We are pleased to announce that Bitcoin ABC 0.18.0 has been released. You can download it at: https://download.bitcoinabc.org/0.18.0/.

The goal of Bitcoin ABC is to help create sound money that is usable by everyone in the world. We believe this is a civilization-changing technology which will dramatically increase human freedom and prosperity. Bitcoin ABC 0.18.0 represents the next step towards this goal

Bitcoin ABC 0.18.0 includes implementation and activation of the Bitcoin Cash network upgrade that will take effect on Nov 15, 2018. All users of Bitcoin ABC should upgrade to version 0.18.0 as soon as possible.

We aim to work in the best interests of miners, investors, and users of Bitcoin Cash, and to collaborate and coordinate with other teams and projects in the Bitcoin Cash ecosystem. Bitcoin ABC 0.18.0 grew out of this collaborative process. It implements network upgrade features developed with input and collaboration from many different groups. It is an important step in the process of careful and incremental technical progress to improve the utility of Bitcoin Cash and enable massive on-chain scaling.

The specific features included in the November 15th upgrade, and provided by Bitcoin ABC 0.18.0, are:

A new opcode called OP_CHECKDATASIG that improves the BCH scripting language to permit the validation of messages from outside the blockchain. This will enable uses such as the use of oracles and cross-chain atomic contracts.

The introduction of canonical transaction ordering. This is a technical building block that lays the foundation for massive scaling improvements in the future.

Several minor technical fixes and improvements.

In the coming weeks, we will be releasing a series of communications to provide more detail on the specific technical features of the upgrade.

To become a solid base for application development and innovation, Bitcoin Cash needs to continuously improve and compete. At Bitcoin ABC, we are working diligently building a technical foundation to enable Bitcoin Cash to be the best money the world has ever seen.