v1.10.0-rc2

v1.10.0-rc2 - 2026-04-08

This is Charon's v1.10.0 pre-release. Feedback is welcome and appreciated, please use github issues or discord if you have trouble with this release.

Read the rest of the release notes for more:

Full Changelog: v1.9.3..v1.10.0-rc2

Feature

• Mutable fee-recipient-addresses #4293 (#4407,#4401,#4341)

Compatibility Matrix

This release of Charon is backwards compatible with Charon >= v1.0., though only v1.7. and newer are Fulu-ready.

The below matrix details a combination of beacon node (consensus layer) + validator clients and their corresponding versions the DV Labs team have tested with this Charon release. More validator and consensus client will be added to this list as they are supported in our automated testing framework.

Legend

• ✅: All duties succeed in testing
• 🟡: All duties succeed in testing, except non-penalised aggregation duties
• 🟠: Duties may fail for this combination
• 🔴: One or more duties fails consistently

Validator 👉 Consensus 👇	Teku v26.2.0	Lighthouse v8.1.0	Lodestar v1.40.0	Nimbus v26.1.0	Prysm v7.1.2	Vouch v1.12.0 ❗
Teku v26.4.0 ❗	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳
Lighthouse v8.1.3	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳
Lodestar v1.41.1	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳
Nimbus v26.3.1	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳
Prysm v7.1.3	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳
Grandine v2.0.4	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳

What's Changed

• dkg: fixing processkey (#4261)

• dkg: threshold validation (#4268)

• dkg: cap p2p msg size (#4280)

• dkg: nodesigs peer idx check (#4281)

• dkg: better nonce (#4282)

• dkg: nodes count validation (#4298)

• dkg: frostp2p code quality (#4299)

• cluster: limit reader (#4300)

• dkg: bounds and shares checks (#4301)

• github: rename git release actions (#4312)

• core: 0-based index for parsig metric (#4322)

• *: bump go v1.26 (#4328)

• dkg: improved nodesigs sender id check (#4330)

• app: add HeadBlockNotFullyVerified condition fallback BN (#4332)

• app: bump version to v1.10-dev (#4336)

• github: change supported versions in different PR (#4338)

• docs: added charon audits (#4339)

• dkg: shutdown flow improvement (#4344)

• *: missed proposal debug skill (#4349)

• *: add sigagg and parsigex metrics (#4357)

• ci: group dependabot PRs by ecosystem (#4366)

• Comment out chain-split-halt (#4372)

• *: completely remove chain-split-halt (#4375)

• core: extra qbft logging (#4376)

• core: abundant QBFT logging (#4380)

• core/consensus: recv buffer debug (#4382)

• core: more logging in runInstance (#4384)

• core: new deadliner (#4386)

• app: improved loki client (#4389)

• core: revert debugging and chain-split-halt changes (#4390)

• core: clone using ssz (#4399)

• core: excessive logging fix (#4402)

• core/bcast: log submitted att and att_agg len (#4409)

• app/eth2wrap: trim requestedIdxs from cache (#4413)

• *: more unit tests for testing SSZ (#4416)

• *: add claude code settings and update memory (#4419)

• *: kurtosis smoke test workflow (#4420)

• Loop through each map; proper check for already requested idxs (#4422)

• *: switch kurtosis smoke test to iam role auth (#4426)

• dkg: enable testsyncflow (#4430)

• *: kurtosis smoke script fix (#4431)

• *: improve kurtosis smoke test reliability (#4432)

• app/*: report EL version metric (#4434)

• testutil/verifypr: fix verify pr (#4437)

• *: kurtosis smoke test cron (#4439)

• *: removed compose tests (#4440)

• app/log: fix race condition making the log test fail (#4441)

• .github/workflows: Add slack notifications to kurtosis report (#4442)

• app/health: improve healthcheck metric (#4444)

• app: bump minor version to v1.10-rc (#4448)

• Downgrade action-gh-release to v2.5.0 (#4452) (#4456)

v1.9.3

v1.9.3 - 2026-03-25

This is highly recommended patch release of Charon v1.9.3. This patch fixes memory leak in the duties cache. Feedback from early testers is very welcome and appreciated, please use github issues or discord if you have trouble with this release.

