diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 4baa8ad0..c3d1b199 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2.6.1-rc0 20601000
+2.7.0-rc0 20700000
diff --git a/version.properties b/version.properties
index 74c563de..1066187c 100644
--- a/version.properties
+++ b/version.properties
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ### Updated by release.sh ###
 project.versioning.major=2
-project.versioning.minor=6
-project.versioning.patch=1
+project.versioning.minor=7
+project.versioning.patch=0
 project.versioning.build=0
 #############################