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+Bitcoin Core version 0.12.1 is now available from:
+
+  <https://bitcoin.org/bin/bitcoin-core-0.12.1/>
+
+This is a new minor version release, including the BIP9, BIP68 and BIP112
+softfork, various bugfixes and updated translations.
+
+Please report bugs using the issue tracker at github:
+
+  <https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues>
+
+Upgrading and downgrading
+=========================
+
+How to Upgrade
+--------------
+
+If you are running an older version, shut it down. Wait until it has completely
+shut down (which might take a few minutes for older versions), then run the
+installer (on Windows) or just copy over /Applications/Bitcoin-Qt (on Mac) or
+bitcoind/bitcoin-qt (on Linux).
+
+Downgrade warning
+-----------------
+
+### Downgrade to a version < 0.12.0
+
+Because release 0.12.0 and later will obfuscate the chainstate on every
+fresh sync or reindex, the chainstate is not backwards-compatible with
+pre-0.12 versions of Bitcoin Core or other software.
+
+If you want to downgrade after you have done a reindex with 0.12.0 or later,
+you will need to reindex when you first start Bitcoin Core version 0.11 or
+earlier.
+
+Notable changes
+===============
+
+First version bits BIP9 softfork deployment
+-------------------------------------------
+
+This release includes a soft fork deployment to enforce [BIP68][],
+[BIP112][] and [BIP113][] using the [BIP9][] deployment mechanism.
+
+The deployment sets the block version number to 0x20000001 between
+midnight 1st May 2016 and midnight 1st May 2017 to signal readiness for 
+deployment. The version number consists of 0x20000000 to indicate version
+bits together with setting bit 0 to indicate support for this combined
+deployment, shown as "csv" in the `getblockchaininfo` RPC call.
+
+For more information about the soft forking change, please see
+<https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/7648>
+
+This specific backport pull-request can be viewed at
+<https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/7543>
+
+[BIP9]: https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0009.mediawiki
+[BIP68]: https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0068.mediawiki
+[BIP112]: https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0112.mediawiki
+[BIP113]: https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0113.mediawiki
+
+BIP68 soft fork to enforce sequence locks for relative locktime
+---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+[BIP68][] introduces relative lock-time consensus-enforced semantics of
+the sequence number field to enable a signed transaction input to remain
+invalid for a defined period of time after confirmation of its corresponding
+outpoint.
+
+For more information about the implementation, see
+<https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/7184>
+
+BIP112 soft fork to enforce OP_CHECKSEQUENCEVERIFY
+--------------------------------------------------
+
+[BIP112][] redefines the existing OP_NOP3 as OP_CHECKSEQUENCEVERIFY (CSV)
+for a new opcode in the Bitcoin scripting system that in combination with
+[BIP68][] allows execution pathways of a script to be restricted based
+on the age of the output being spent.
+
+For more information about the implementation, see
+<https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/7524>
+
+BIP113 locktime enforcement soft fork
+-------------------------------------
+
+Bitcoin Core 0.11.2 previously introduced mempool-only locktime
+enforcement using GetMedianTimePast(). This release seeks to
+consensus enforce the rule.
+
+Bitcoin transactions currently may specify a locktime indicating when
+they may be added to a valid block.  Current consensus rules require
+that blocks have a block header time greater than the locktime specified
+in any transaction in that block.
+
+Miners get to choose what time they use for their header time, with the
+consensus rule being that no node will accept a block whose time is more
+than two hours in the future.  This creates a incentive for miners to
+set their header times to future values in order to include locktimed
+transactions which weren't supposed to be included for up to two more
+hours.
+
+The consensus rules also specify that valid blocks may have a header
+time greater than that of the median of the 11 previous blocks.  This
+GetMedianTimePast() time has a key feature we generally associate with
+time: it can't go backwards.
+
+[BIP113][] specifies a soft fork enforced in this release that
+weakens this perverse incentive for individual miners to use a future
+time by requiring that valid blocks have a computed GetMedianTimePast()
+greater than the locktime specified in any transaction in that block.
+
+Mempool inclusion rules currently require transactions to be valid for
+immediate inclusion in a block in order to be accepted into the mempool.
+This release begins applying the BIP113 rule to received transactions,
+so transaction whose time is greater than the GetMedianTimePast() will
+no longer be accepted into the mempool.
+
+**Implication for miners:** you will begin rejecting transactions that
+would not be valid under BIP113, which will prevent you from producing
+invalid blocks when BIP113 is enforced on the network. Any
+transactions which are valid under the current rules but not yet valid
+under the BIP113 rules will either be mined by other miners or delayed
+until they are valid under BIP113. Note, however, that time-based
+locktime transactions are more or less unseen on the network currently.
+
+**Implication for users:** GetMedianTimePast() always trails behind the
+current time, so a transaction locktime set to the present time will be
+rejected by nodes running this release until the median time moves
+forward. To compensate, subtract one hour (3,600 seconds) from your
+locktimes to allow those transactions to be included in mempools at
+approximately the expected time.
+
+For more information about the implementation, see
+<https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/6566>
+
+Miscellaneous
+-------------
+
+The p2p alert system is off by default. To turn on, use `-alert` with
+startup configuration.
+
+0.12.1 Change log
+=================
+
+Detailed release notes follow. This overview includes changes that affect
+behavior, not code moves, refactors and string updates. For convenience in locating
+the code changes and accompanying discussion, both the pull request and
+git merge commit are mentioned.
+
+### RPC and other APIs
+- #7739 `7ffc2bd` Add abandoned status to listtransactions (jonasschnelli)
+
+### Block and transaction handling
+- #7543 `834aaef` Backport BIP9, BIP68 and BIP112 with softfork (btcdrak)
+
+### P2P protocol and network code
+- #7804 `90f1d24` Track block download times per individual block (sipa)
+- #7832 `4c3a00d` Reduce block timeout to 10 minutes (laanwj)
+
+### Validation
+- #7821 `4226aac` init: allow shutdown during 'Activating best chain...' (laanwj)
+- #7835 `46898e7` Version 2 transactions remain non-standard until CSV activates (sdaftuar)
+
+### Build system
+- #7487 `00d57b4` Workaround Travis-side CI issues (luke-jr)
+- #7606 `a10da9a` No need to set -L and --location for curl (MarcoFalke)
+- #7614 `ca8f160` Add curl to packages (now needed for depends) (luke-jr)
+- #7776 `a784675` Remove unnecessary executables from gitian release (laanwj)
+
+### Wallet
+- #7715 `19866c1` Fix calculation of balances and available coins. (morcos)
+
+### Miscellaneous
+- #7617 `f04f4fd` Fix markdown syntax and line terminate LogPrint (MarcoFalke)
+- #7747 `4d035bc` added depends cross compile info (accraze)
+- #7741 `a0cea89` Mark p2p alert system as deprecated (btcdrak)
+- #7780 `c5f94f6` Disable bad-chain alert (btcdrak)
+
+Credits
+=======
+
+Thanks to everyone who directly contributed to this release:
+
+- accraze
+- Alex Morcos
+- BtcDrak
+- Jonas Schnelli
+- Luke Dashjr
+- MarcoFalke
+- Mark Friedenbach
+- NicolasDorier
+- Pieter Wuille
+- Suhas Daftuar
+- Wladimir J. van der Laan
+
+As well as everyone that helped translating on [Transifex](https://www.transifex.com/projects/p/bitcoin/).
+