diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 77459b0b..ad80b375 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2.5.3-rc1 20503010
+2.6.0-rc0 20600000
diff --git a/version.properties b/version.properties
index a836d5fe..fa4442d2 100644
--- a/version.properties
+++ b/version.properties
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ### Updated by release.sh ###
 project.versioning.major=2
-project.versioning.minor=5
-project.versioning.patch=3
-project.versioning.build=1
+project.versioning.minor=6
+project.versioning.patch=0
+project.versioning.build=0
 #############################