Read the rest of the release notes for more:

Full Changelog: v1.9.2..v1.9.3

Bugfix

• Fix duteis cache memory leak #4413 #4422

Compatibility Matrix

This release of Charon is backwards compatible with Charon >= v1.0., though only v1.7. and newer are Fulu-ready.

The below matrix details a combination of beacon node (consensus layer) + validator clients and their corresponding versions the DV Labs team have tested with this Charon release. More validator and consensus client will be added to this list as they are supported in our automated testing framework.

Legend

• ✅: All duties succeed in testing
• 🟡: All duties succeed in testing, except non-penalised aggregation duties
• 🟠: Duties may fail for this combination
• 🔴: One or more duties fails consistently

Validator 👉 Consensus 👇	Teku v26.2.0	Lighthouse v8.1.0	Lodestar v1.40.0	Nimbus v26.1.0	Prysm v7.1.2	Vouch v1.12.0 ❗
Teku v26.2.0 ❗	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Lighthouse v8.1.0	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Lodestar v1.40.0	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Nimbus v26.1.0	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Prysm v7.1.2	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Grandine v2.0.1	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡

What's Changed

• app/version: bump to v1.9-rc (#4414)

• *: v1.9.3-rc1 (#4415)

• app/eth2wrap: second duties cache fix (#4424)

• Remove reporting (#4435)

• app/version: bump v1.9 to stable (#4436)

v1.9.3-rc1

v1.9.3-rc1 - 2026-03-25

This a pre-release Charon v1.9.3-rc1. This patch fixes memory leak in the duties cache. Feedback from early testers is very welcome and appreciated, please use github issues or discord if you have trouble with this release.

Read the rest of the release notes for more:

Full Changelog: v1.9.2..v1.9.3-rc1

Bugfix

• Fix duteis cache memory leak #4413

Compatibility Matrix

This release of Charon is backwards compatible with Charon >= v1.0., though only v1.7. and newer are Fulu-ready.

The below matrix details a combination of beacon node (consensus layer) + validator clients and their corresponding versions the DV Labs team have tested with this Charon release. More validator and consensus client will be added to this list as they are supported in our automated testing framework.

Legend

• ✅: All duties succeed in testing
• 🟡: All duties succeed in testing, except non-penalised aggregation duties
• 🟠: Duties may fail for this combination
• 🔴: One or more duties fails consistently

Validator 👉 Consensus 👇	Teku v26.2.0	Lighthouse v8.1.0	Lodestar v1.40.0	Nimbus v26.1.0	Prysm v7.1.2	Vouch v1.12.0 ❗
Teku v26.2.0 ❗	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Lighthouse v8.1.0	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Lodestar v1.40.0	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Nimbus v26.1.0	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Prysm v7.1.2	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Grandine v2.0.1	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡

What's Changed

• app/version: bump to v1.9-rc by @obol-platform in #4414
• *: v1.9.3-rc1 by @KaloyanTanev in #4415

Full Changelog: v1.9.2...v1.9.3-rc1

v1.9.2

v1.9.2 - 2026-03-11

This release Charon v1.9.2 is recommended for Operators sending logs to Obol. This patch improves the performance of nodes sending logs, by taking the log submission out of contention with the main runtime. Feedback is welcome and appreciated, please use github issues or discord if you have trouble with this release.

Read the rest of the release notes for more:

Full Changelog: v1.9.1..v1.9.2

Bugfix

• Update Loki #4393

Compatibility Matrix

This release of Charon is backwards compatible with Charon >= v1.0., though only v1.7. and newer are Fulu-ready.

The below matrix details a combination of beacon node (consensus layer) + validator clients and their corresponding versions the DV Labs team have tested with this Charon release. More validator and consensus client will be added to this list as they are supported in our automated testing framework.

