RougeChain 1.6.2: a boring release, on purpose
Most chain announcements are about new features. This one is about turning some off.
RougeChain node release 1.6.2 is out today. It is a mandatory upgrade for every mainnet validator and full node, and it has to be installed before block 235. Here is what is in it and why we shipped it this way.
What changes
Two upgrades activate at block 235, both announced earlier: mintable tokens with creator-only minting and an optional supply cap, and royalty-aware contracts, so an on-chain marketplace can read a collection's royalty and pay it.
One new consensus rule activates at block 245. We call it the monetary-integrity rule. From that block, every node rejects any block containing a transaction with an invalid fee, a faucet-flagged transaction (mainnet has no faucet), or a transaction of a type we have suspended.
What is suspended, and why
Shielded transactions, token locking and staking pools, on-chain governance and delegation are switched off from block 245 until a later release restores them, along with two legacy allowance transaction types that nothing uses.
We reviewed how these features are enforced at the consensus level and decided they do not yet meet the standard we want for anything that moves value. Rather than leave them running while we rebuild them, we are turning them off across the whole network with one small, well-tested rule, and bringing them back one at a time when each is ready.
Nobody loses funds. The shielded pool on mainnet is empty, and none of the other suspended types has ever been used on mainnet. Transfers, validator staking, swaps and liquidity, tokens and token allowances, NFTs, smart contracts, the bridge, messaging and mail all work exactly as before.
A note on the bridge
ETH and USDC deposits through the site are paused while this release rolls out. The release tightens how the node verifies a manually claimed deposit, and we want that check live and confirmed on mainnet before the deposit form reopens. XRGE deposits, and withdrawals in every asset, are unaffected. Deposits reopen once the new verification has been confirmed on the live network; we will post when they do.
How we tested it
- The full node test suite passes: 270 tests.
- The release code replays the entire live chain, every block from genesis to the current tip, and ends on the same state root as the live network.
- The binary was built twice from clean and the two builds are byte-identical, so the hash we publish is the hash anyone gets.
- The rule is already active on testnet, since block 1390. There, ordinary transfers and the faucet keep working and finalizing, and suspended transaction types are refused.
How it ships
The release is described by a manifest carrying two signatures from the release owner: Ed25519, and ML-DSA-65, the post-quantum signature scheme the chain itself uses. Nodes on auto-update verify both before installing anything. Operators who install by hand get the binary hash in the upgrade notice. The binary is available from two places, our release server and a GitHub release, and both serve the same hash.
Our own validators are already running it. The first blocks produced on 1.6.2 were followed identically by a second node, with matching state roots at every height.
The source for this release will be published to the public repository once the rule is active on mainnet.
What comes next
We compared RougeChain honestly against mature chains and wrote down what is missing. That list is now our roadmap:
- Transaction receipts that report the true outcome of every transaction type.
- Every validation rule enforced in consensus, and integer-only arithmetic for all amounts and fees.
- Slashing for validators who sign conflicting blocks, and proposer fallback.
- Blocks that commit to transaction outcomes and the validator set, so light clients and bridges can verify the chain from headers alone.
- More independent validators and a flatter stake distribution. Today the validator set is small and concentrated, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
- A real fee market.
- An external audit.
Shielded transactions come back as part of item 2, rebuilt so that every withdrawal is tied to a specific note and enforced by every node.
For node operators
Install 1.6.2 before block 235. If your node uses the one-line installer with auto-update, it will upgrade itself. Otherwise the upgrade notice has the download link, the hash and the three commands you need:
https://docs.rougechain.io/running-a-node/mandatory-upgrade-2026-10-245.html
RougeChain was built on post-quantum signatures from the first block. The less glamorous work is making everything around those signatures equally solid. This release is a step in that direction.