diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index c0d58e3..1c20111 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,23 @@
+## v2.6.0-alpha1 / 2014-Jan-22
+
+**WARNING**: This is an **EXPERIMENTAL early testing release** and **unsuitable for use in production**. Welcoming feedback on any issues, etc.!
+
+### Features
+ * Low-level fns added: `freeze-to-out!`, `thaw-from-in!` for operating directly on DataOutputs/DataInputs.
+ * Data size optimizations for some small, common data types (small strings+keywords, small integers).
+ * New test suite added to ensure a 1-to-1 value->binary representation mapping for all core data types. This will be a guarantee kept going forward.
+ * New `:skip-headers?` `freeze` option to freeze data without standard Nippy headers (can be useful in very performance sensitive environments).
+ * New benchmarks added, notably a Fressian comparison.
+
+### Changes
+ * **BREAKING**: the experimental `Compressable-LZMA2` type has changed (less overhead).
+ * **DEPRECATED**: `freeze-to-stream!`, `thaw-from-stream!` are deprecated in favor of the more general `freeze-to-out!`, `thaw-from-in!`.
+ * **DEPRECATED**: `:legacy-mode` options. This was being used mainly for headerless freezing, so a new headerless mode is taking its place.
+
+### Fixes
+ * None.
+
+
 ## v2.5.2 / 2013-12-07
  * Test Serializable objects at freeze time for better reliability.
  * Don't cache `serializable?`/`readable?` for types with gensym-style names (e.g. as used for anonymous fns, etc.).
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index fd3a373..a4f62e0 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -2,8 +2,11 @@
 
 ```clojure
 [com.taoensso/nippy "2.5.2"] ; Stable
+[com.taoensso/nippy "2.6.0-alpha1"] ; EXPERIMENTAL early testing release, unsuitable for production
 ```
 
+v2.6 will be a backwards-compatible release with: improved performance (incl. frozen data size), a new low-level DataInput/DataOuput API, improved support for headerless freezing, and 1-to-1 binary-value representation guarantees. See the [Changelog](https://github.com/ptaoussanis/nippy/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md) for details.
+
 # Nippy, a Clojure serialization library
 
 Clojure's [rich data types](http://clojure.org/datatypes) are *awesome*. And its [reader](http://clojure.org/reader) allows you to take your data just about anywhere. But the reader can be painfully slow when you've got a lot of data to crunch (like when you're serializing to a database).
diff --git a/project.clj b/project.clj
index c0845a9..3e94180 100644
--- a/project.clj
+++ b/project.clj
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-(defproject com.taoensso/nippy "2.5.2"
+(defproject com.taoensso/nippy "2.6.0-alpha1"
   :description "Clojure serialization library"
   :url "https://github.com/ptaoussanis/nippy"
   :license {:name "Eclipse Public License"