Legend

• ✅: All duties succeed in testing
• 🟡: All duties succeed in testing, except non-penalised aggregation duties
• 🟠: Duties may fail for this combination
• 🔴: One or more duties fails consistently

Validator 👉 Consensus 👇	Teku v26.2.0	Lighthouse v8.1.0	Lodestar v1.40.0	Nimbus v26.1.0	Prysm v7.1.2	Vouch v1.12.0 ❗
Teku v26.2.0 ❗	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Lighthouse v8.1.0	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Lodestar v1.40.0	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Nimbus v26.1.0	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Prysm v7.1.2	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Grandine v2.0.1	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡

What's Changed

• app: bump patch version to v1.9-rc (#4373)

• *: remove chain-split-halt (#4374)

• core: extra qbft logging (#4376) (#4377)

• core: abundant QBFT logging (#4381)

• core/consensus: recv buffer debug (#4382) (#4383)

• core: more logging in runInstance (#4384) (#4385)

• core: new deadliner (#4386) (#4387)

• *: central logging fix (#4391)

• app/version: bump v1.9 to stable (#4392)

v1.8.3

v1.8.3 - 2026-03-10

This release Charon v1.8.3 is recommended for Operators sending logs to Obol. This patch improves the performance of nodes sending logs, by taking the log submission out of contention with the main runtime. An equivalent patch for 1.9.* versions will be released soon. Feedback is welcome and appreciated, please use github issues or discord if you have trouble with this release.

Read the rest of the release notes for more:

Full Changelog: v1.8.2..v1.8.3

Features

• Update Loki #4393

Compatibility Matrix

This release of Charon is backwards compatible with Charon >= v1.0., though only v1.7. and newer are Fulu-ready.

The below matrix details a combination of beacon node (consensus layer) + validator clients and their corresponding versions the DV Labs team have tested with this Charon release. More validator and consensus client will be added to this list as they are supported in our automated testing framework.

Legend

• ✅: All duties succeed in testing
• 🟡: All duties succeed in testing, except non-penalised aggregation duties
• 🟠: Duties may fail for this combination
• 🔴: One or more duties fails consistently

Validator 👉 Consensus 👇	Teku v25.12.0 ❗	Lighthouse v8.0.1	Lodestar v1.38.0	Nimbus v25.11.1	Prysm v7.1.0	Vouch 1.12.0 ❗
Teku v25.12.0 ❗	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Lighthouse v8.0.1	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Lodestar v1.38.0	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Nimbus v25.11.1	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Prysm v7.1.0	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Grandine v2.0.1	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡

What's Changed

• *: cherry picking for 1.8.3 by @pinebit in #4393

Full Changelog: v1.8.2...v1.8.3

v1.9.1

v1.9.1 - 2026-03-06

This is non-urgent but recommended patch release of Charon v1.9.0. This patch removes an unnecessary miss-firing VC missing validators ready check. Feedback is welcome and appreciated, please use github issues or discord if you have trouble with this release.

Read the rest of the release notes for more:

Full Changelog: v1.9.0..v1.9.1

Bugfix

• remove VC Missing validators ready check #4359

Compatibility Matrix

This release of Charon is backwards compatible with Charon >= v1.0., though only v1.7. and newer are Fulu-ready.

The below matrix details a combination of beacon node (consensus layer) + validator clients and their corresponding versions the DV Labs team have tested with this Charon release. More validator and consensus client will be added to this list as they are supported in our automated testing framework.

Legend

• ✅: All duties succeed in testing
• 🟡: All duties succeed in testing, except non-penalised aggregation duties
• 🟠: Duties may fail for this combination
• 🔴: One or more duties fails consistently

Validator 👉 Consensus 👇	Teku v26.2.0	Lighthouse v8.1.0	Lodestar v1.40.0	Nimbus v26.1.0	Prysm v7.1.2	Vouch v1.12.0 ❗
Teku v26.2.0 ❗	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Lighthouse v8.1.0	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Lodestar v1.40.0	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Nimbus v26.1.0	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Prysm v7.1.2	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Grandine v2.0.1	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡

What's Changed

• app/version: bump to v1.9-rc (#4364)

• *: v1.9.1-rc1 (#4365)

• app/version: bump v1.9 to stable (#4369)

v1.9.0

v1.9.0 - 2026-02-24

This is Charon's v1.9.0 release. Feedback is welcome and appreciated, please use github issues or discord if you have trouble with this release.

