca6c43fd563e525438bac84a9a750070 defcon-windows.zip 9187d14f0052e09b54faaf876d23ced5d5f0a90dca6caceb87c1124c218dc7d1 defcon-apple.tgz ​

SHA256 — individual binaries

Linux (defcon-linux/):

​ f717f6b8e48c40c86f51ae2870bd78f1c3d757ab09dcc13016e19f7258eea552 defcond e29ceeb241d19a799e67411a45161650610ac2c9c3691dabb60a0eccfc62d933 defcon-cli 1e591f0de81158c5d6007cf187e797b94419c3fbef0ae47dcc639c7615c79e91 defcon-wallet bcc8c7ca3a901a5818e1e094c1576af3bc9ae99edad86185f56a467ce6b9acd8 defcon-tx 002d93e4d5d2b4afb6225365bdb08c5f2ccddf0d1fc239ee4cbf77e0410e44fb defcon-qt ​

Windows (defcon-windows/):

​ f147e34a9897616b90e69f6aa3342d15c8e16ba51a038b58e2db0178d34279fc defcond.exe 143548dc3de923c85b53b8dfc9c6fbde3da6b97313b8612b2e259656b9adcb81 defcon-cli.exe e64a39ea561122281394664204fa1de45b0c36250922782d9f4afc2f09878af2 defcon-wallet.exe 718a844759877024211366f765ff853d1bb3993a42a6949e18ddcc0485727be4 defcon-tx.exe 86109de2ae86b7b3050840e6cf1e0428039abf86b7a77d6d175bc7c16002094e defcon-qt.exe ​

macOS (defcon-apple/, cross-compiled from the release commit, Xcode 15 SDK):

​ 2c89d98577a319ad88b4bddd51054a0bcdd81f144260b1b86ed7c5ae6a265211 defcond 799567b1ac073fe111b2dac797af692584c70bd46e0546fa9800d86027b35f31 defcon-cli e0dbf180b96a11996f51f95472463fc0890bc720aeb96f00e688296967167bc2 defcon-wallet ba66588379aef38b13c31a47a814f40f743604fcfd71c36a2b62bfd1bc7bb069 defcon-tx 3e3446be9b7aa1550e58d104305f286d523f16e00daea4936cf79dcf324e793d defcon-qt ​

contains testnet changes for coinjoin, bls addresses, removed debug logging

1117b97ba651bc1298079c3189d99b90b71bc3b1884a4c02a3b8c6e055962a6a  defcon-linux.tgz
bf94e176e13ea451217cf8d26a3817b87c24dedb0bebb44495b1be5c98a83804  defcon-windows.zip