How to Upgrade your Bitcoin Cash Node with Bitcoin ABC

Written by: Antony Zegers

Forgot to upgrade your node? Here's how to get back onto the upgraded BCH network:

These instructions are for those who left old versions (0.20.12 or older) of Bitcoin ABC running through the May 15th, 2020 upgrade. Follow these instructions to get back on the main network.

If you are using bitcoin-qt, follow these steps:

1. Stop your running node

2. Delete the list of nodes you have banned: rm ~/.bitcoin/banlist.dat

3. Download version 0.21.x from https://download.bitcoinabc.org/latest/

4. Start up the new version (./bin/bitcoin-qt)

5. Open Help -> Debug window

6. In the console type reconsiderblock 00000000000000000033dfef1fc2d6a5d5520b078c55193a9bf498c5b27530f7

7. Wait until your node is on the correct chain. This could take some time if your old node was running for a while, and other nodes banned you on the network. You can check that you are on the correct chain by typing getblockchaininfo and verifying the information with a public block explorer such as https://explorer.bitcoin.com/bch, https://blockchair.com/bitcoin-cash, or https://cash.coin.dance/.

If you are running bitcoind, follow these steps:

1. Stop your running node

2. Delete the list of nodes you have banned: rm ~/.bitcoin/banlist.dat

3. Download version 0.21.x from https://download.bitcoinabc.org/latest/

4. Start up the new version (./bin/bitcoind)

5. Use bitcoin-cli to type: ./bin/bitcoin-cli reconsiderblock 00000000000000000033dfef1fc2d6a5d5520b078c55193a9bf498c5b27530f7

6. Wait until your node is on the correct chain. This could take some time if your old node was running for a while, and other nodes banned you on the network. You can check that you are on the correct chain by typing ./bin/bitcoin-cli getblockchaininfo and verifying the information with a public block explorer such as https://explorer.bitcoin.com/bch, https://blockchair.com/bitcoin-cash, or https://cash.coin.dance/.

Testnet

To update a testnet node, follow similar steps as above, deleting the banlist at ~/.bitcoin/testnet3/banlist.dat and reconsider block 0000000099f5509b5f36b1926bcf82b21d936ebeadee811030dfbbb7fae915d7

Stay Informed

Sign up here to get email updates on Bitcoin ABC.

Other Articles in The Building Series

• How You Can Contribute to Bitcoin ABC

• How to Participate in the Upgrade Testnet

• Multiple Implementations and Cooperation in Bitcoin Cash

• Why We Need to Hire World-Class People Now

Read the Fundraising Series

Start here to read the 15 articles in the Fundraising Series.