For perfect backwards compatibility, Charon users on v1.8.2 and older should add the --feature-set-enable=fetch_only_commidx_0,proposal_timeout as a flag, or CHARON_FEATURE_SET_ENABLE=fetch_only_commidx_0,proposal_timeout as an environment variable to their setups before the nodes in the cluster begin to update to v1.9.0. Alternatively, update all of the nodes in the cluster to this version in close succession.

Read the rest of the release notes for more:

Full Changelog: v1.8.2..v1.9.0

Promote proposal_timeout feature flag to stable

We have extensively tested the proposal_timeout flag in the past months with numerous DV clusters on mainnet. From this version it is considered stable and moved to default-enabled. Clusters running Charon v1.9.0 will have the first QBFT round for proposal duties set at 1.5s (with second round timing out at 3.5s) in comparison to the current of 1.0s (with second round timing out at 3.0s). There is no urgent need to synchronise upgrades between cluster nodes, as the cluster will reach consensus on whichever timeout threshold of nodes agree on.

Note

This feature flag can be manually turned off by setting the --feature-set-disable=proposal_timeout flag.

Promote fetch_only_commidx_0 feature flag to stable

Post-electra Validator Clients were expected to request data from the beacon node (and hence, the DV) for a hardcoded committee index of 0. However, some clients continued requesting for their specific committee index. This forced Charon to also request the same index from the upstream beacon node(s). Now that this behaviour has been updated in all validator clients supported by Charon, we can promote this opt-in feature flag to stable, reducing the amount of requests we send to a beacon node by up to 64x.

In this issue can be found the list with the minimum required VC version.

Note

This feature flag can be manually turned off by setting --feature-set-disable=fetch_only_commidx_0 flag.

Scheduled Duties Cache

This version releases a caching mechanism for validator duties. To save on slow, burdensome requests to a BN, Charon caches them locally. Allowing it to reduce the amount of load on upstream beacon nodes.

Note

If there are any issues spotted with scheduled duty caching, it can be turned off by setting the --feature-set-enable=disable_duties_cache feature flag.

Replace operator command

This release adds the ability to directly replace an existing node operator in a cluster, rather than adding, and removing operators sequentially.

Warning

Charon's editability features are relatively new. Use them with caution, and practice actions on a testnet before mainnet. Flag any confusion or difficulties with User Experience to an Obol Core team member.

Feature

• --nickname flag in charon dkg #4059 (#4105)
• Publish flag for edit commands #4234 (#4235)
• In-url HTTP basic auth for the test commands #4189 (#4251)
• Log the signed head in sync message submission #4247 (#4269)
• Allow DKGs on arbitrary testnets #4052 (#4238)
• Fetch attester data on processed block #4027 (#4095)
• Add amount of pending/successful attestations metrics #4102 (#4248)
• QUIC measurement #4199 (#4239)
• Edit ready private-key-lock-file #4200 (#4226)
• Replace operator command #4126 (#4141)
• Cache VC schedule duties requests #4009 (#4295,#4227)
• Beacon Node peer_id in metrics #4197 (#4264)

Bug

• Charon reports turned off VC's version #4198 (#4225)
• Non-deterministic doubleEagerLinearRoundTimer #4241 (#4243)
• Multiple Pedersen DKG improvements and bugfixes (#4268,#4280,#4281,#4282,#4283,#4298,#4299,#4300,#4301)

Refactor

• Double the DKG timeouts #4272 (#4279)
• Charon run hitting relays when its not going to be able to startup without a cluster lock #4242 (#4255)

Compatibility Matrix

This release of Charon is backwards compatible with Charon >= v1.0., though only v1.7. and newer are Fulu-ready.

The below matrix details a combination of beacon node (consensus layer) + validator clients and their corresponding versions the DV Labs team have tested with this Charon release. More validator and consensus client will be added to this list as they are supported in our automated testing framework.

