PANews reported on October 10th that, according to Cryptopolitan, the privacy-focused blockchain Monero has released a major upgrade, CLI v0.18.4.3 "Fluorine Fermi," to enhance its protection against spy nodes. In the Monero community, the term "spy node" refers to malicious nodes, groups, or botnets that can link IP addresses to transaction information, effectively undermining the blockchain's privacy guarantees.

The "Fermi" update addresses this issue by implementing an improved node selection algorithm that reduces the likelihood of users connecting to multiple nodes within the same IP subnet, a common tactic used by spy nodes. This prevents users from connecting to large clusters of suspicious IP addresses, directing them to more secure nodes. The "Fermi" update also changes how and to whom messages are sent, making it extremely difficult for spies to track their delivery paths. This helps the Monero email service avoid these suspicious delivery parties.