diff --git a/validator/README.md b/validator/README.md
index bceaf6c..be0edab 100644
--- a/validator/README.md
+++ b/validator/README.md
@@ -18,8 +18,8 @@ node before and is comfortable with Docker and a Linux server.
 
 ## What AERE actually is today (read this first)
 
-AERE runs **Hyperledger Besu** with **QBFT** consensus and **sub-second blocks** (0.62 s on average
-over the 100,000 blocks before 2026-10-15).
+AERE runs **Hyperledger Besu** with **QBFT** consensus and **sub-second blocks** (0.60 s on average
+over the 100,000 blocks to 2026-11-03).
 Consensus is a permissioned proof-of-authority BFT set, not proof-of-work and
 not on-chain proof-of-stake.
 
@@ -269,7 +269,7 @@ for any private value before it ends.
 ## 3b. The clock (added 2026-10-20)
 
 Chain 2800 rejects a block header whose timestamp is more than **one second** ahead of the node's own
-clock (QBFT's `TimestampBoundedByFutureParameter(1)`), and at about 0.62 s per block that rule bites at every
+clock (QBFT's `TimestampBoundedByFutureParameter(1)`), and at about 0.60 s per block that rule bites at every
 head:
 
 - a node whose clock is **behind** rejects the head blocks it is sent and disconnects the peer with
@@ -573,7 +573,7 @@ verifier.
 | Network name | AERE Network |
 | Chain ID / network ID | 2800 |
 | Consensus | Hyperledger Besu, QBFT |
-| Block time | sub-second since block 2,137,652 (0.62 s average over the 100,000 blocks before 2026-10-15) |
+| Block time | sub-second since block 2,137,652 (0.60 s average over the 100,000 blocks to 2026-11-03) |
 | Gas price | min-gas-price 0 on the node; the protocol base-fee floor sets the price |
 | Storage format | Bonsai |
 | Client | **Aere fork of Besu**, built from the public patch series of the `aere-node` bundle (0001 to 0010 as of 2026-10-14) on the named upstream commit. Stock upstream cannot follow chain 2800 past block 9,189,161. See RUN-A-NODE.md in `aere-node`. |