diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 0eb7ed5f7e..916bc5a740 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+4.0.16
+
+
 4.0.15
  * Backport of CASSANDRA-17812: Rate-limit new client connection auth setup to avoid overwhelming bcrypt (CASSANDRA-20057)
  * Support UDTs and vectors as clustering keys in descending order (CASSANDRA-20050)
diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index 58e28aebce..5d9b961f51 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
     <property name="debuglevel" value="source,lines,vars"/>
 
     <!-- default version and SCM information -->
-    <property name="base.version" value="4.0.15"/>
+    <property name="base.version" value="4.0.16"/>
     <property name="scm.connection" value="scm:https://gitbox.apache.org/repos/asf/cassandra.git"/>
     <property name="scm.developerConnection" value="scm:https://gitbox.apache.org/repos/asf/cassandra.git"/>
     <property name="scm.url" value="https://gitbox.apache.org/repos/asf?p=cassandra.git"/>