Legend

• ✅: All duties succeed in testing
• 🟡: All duties succeed in testing, except non-penalised aggregation duties
• 🟠: Duties may fail for this combination
• 🔴: One or more duties fails consistently

Validator 👉 Consensus 👇	Teku v26.2.0	Lighthouse v8.1.0	Lodestar v1.40.0	Nimbus v26.1.0	Prysm v7.1.2	Vouch v1.12.0 ❗
Teku v26.2.0 ❗	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Lighthouse v8.1.0	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Lodestar v1.40.0	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Nimbus v26.1.0	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Prysm v7.1.2	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Grandine v2.0.1	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡

What's Changed

• *: removed manifest pb (#4130)

• *: fix some struct names in comments (#4151)

• dkg: fix flaky TestSyncFlow test (#4167)

• *: improved tracing (#4169)

• core/fetcher: update blinded gauge metric values (#4170)

• *: add PAT to github actions (#4174)

• github: remove annotation from tagging in pipelines (#4176)

• github: obol-infrastructure version update on release (#4177)

• *: update prysm repo and bump go-eth2-clinet (#4181)

• core/scheduler: fix builder registration unmarshalling (#4183)

• deps: update libp2p (#4184)

• app: bump version to v1.9-dev (#4192)

• *: fix prepare minor full release (#4193)

• dkg: use slices.Contains to simplify code (#4201)

• cmd: skip inactive validators in exits (#4205)

• *: updated year to 2026 (#4208)

• app/sse: add block processing time metric (#4212)

• deps: fix some struct field names in comment (#4213)

• *: store parsigdb metrics (#4214)

• app: reset feature flag gauge (#4228)

• core: log error when bcast proposal (#4240)

• *: dkg and pk ux improvements (#4246)

• app: add beacon node peer_id metric (#4256)

• github: full versions in yml file (#4259)

• cmd: testnet flags precedence (#4266)

• app/metrics: fix feature flag gauge resetting (#4286)

• app: promote proposal_timeout feature flag to stable (#4296)

• app: promote fetch_only_commidx_0 feature flag to stable (#4297)

• app/version: bump minor version to v1.9-rc (#4311)

• *: v1.9.0 rc2 (#4313)

• *: v1.9.0 rc3 (#4329)

• *: v1.9.0 rc4 (#4334)

• app/version: bump v1.9 to stable (#4335)

v1.9.0-rc3

v1.9.0-rc3 - 2026-02-18

This is a pre-release for Charon's upcoming v1.9.0. Feedback from early testers is very welcome and appreciated, please use github issues or discord if you have trouble with this release.

For perfect backwards compatibility, Charon users on v1.8.2 and older should add the --feature-set-enable=fetch_only_commidx_0,proposal_timeout as a flag, or CHARON_FEATURE_SET_ENABLE=fetch_only_commidx_0,proposal_timeout as an environment variable to their setups before the nodes in the cluster begin to update to v1.9.0. Alternatively, update all of the nodes in the cluster to this version in close succession.

Read the rest of the release notes for more:

Full Changelog: v1.8.2..v1.9.0-rc3

Promote proposal_timeout feature flag to stable

We have extensively tested the proposal_timeout flag in the past months with numerous DV clusters on mainnet. From this version it is considered stable and moved to default-enabled. Clusters running Charon v1.9.0 will have the first QBFT round for proposal duties set at 1.5s (with second round timing out at 3.5s) in comparison to the current of 1.0s (with second round timing out at 3.0s). There is no urgent need to synchronise upgrades between cluster nodes, as the cluster will reach consensus on whichever timeout threshold of nodes agree on.

Note

This feature flag can be manually turned off by setting the --feature-set-disable=proposal_timeout flag.

Promote fetch_only_commidx_0 feature flag to stable

Post-electra Validator Clients were expected to request data from the beacon node (and hence, the DV) for a hardcoded committee index of 0. However, some clients continued requesting for their specific committee index. This forced Charon to also request the same index from the upstream beacon node(s). Now that this behaviour has been updated in all validator clients supported by Charon, we can promote this opt-in feature flag to stable, reducing the amount of requests we send to a beacon node by up to 64x.

In this issue can be found the list with the minimum required VC version.

Note

This feature flag can be manually turned off by setting --feature-set-disable=fetch_only_commidx_0 flag.

