This blog post outlines the Rootstock Improvement Proposals (RSKIPs) proposed for inclusion in Rootstock’s next network upgrade and explains how you can make your voice heard.
Every Rootstock network upgrade is named after a plant rootstock symbolising how Rootstock allows new capabilities to grow from the foundations of the Bitcoin network. Past upgrades include Bamboo, Orchid, Wasabi, Papyrus, Iris, Hop, Fingerroot, Arrowhead, Lovell and Vetiver.
Cardamom is up next.
Also known as 10.0.0, the Cardamom Network upgrade pushes forward the principles of decentralised security, self-sovereignty and transparency that the network was founded on.
The core team has put together a list of RSKIPs it proposes to include in Cardamom. The list is not final. Before it is, we want to hear from the people who build on Rootstock, run nodes, mine, and use the network.
₿ Why this upgrade matters
Rootstock’s core contributors are driven by a goal of making Bitcoin work for everyone. That means the network has to be secure, transparent and accessible.
With 100% uptime and billions of dollars of Bitcoin miner’s hashpower securing the network, Rootstock’s foundations are strong. Cardamom doesn’t change anything around these fundamentals and instead focuses on delivering additional improvements.
Security comes first especially in an era where AI driven exploits are bringing down networks and protocols daily. Individuals and Institutions will only hold and deploy Bitcoin on infrastructure that survives due diligence, earns their trust and is easy to interact with.
The work here is never done but Cardamom marks another major step forward.
₿ The RSKIPs proposed for Cardamom 10.0.0
An RSKIP is the public document that describes a change to the protocol. It works like a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) or an Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP): anyone can propose a change, and the community can read, challenge and improve it in the open before it is adopted. The proposed changes for Cardamom have now been brought together in RSKIP-694. Below is a breakdown of the key proposals included in the upgrade.
Foundations for Account Abstraction
- RSKIP-543: Typed Transaction Envelope
- RSKIP-545: Set Code for EOAs
- RSKIP-546: Type 1 and Type 2 Transaction Support
Improvements and bug fixes
- RSKIP-692: direct precompile call failure semantics
Bridge Enhancement (PowPeg)
- RSKIP-455: PowPeg migration to multiple outputs
- RSKIP-559: deterministic selection of the next pegout to confirm
- RSKIP-643: new pegout registration method
You can read the full Cardamom proposal in RSKIP-694, or explore the individual RSKIPs and follow any changes at ips.rootstock.io.
₿ Accessibility: smarter wallets, lower barriers
Today a wallet signs one thing at a time. You need rBTC before you can do anything. Approving and swapping takes two steps and two fees.
Account Abstraction changes that. With RSKIPs 543, 545 and 546, anyone can build a user can approve and swap in one step. An app implementing the features these RSKIPs enable can pay the fee for you, so you can start with zero rBTC. Wallets can add features like spending limits and recovery. It also brings Rootstock closer to Ethereum. That means developers can reuse the tools, libraries and wallets they already know, and ship on Rootstock with less work.
₿ Security: a more resilient network
RSKIPs 678 and 692 harden how the node handles errors and how precompiled contracts fail when called directly. The goal is predictable behavior, including in edge cases. The bridge changes add to this. RSKIP-559 makes pegout selection deterministic, strengthening UTXO selection to prevent issues arising from differences between JVM implementations and simplifying implementations in other languages. RSKIPs 455 is a user experience improvement enabling more predictable pegout times.
₿ Transparency: tell us what you think
This list is a proposal from the core contributors. We are publishing it now, before the scope is final, because the people who depend on Rootstock should be able to shape what goes into it. We will hold a community call on Thursday, 8th October 2026 at 3 PM UTC, to walk through the RSKIPs, answer questions and collect feedback. You can set a reminder here. Bring questions, concerns and use cases. If you cannot join live, we will share a recording and a written recap. You can also comment on any proposal in the RSKIPs repository.
₿ What you need to do
The biggest impact is on the RPC API, specifically how transaction receipts are returned. If your product talks to a Rootstock node, you will need to test it. That includes block explorers, RPC consumers, and indexers or analytics tools that run their own node. The core team is testing on a private Alphanet network and will share more on how to test on public networks as the release gets closer.
As always the RootstockLabs team is available to support here and can be contacted via RootstockLabs.com.
₿ Timing
We are aiming for a December release. That date could change, and we will tell you as soon as it does. We will announce mainnet activation at least four weeks ahead, so node operators and integrators have time to upgrade. Join the community call, read the RSKIPs, and tell us what we missed.
