diff --git a/core/java/src/net/i2p/CoreVersion.java b/core/java/src/net/i2p/CoreVersion.java
index 56a9e4224d70ad1b10b1e4acd7bbd6b6ecf2215a..b6abd7ba07dd3ff5fe5c6ca796f2991cbc39d135 100644
--- a/core/java/src/net/i2p/CoreVersion.java
+++ b/core/java/src/net/i2p/CoreVersion.java
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ public class CoreVersion {
      *  Otherwise, the same as PUBLISHED_VERSION.
      *  RouterVersion.FULL_VERSION is suggested for display to the user.
      */
-    public final static String VERSION = "2.8.0";
+    public final static String VERSION = "2.8.1";
 
     /**
      *  The version published in the netdb via StatisticsManager.
diff --git a/history.txt b/history.txt
index f22662d4808dfd18e133aaa8974d2ab0bd8172f2..feda3e8330df8b82c2ec2a14642f9cd392379f74 100644
--- a/history.txt
+++ b/history.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+2025-03-17 2.8.1 (API 0.9.65) released
+
 2025-03-14 zzz
  * Update translations
 
diff --git a/installer/install.xml b/installer/install.xml
index 604aab7e3d91e708616d73316c9c4e9873098ed3..807c18b1bda32a6874b8c020ae339af316be5075 100644
--- a/installer/install.xml
+++ b/installer/install.xml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
     <info>
         <appname>i2p</appname>
-        <appversion>2.8.0</appversion>
+        <appversion>2.8.1</appversion>
         <authors>
             <author name="I2P" email="https://geti2p.net/"/>
         </authors>
diff --git a/installer/install5.xml b/installer/install5.xml
index bf2cf9a8d790dd2c75b781f21c45b6544a7c55ce..74c30fb43512ada1426bc132eb3cf877935c243c 100644
--- a/installer/install5.xml
+++ b/installer/install5.xml
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 
     <info>
         <appname>i2p</appname>
-        <appversion>2.8.0</appversion>
+        <appversion>2.8.1</appversion>
         <authors>
             <author name="I2P" email="https://geti2p.net/"/>
         </authors>
diff --git a/router/java/src/net/i2p/router/RouterVersion.java b/router/java/src/net/i2p/router/RouterVersion.java
index 9b24d19fb1ddb32b42bcf9ebbe2e35f6743aba47..1984cf18c37e29c3befe956e0ebb017855559490 100644
--- a/router/java/src/net/i2p/router/RouterVersion.java
+++ b/router/java/src/net/i2p/router/RouterVersion.java
@@ -19,8 +19,8 @@ public class RouterVersion {
     public final static String ID = "Git";
     public final static String VERSION = CoreVersion.VERSION;
     /** for example: "beta", "alpha", "rc" */
-    public final static String QUALIFIER = "-rc";
-    public final static long BUILD = 8;
+    public final static String QUALIFIER = "";
+    public final static long BUILD = 0;
     /** for example "-test" */
     public final static String EXTRA = "";
     public final static String FULL_VERSION = VERSION + "-" + BUILD + QUALIFIER + EXTRA;