Scheduled Duties Cache

This version releases a caching mechanism for validator duties. To save on slow, burdensome requests to a BN, Charon caches them locally. Allowing it to reduce the amount of load on upstream beacon nodes.

Note

If there are any issues spotted with scheduled duty caching, it can be turned off by setting the --feature-set-enable=disable_duties_cache feature flag.

Replace operator command

This release adds the ability to directly replace an existing node operator in a cluster, rather than adding, and removing operators sequentially.

Warning

Charon's editability features are relatively new. Use them with caution, and practice actions on a testnet before mainnet. Flag any confusion or difficulties with User Experience to an Obol Core team member.

Feature

• --nickname flag in charon dkg #4059 (#4105)
• Publish flag for edit commands #4234 (#4235)
• In-url HTTP basic auth for the test commands #4189 (#4251)
• Log the signed head in sync message submission #4247 (#4269)
• Allow DKGs on arbitrary testnets #4052 (#4238)
• Fetch attester data on processed block #4027 (#4095)
• Add amount of pending/successful attestations metrics #4102 (#4248)
• QUIC measurement #4199 (#4239)
• Edit ready private-key-lock-file #4200 (#4226)
• Replace operator command #4126 (#4141)
• Cache VC schedule duties requests #4009 (#4295,#4227)
• Beacon Node peer_id in metrics #4197 (#4264)

Bug

• Charon reports turned off VC's version #4198 (#4225)
• Non-deterministic doubleEagerLinearRoundTimer #4241 (#4243)
• Multiple Pedersen DKG improvements and bugfixes (#4268,#4280,#4281,#4282,#4283,#4298,#4299,#4300,#4301)

Refactor

• Double the DKG timeouts #4272 (#4279)
• Charon run hitting relays when its not going to be able to startup without a cluster lock #4242 (#4255)

Compatibility Matrix

This release of Charon is backwards compatible with Charon >= v1.0., though only v1.7. and newer are Fulu-ready.

The below matrix details a combination of beacon node (consensus layer) + validator clients and their corresponding versions the DV Labs team have tested with this Charon release. More validator and consensus client will be added to this list as they are supported in our automated testing framework.

Legend

• ✅: All duties succeed in testing
• 🟡: All duties succeed in testing, except non-penalised aggregation duties
• 🟠: Duties may fail for this combination
• 🔴: One or more duties fails consistently

Validator 👉 Consensus 👇	Teku v26.2.0	Lighthouse v8.1.0	Lodestar v1.40.0	Nimbus v26.1.0	Prysm v7.1.2	Vouch v1.12.0	Remarks
Teku v26.2.0	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳
Lighthouse v8.1.0	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳
Lodestar v1.40.0	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳
Nimbus v26.1.0	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳
Prysm v7.1.2	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳
Grandine v2.0.1	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳

What's Changed

• *: removed manifest pb (#4130)

• *: fix some struct names in comments (#4151)

• dkg: fix flaky TestSyncFlow test (#4167)

• *: improved tracing (#4169)

• core/fetcher: update blinded gauge metric values (#4170)

• *: add PAT to github actions (#4174)

• github: remove annotation from tagging in pipelines (#4176)

• github: obol-infrastructure version update on release (#4177)

• *: update prysm repo and bump go-eth2-clinet (#4181)

• core/scheduler: fix builder registration unmarshalling (#4183)

• deps: update libp2p (#4184)

• app: bump version to v1.9-dev (#4192)

• *: fix prepare minor full release (#4193)

• dkg: use slices.Contains to simplify code (#4201)

• cmd: skip inactive validators in exits (#4205)

• *: updated year to 2026 (#4208)

• app/sse: add block processing time metric (#4212)

• deps: fix some struct field names in comment (#4213)

• *: store parsigdb metrics (#4214)

• app: reset feature flag gauge (#4228)

• core: log error when bcast proposal (#4240)

• *: dkg and pk ux improvements (#4246)

• app: add beacon node peer_id metric (#4256)

• github: full versions in yml file (#4259)

• cmd: testnet flags precedence (#4266)

• app/metrics: fix feature flag gauge resetting (#4286)

• app: promote proposal_timeout feature flag to stable (#4296)

• app: promote fetch_only_commidx_0 feature flag to stable (#4297)

• app/version: bump minor version to v1.9-rc (#4311)

• *: v1.9.0 rc2 (#4313)

• *: v1.9.0 rc3 (#4329)

v1.9.0-rc2

v1.9.0-rc2 - 2026-02-10

This is a pre-release for Charon's upcoming v1.9.0. Feedback from early testers is very welcome and appreciated, please use github issues or discord if you have trouble with this release.

