The Litecoin project has released Core 0.18.1.

Litecoin Core 0.18.1 has been officially released. In a post submitted to the Litecoin project blog, lead developer Adrian Gallagher said:

“We are excited to release Litecoin Core 0.18.1. This is a major new version release that includes new features, various bug fixes, performance improvements, and updated translations. We recommend that all users upgrade to this version.”

Among the changes are the depreciation of the typical plethora of new RPCs and many others, along with improvements to block and transaction processing, network code and P2P protocols, GUI, wallets and build systems. This major release includes over 100 changes. A full list of more detailed changes can be found in Gallagher’s blog post.

According to data provided by Blockchair, Core currently accounts for over 90% of the entire network, with the latest build 0.17.1 accounting for around 50%. Additionally, more than half of the network appears to run in the United States, Germany, and France, but this does not account for all available connections or TOR-supported nodes, with these countries being popular exit points.

The core is the backbone of the network, allowing businesses to retrieve and process data as well as day-to-day operations. Updates like these are critical to the health and evolution of the network, and users who choose to run full nodes help signal their votes on the direction of the project by verifying their own blockchain instance and setting the rules. The latest Core release can be downloaded via Litecoin.com.l.