Bitcoin Core 32.1 Arrives With Privacy Fixes and New Compatibility Checks

TL;DR: Bitcoin Core 32.1 introduces network, privacy and interface changes, while 31.2 and 30.4 provide maintenance updates. Operators need to check integrations as well as version numbers. Bitcoin Core’s late-October releases give node operators several upgrade paths, but the details deserve more attention than the version labels. The 32.1 release notes explain that 32.0 was tagged but never fully announced or released because of last-minute issues. That makes 32.1 the relevant new major-version release to examine. Separate 31.2 and 30.4 updates address maintained earlier branches, with their own change lists and compatibility considerations. Privacy and relay behavior are part of the update The 32.1 release notes describe a fix for a possible IP-address exposure in a particular private-broadcast fallback configuration. They also describe changes to outgoing transaction relay limits and additional controls around private-broadcast queues. These are specific implementation changes, not a claim that all prior Bitcoin transactions exposed their senders or that the new release guarantees anonymity. The circumstances described in the notes matter when assessing who is affected. Node so...