For perfect backwards compatibility, Charon users on v1.8.2 and older should add the --feature-set-enable=fetch_only_commidx_0,proposal_timeout as a flag, or CHARON_FEATURE_SET_ENABLE=fetch_only_commidx_0,proposal_timeout as an environment variable to their setups before the nodes in the cluster begin to update to v1.9.0. Alternatively, update all of the nodes in the cluster to this version in close succession.

Read the rest of the release notes for more:

Full Changelog: v1.8.2..v1.9.0-rc2

Promote proposal_timeout feature flag to stable

We have extensively tested the proposal_timeout flag in the past months with numerous DV clusters on mainnet. From this version it is considered stable and moved to default-enabled. Clusters running Charon v1.9.0 will have the first QBFT round for proposal duties set at 1.5s (with second round timing out at 3.5s) in comparison to the current of 1.0s (with second round timing out at 3.0s). There is no urgent need to synchronise upgrades between cluster nodes, as the cluster will reach consensus on whichever timeout threshold of nodes agree on.

Note

This feature flag can be manually turned off by setting the --feature-set-disable=proposal_timeout flag.

Promote fetch_only_commidx_0 feature flag to stable

Post-electra Validator Clients were expected to request data from the beacon node (and hence, the DV) for a hardcoded committee index of 0. However, some clients continued requesting for their specific committee index. This forced Charon to also request the same index from the upstream beacon node(s). Now that this behaviour has been updated in all validator clients supported by Charon, we can promote this opt-in feature flag to stable, reducing the amount of requests we send to a beacon node by up to 64x.

In this issue can be found the list with the minimum required VC version.

Note

This feature flag can be manually turned off by setting --feature-set-disable=fetch_only_commidx_0 flag.

Scheduled Duties Cache

This version releases a caching mechanism for validator duties. To save on slow, burdensome requests to a BN, Charon caches them locally. Allowing it to reduce the amount of load on upstream beacon nodes.

Note

If there are any issues spotted with scheduled duty caching, it can be turned off by setting the --feature-set-enable=disable_duties_cache feature flag.

Replace operator command

This release adds the ability to directly replace an existing node operator in a cluster, rather than adding, and removing operators sequentially.

Warning

Charon's editability features are relatively new. Use them with caution, and practice actions on a testnet before mainnet. Flag any confusion or difficulties with User Experience to an Obol Core team member.

Feature

• --nickname flag in charon dkg #4059 (#4105)
• Publish flag for edit commands #4234 (#4235)
• In-url HTTP basic auth for the test commands #4189 (#4251)
• Log the signed head in sync message submission #4247 (#4269)
• Allow DKGs on arbitrary testnets #4052 (#4238)
• Fetch attester data on processed block #4027 (#4095)
• Add amount of pending/successful attestations metrics #4102 (#4248)
• QUIC measurement #4199 (#4239)
• Edit ready private-key-lock-file #4200 (#4226)
• Replace operator command #4126 (#4141)
• Cache VC schedule duties requests #4009 (#4295,#4227)
• Beacon Node peer_id in metrics #4197 (#4264)

Bug

• Charon reports turned off VC's version #4198 (#4225)
• Non-deterministic doubleEagerLinearRoundTimer #4241 (#4243)
• Multiple Pedersen DKG improvements and bugfixes (#4268,#4280,#4281,#4282,#4283,#4298,#4299,#4300,#4301)

Refactor

• Double the DKG timeouts #4272 (#4279)
• Charon run hitting relays when its not going to be able to startup without a cluster lock #4242 (#4255)

Compatibility Matrix

This release of Charon is backwards compatible with Charon >= v1.0., though only v1.7. and newer are Fulu-ready.

