Monero Released Beta Stressnet v3.0
The latest testnet release introduces privacy upgrades that have been in development for two years.
Updated on Sept. 28, 2026 in Quantum Computing
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Monero has released Stressnet v3.0, a beta test network designed to evaluate upcoming privacy-focused upgrades. This release is tagged v0.19.0.0-beta.3.0 and operates independently from the primary mainnet.
Why it matters
The release serves as a critical testing environment for FCMP++ and CARROT, two major privacy protocols that aim to significantly expand the network's output membership proofs beyond current standards. These upgrades represent the culmination of two years of research into hardening the project's privacy stack.
Stressnet v3.0 integrates hot-cold wallet support and RandomX v2 for optimized mining, while supporting an output size of 150 million for membership proofs versus the current standard of 16.
The players
Monero
An open-source, privacy-oriented cryptocurrency network that uses ring signatures and stealth addresses to obscure transaction data.
The details
The update replaces traditional ring signatures—cryptographic tools that hide a sender's identity among a group—with FCMP++, or Full-Chain Membership Proofs, which drastically broaden the anonymity set. Additionally, the release introduces CARROT, an addressing upgrade designed to refine how transaction outputs are handled. Users must resync their data from scratch or utilize a fresh testnet database to interact with these features, which have been pulled from the project's upstream master branch.
Timeline
September 25, 2026: Monero released Stressnet v3.0.
October 5, 2026: The beta stressnet will undergo a hard fork at block 3,102,800.
The Tech Race
This release follows the established path of high-stakes privacy upgrades, mirroring the rigor seen in the transition to RandomX. It marks the shift of FCMP++ and CARROT from two years of theoretical development into a functional test environment.
This software update is currently limited to the beta stressnet and does not impact users on the primary Monero mainnet. Interested developers must resync their nodes from scratch to access the new privacy protocols and testing environment.
The takeaway
The release demonstrates that Monero is prioritizing scalability in its privacy proofs, moving toward a membership proof size of 150 million. Developers should monitor the October 5 hard fork at block 3,102,800 to evaluate the stability of these new privacy protocols.
What happens next
The beta stressnet is scheduled to perform a hard fork at block 3,102,800 on October 5, 2026.
Further reading
For more on evolving cryptographic infrastructure, visit the Quantum Computing section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by TokenPost.
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