LND release candidate caps external fee estimates at 10,000 sat/vB

A remote estimate needs limits before it reaches the wallet

External fee estimates previously had only a lower bound. The update adds an upper bound: 10,000 satoshis per virtual byte, and it also bounds the minimum-relay estimate from the API. This ceiling acts as an extreme-value guardrail. It does not assert that such a fee is normal, economical, or required by current network conditions. Fee estimates are inputs to decisions. Services can return unusable values due to errors, format changes, or compromised dependencies. Bounding the input reduces the chance that upstream issues influence wallet operations. The change aligns with the need for a problem-discovery method and a repair-to-deployment pathway highlighted by revised disclosure processes in Bitcoin Core.

A candidate build still needs evidence from its deployment setting

The release page labels the build as a pre-release and notes no database migration. It provides signatures and binary-verification steps that confirm what was downloaded. These steps do not guarantee correct behavior in all node configurations. The notes include a native SQL connection-pool deadlock fix, which affects reliability because storage behavior is as critical as networking. A running process that stops completing requests still fails dependent applications. Testing must validate real operations: receiving requests, accessing storage, handling failures, and restarting cleanly. The absence of a migration removes one change category, but it does not prove that all interactions with existing data remain unchanged.

Custody controls and node reliability are separate responsibilities. Shared-key lending and custody or recovery arrangements do not replace software maintenance. This candidate introduces specific changes to evaluate. The final release decision and each operator’s deployment decision remain separate steps.