diff --git a/.cirrus.yml b/.cirrus.yml
index 496a5fbc6..c2ad62c19 100644
--- a/.cirrus.yml
+++ b/.cirrus.yml
@@ -10,14 +10,12 @@ task:
         TOXENV: py3
         ELECTRUM_PYTHON_NAME: python3
       matrix:
-       - env:
-           ELECTRUM_PYTHON_VERSION: 3.6
-       - env:
-           ELECTRUM_PYTHON_VERSION: 3.7
        - env:
            ELECTRUM_PYTHON_VERSION: 3.8
        - env:
            ELECTRUM_PYTHON_VERSION: 3.9
+       - env:
+           ELECTRUM_PYTHON_VERSION: 3.10
        - env:
            ELECTRUM_PYTHON_VERSION: 3
        - env:
@@ -80,7 +78,7 @@ task:
   locale_script:
     - contrib/push_locale
   env:
-    ELECTRUM_IMAGE: python:3.7
+    ELECTRUM_IMAGE: python:3.8
     ELECTRUM_REQUIREMENTS_CI: contrib/requirements/requirements-travis.txt
     # in addition, crowdin_api_key is set as an "override" in https://cirrus-ci.com/settings/...
   depends_on:
@@ -146,7 +144,7 @@ task:
   flake8_script:
     - flake8 . --count --select=$ELECTRUM_LINTERS --show-source --statistics
   env:
-    ELECTRUM_IMAGE: python:3.7
+    ELECTRUM_IMAGE: python:3.8
     ELECTRUM_REQUIREMENTS: contrib/requirements/requirements.txt
   matrix:
     - name: Flake8 Mandatory
@@ -223,7 +221,7 @@ task:
 task:
   name: Submodules
   container:
-    image: python:3.7
+    image: python:3.8
     cpu: 1
     memory: 1G
   fetch_script:
diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 5387c2c11..c253c590b 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ Electrum - Lightweight Bitcoin client
 
   Licence: MIT Licence
   Author: Thomas Voegtlin
-  Language: Python (>= 3.6)
+  Language: Python (>= 3.8)
   Homepage: https://electrum.org/
 
 
diff --git a/contrib/freeze_packages.sh b/contrib/freeze_packages.sh
index 3455771fd..d6e91bf55 100755
--- a/contrib/freeze_packages.sh
+++ b/contrib/freeze_packages.sh
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ contrib=$(dirname "$0")
 
 # note: we should not use a higher version of python than what the binaries bundle
 if [[ ! "$SYSTEM_PYTHON" ]] ; then
-    SYSTEM_PYTHON=$(which python3.6) || printf ""
+    SYSTEM_PYTHON=$(which python3.8) || printf ""
 else
     SYSTEM_PYTHON=$(which $SYSTEM_PYTHON) || printf ""
 fi
diff --git a/run_electrum b/run_electrum
index 113b65298..3a7abd50b 100755
--- a/run_electrum
+++ b/run_electrum
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ import os
 import sys
 
 
-MIN_PYTHON_VERSION = "3.6.1"  # FIXME duplicated from setup.py
+MIN_PYTHON_VERSION = "3.8.0"  # FIXME duplicated from setup.py
 _min_python_version_tuple = tuple(map(int, (MIN_PYTHON_VERSION.split("."))))
 
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 73fa2359f..50f1f9717 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import subprocess
 from setuptools import setup, find_packages
 from setuptools.command.install import install
 
-MIN_PYTHON_VERSION = "3.6.1"
+MIN_PYTHON_VERSION = "3.8.0"
 _min_python_version_tuple = tuple(map(int, (MIN_PYTHON_VERSION.split("."))))