The below matrix details a combination of beacon node (consensus layer) + validator clients and their corresponding versions the DV Labs team have tested with this Charon release. More validator and consensus client will be added to this list as they are supported in our automated testing framework.

Legend

• ✅: All duties succeed in testing
• 🟡: All duties succeed in testing, except non-penalised aggregation duties
• 🟠: Duties may fail for this combination
• 🔴: One or more duties fails consistently

Validator 👉 Consensus 👇	Teku v26.2.0	Lighthouse v8.1.0	Lodestar v1.40.0	Nimbus v26.1.0	Prysm v7.1.2	Vouch v1.12.0	Remarks
Teku v26.2.0	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳
Lighthouse v8.1.0	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳
Lodestar v1.40.0	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳
Nimbus v26.1.0	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳
Prysm v7.1.2	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳
Grandine v2.0.1	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳	⏳

What's Changed

• *: removed manifest pb (#4130)

• *: fix some struct names in comments (#4151)

• dkg: fix flaky TestSyncFlow test (#4167)

• *: improved tracing (#4169)

• core/fetcher: update blinded gauge metric values (#4170)

• *: add PAT to github actions (#4174)

• github: remove annotation from tagging in pipelines (#4176)

• github: obol-infrastructure version update on release (#4177)

• *: update prysm repo and bump go-eth2-clinet (#4181)

• core/scheduler: fix builder registration unmarshalling (#4183)

• deps: update libp2p (#4184)

• app: bump version to v1.9-dev (#4192)

• *: fix prepare minor full release (#4193)

• dkg: use slices.Contains to simplify code (#4201)

• cmd: skip inactive validators in exits (#4205)

• *: updated year to 2026 (#4208)

• app/sse: add block processing time metric (#4212)

• deps: fix some struct field names in comment (#4213)

• *: store parsigdb metrics (#4214)

• app: reset feature flag gauge (#4228)

• core: log error when bcast proposal (#4240)

• *: dkg and pk ux improvements (#4246)

• app: add beacon node peer_id metric (#4256)

• github: full versions in yml file (#4259)

• cmd: testnet flags precedence (#4266)

• app/metrics: fix feature flag gauge resetting (#4286)

• app: promote proposal_timeout feature flag to stable (#4296)

• app: promote fetch_only_commidx_0 feature flag to stable (#4297)

• app/version: bump minor version to v1.9-rc (#4311)

• *: v1.9.0 rc2 (#4313)

v1.8.2

v1.8.2 - 2026-02-09

This is non-urgent but recommended patch release of Charon v1.8.1. This patch removes an unnecessary dependency on MEV-registration for proposals in slot 0 of an epoch, to improve proposal performance for large clusters using certain relays. Feedback is welcome and appreciated, please use github issues or discord if you have trouble with this release.

Read the rest of the release notes for more:

Full Changelog: v1.8.1..v1.8.2

Features

• Asynchronous builder registration #4271

Compatibility Matrix

This release of Charon is backwards compatible with Charon >= v1.0., though only v1.7. and newer are Fulu-ready.

The below matrix details a combination of beacon node (consensus layer) + validator clients and their corresponding versions the DV Labs team have tested with this Charon release. More validator and consensus client will be added to this list as they are supported in our automated testing framework.

Legend

• ✅: All duties succeed in testing
• 🟡: All duties succeed in testing, except non-penalised aggregation duties
• 🟠: Duties may fail for this combination
• 🔴: One or more duties fails consistently

Validator 👉 Consensus 👇	Teku v25.12.0 ❗	Lighthouse v8.0.1	Lodestar v1.38.0	Nimbus v25.11.1	Prysm v7.1.0	Vouch 1.12.0 ❗
Teku v25.12.0 ❗	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Lighthouse v8.0.1	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Lodestar v1.38.0	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Nimbus v25.11.1	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Prysm v7.1.0	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡
Grandine v2.0.1	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡

What's Changed

• *: cherry pick async builder (#4292)

• app/version: bump to v1.8-rc (#4294)

• app/version: bump v1.8 to stable (#4302)