Mainnet upgrade: v1.5.3

Instructions for the mainnet upgrade to axelar-core v1.5.3.

Upgrade height: 33625777. Proposal: #495. Upgrade time: ~10:30 UTC, 2026-08-25. See countdown.

Binary Types

Docker

docker pull axelarnet/axelar-core:v1.5.3

Manifest digest sha256:b2779cf4a9ea2d9032f6265861ce490f7df47673f27552ee8ea20b0106e59a51. This tag is published for linux/amd64 only.

Direct download

The same binaries are attached to the v1.5.3 release page. Verify the sha256 of each zip before use, see verifying binaries.

The statically linked Linux binary bundles libwasmvm and runs on any distribution without it installed. The dynamically linked binary requires libwasmvm v2.3.4 on LD_LIBRARY_PATH.

About the v1.5 upgrade

The v1.5 upgrade is a consensus-breaking release for Axelar mainnet. Highlights:

• Migrates the Cosmos stack to cosmos-sdk v0.53, ibc-go v10, wasmd v0.60.8 and wasmvm v2.3.4. Removes the x/crisis and x/capability modules and their stores, and registers the 07-tendermint light client as a modular route. x/tss remains mounted for historical transaction decoding.
• Runs the ibc core (6 → 8) and ibc transfer (5 → 6, DenomTrace → Denom) state migrations at the upgrade height. The ibc transfer REST/CLI query surface is renamed upstream: denom_traces becomes denoms. Update relayers, explorers, and scripts that query the old path.
• Adds the x/authz module, enabling scoped, revocable, expiring authorization grants, for example a validator delegating governance voting to an operational key. MsgExec is restricted to flat messages.
• Adds the x/feepolicy module. A transaction may pay fees in a single denomination only, taken from a governance-controlled allowlist. The upgrade handler seeds the allowed denoms from the staking bond denom.
• Moves the nexus EVM processing queue to insertion order (FIFO), so messages are delivered in arrival order rather than by message ID.
• Voting correctness fixes: the source chain for an EVM vote result and the chain of a completed poll are both resolved from poll metadata rather than the voter-supplied result, and an EVM poll that expires with zero votes no longer applies the missing-vote penalty to every maintainer.
• Wasm and payload guards: raises the wasm static validation limits above the wasmvm v2.3.4 defaults so optimizer-built Amplifier contracts still store, and makes the tightened ABI inflation guard unconditional.
• Disables axelard export. State export to genesis is not supported, since axelar-core upgrades via in-place store migrations.
• The wasmd/wasmvm bump patches CWA-2026-005, a high-severity block-production delay via wasm execution.

ampd is not bumped for this upgrade. Verifier handlers continue against the same ampd version.

No CosmWasm contract migrations are required. No config.toml / app.toml changes are required relative to a node already running v1.4.x (iavl-cache-size = 0, iavl-disable-fastnode = true, timeout_commit = 1s), other than the Moonbeam removal in step 4 below.

Releases: v1.5.0 (the v1.5 line notes), v1.5.3 (the deployed version).

Changelogs: v1.5.0, v1.5.3.

Upgrade Instructions

1. If you’re a validator or have delegated to one, please vote for the upgrade proposal via:

axelard tx gov vote 495 yes --from validator

2. Wait for the proposed upgrade block. Do not replace your binary before the halt. Your node must keep running v1.4.x all the way to height 33625777 and panic there on its own, with a log: {"level":"error","module":"consensus","err":"UPGRADE \"v1.5\" NEEDED at height: 33625777",.

Stop your node after chain halt:

pkill -f 'axelard start'
# Validators also need to stop vald/tofnd
pkill -f 'vald-start'
pkill -f tofnd

3. Backup the state:

cp -r ~/.axelar/.core/data ~/.axelar-dojo-1-upgrade-1.5.3/.core/data

4. Remove Moonbeam from your vald configuration. Delete the whole [[axelar_bridge_evm]] block whose name = "Moonbeam" from your config.toml:

[[axelar_bridge_evm]]
name = "Moonbeam"
rpc_addr = "..."
start-with-bridge = true

5. If you are using the dynamic binary or building from source, reinstall libwasmvm v2.3.4 and confirm LD_LIBRARY_PATH points at it.

6. Restart your axelard node with the new v1.5.3 build.

7. If you’re a validator also restart vald with v1.5.3 and tofnd with v1.0.1 (unchanged from v1.4.x).

Example using join scripts (axelarate-community)

# in axelarate-community repo
git checkout main
git pull
KEYRING_PASSWORD="pw-1" ./scripts/node.sh -n mainnet -a v1.5.3
# For validators, restart vald/tofnd
KEYRING_PASSWORD="pw-1" TOFND_PASSWORD="pw-2" ./scripts/validator-tools-host.sh -n mainnet -a v1.5.3 -q v1.0.1

Ampd

ampd is not bumped for this upgrade. Verifier handlers continue against the same ampd version you are already running.

Rollback

This is a state-machine-breaking upgrade. There is no in-place rollback to v1.4.x once your node has executed the v1.5 upgrade handler. The cosmos-sdk, ibc, and nexus store migrations are persisted to state. If rollback is required, restore from the pre-upgrade snapshot you took in step 3.

Troubleshooting

If you encounter an app hash mismatch, the most likely cause is a stale libwasmvm. Confirm the loaded library is v2.3.4:

https://github.com/CosmWasm/wasmvm/releases/download/v2.3.4/libwasmvm.x86_64.so

Before restarting your node:

1. Make sure LD_LIBRARY_PATH includes the directory of libwasmvm (dynamic binary only).
2. Docker users do not need to modify anything.

If the app hash mismatch persists, verify all replicas in your fleet were swapped to v1.5.3 before the upgrade height. Mixed binaries across replicas after the upgrade height will fork.

If vald restarts a few times right after the upgrade with unable to start client: dial tcp 127.0.0.1:26657: connect: connection refused, this is expected. vald requires the local axelard RPC at startup and exits if it is not reachable yet, so on nodes where axelard takes a while to open its store vald will restart until the RPC is serving.

If IBC queries return no results, note the transfer query surface is renamed upstream in ibc-go v10: denom_traces becomes denoms.