Splicing is out of experimental, the node runs leaner, and peer messages are now padded to resist traffic analysis. ⚡

Splicing lets you resize channels without closing them, cutting open/close overhead, freeing idle capital, and ending reliance on centralized liquidity providers. 26.04 also ships parallel pathfinding improvements, payer notes on xpay, and roughly 20% smaller binaries.

https://blog.blockstream.com/core-lightning-26-04-negative-routing-fees/

Open source Lightning improves because people show up and do the work. 421 commits. 110 days. 23 contributors, including six first-timers. The codebase is open. Eight bounties are up for grabs. Come build.

https://github.com/ElementsProject/lightning/releases/tag/v26.04