BitCtrl’s Monad validators on mainnet and testnet have been upgraded to v0.16.5.
Monad’s changelog lists the testnet release on 15 October 2026 and the mainnet release on 22 October 2026. Release notes. All node providers are invited to upgrade: this release is not gated by cohorts.
Check the triedb device path
The main configuration check concerns --triedb-path. For monad-bft and monad-rpc, it must point directly to the triedb device, such as /dev/triedb. A directory containing that device is no longer accepted at startup.
Packaged installations already pass /dev/triedb, so this flag needs no change. Custom systemd units, ExecStart overrides and containers should be checked before upgrading. Upgrade instructions.
Storage growth, metrics and RPC behavior
The release adds monad-mpt --grow for using capacity added to an existing triedb device. This is optional. The node must run once on v0.16.5 before the device is extended; reversing that order causes the growth operation to be refused. Follow the service-stop, expansion and restart sequence in the official procedure.
Packaged installs also expose triedb update and compaction statistics as Prometheus gauges. On the RPC side, eth_simulateV1 now applies the configured response-size limit, while an empty full state override clears the account’s storage to match Geth. Changelog.
Thanks to the Monad Foundation for the upgrade guidance.
Sources
- BitCtrl’s Monad mainnet and testnet validators have been upgraded to v0.16.5.
- All node providers are invited to upgrade; this release is not gated by cohorts.
- --triedb-path must identify the device. Packaged installs already use /dev/triedb; custom deployments should check.
- Optional triedb growth requires running the upgraded node once before extending the device.