diff --git a/declearn/version.py b/declearn/version.py
index 93721d5083e5fbea3219d4d9eb0947c2adb45be7..559d814484c76615d5e1765f6924d96f8b3ed9ed 100644
--- a/declearn/version.py
+++ b/declearn/version.py
@@ -17,5 +17,5 @@
 
 """DecLearn version information, as hard-coded constants."""
 
-VERSION = "2.5.0"
+VERSION = "2.6.0.dev1"
 """Version information of the installed DecLearn package."""
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 5f60726eb25044c5a9447da1c2a525f591abaec0..846c6d4192bb4de1233d44eea747718723f511b2 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ requires = [
 
 [project]
 name = "declearn"
-version = "2.5.0"
+version = "2.6.0.dev1"
 description = "Declearn - a python package for private decentralized learning."
 readme = "README.md"
 requires-python = ">=3.8"