Knots PR #429 explained: the plan to lock new XBT until September 2027

A proposed Bitcoin Knots change, pull request #429, would turn XBT's 45-day coinbase lock into a lock that runs until Sept 1, 2027. It is open, under review, and has a hard deadline: to work, it has to be running on nodes before block 979,920, around the end of October. Here's what it does, in plain English.

The short version

Who wrote it and where it stands

The PR is by developer Chris Guida and is titled "Long coinbase maturity (part 2 of 3): extend from 45 days to 1 year." It follows #419, the change that created today's 45-day lock in Knots 29.4.2. As of Oct 15 it is open, not merged. Reviewers including Luke Dashjr have commented on wording and code, one reviewer has approved it, another left a "concept NACK" (an objection to the idea itself), and a tester confirmed on a private test network that it behaves as a soft fork on top of 29.4.2. A test build branch that includes it is being prepared, but no release has shipped.

How it would work

• Consensus: rewards mined at block 973,440 or later can't be spent in any block until the network's median time passes Sept 1, 2027, 00:00 UTC. After that, they need only the original 100 blocks.
• Relay and wallet policy: Knots nodes won't relay a spend of a covered reward until it is a full year old, and the Knots wallet will show those coins as immature, with an estimate of the days left. Unlike the consensus rule, this part doesn't expire.
• The deadline: the new rules only differ from 29.4.2 starting at block 979,920. That block is the effective flag day. If enough nodes and miners aren't running it by then, the current lock ends on schedule and the locked rewards become spendable, as we explained in The coinbase lock ends with a cliff.
• Late upgrades: a node that upgrades after block 979,920 rechecks recent blocks on first start. A pruned node may need to reindex. Upgrading before the deadline avoids that.

What it would mean in numbers

If it activates, every block reward from block 973,440 until Sept 1, 2027 stays locked by consensus until that date. At about 144 blocks a day, that is roughly 50,000 blocks and about 156,000 XBT, around $113 million at today's price, all becoming spendable by consensus on the same day next September, with Knots relay still holding each one until it is a year old.

The case for and against

For: supporters say the 45-day lock hasn't kept short-term hash away. Hash rate kept climbing and difficulty is rising again this weekend. A year-long lock makes mining a long-term commitment and removes new miner coins from the market for a year.

Against: one participant in the PR thread asked for the economic case. By their count, about 47,000 XBT has been mined since the fork, about 0.23% of the roughly 20 million coins inherited from Bitcoin, so new coins are a small share of what can be sold. They argued a year-long lock falls hardest on small and solo miners who have to pay for power now, and could leave hash rate in fewer, better-funded hands. We made a similar argument in our 100-day proposal.

Alternatives on the table: a separate PR, #434, would release locked rewards in four stages instead of all at once.

What to watch

• Whether #429 is merged and shipped in a Knots release before block 979,920.
• Whether pools say they will run it. A soft fork like this needs miners to enforce it, not only nodes.
• The unlock countdown, which we will update the moment anything ships.

Unlock countdownMiner guide

Source: Bitcoin Knots pull request #429 and its review thread on GitHub, read Oct 15, 2026. Estimates assume about 144 blocks a day and a 3.125 XBT subsidy. Reporting only, not financial advice.

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