diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index a6cd34f..37d2bd7 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+- Update to binaryen v114.
+- Bump Rust to current stable v1.71.0.
+- Add the `--signext-lowering` flag to `wasm-opt`. ([#127])
+
 ## [0.13.0] - 2023-06-20
 
 ### Changed
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 5a621ab..00e75f4 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
-FROM rust:1.69.0-alpine as targetarch
+FROM rust:1.71.0-alpine as targetarch
 
 ARG BUILDPLATFORM
 ARG TARGETPLATFORM
 ARG TARGETARCH
 
-ARG BINARYEN_VERSION="version_110"
+ARG BINARYEN_VERSION="version_114"
 
 RUN echo "Running on $BUILDPLATFORM, building for $TARGETPLATFORM"
 
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ RUN cd build_workspace && \
 #
 # base-optimizer
 #
-FROM rust:1.69.0-alpine as base-optimizer
+FROM rust:1.71.0-alpine as base-optimizer
 
 # Download the crates.io index using the new sparse protocol to improve performance
 ENV CARGO_REGISTRIES_CRATES_IO_PROTOCOL=sparse
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 0530728..f95347d 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ DOCKER_TAG := 0.13.0
 # Native arch
 BUILDARCH := $(shell uname -m)
 
-# Build multi-CPU architecture images and publish them. rust alpine images support the linux/amd64 and linux/arm64/v8 architectures.
+# Build the native CPU arch images and publish them. Rust alpine images support the linux/amd64 and linux/arm64/v8 architectures.
 build: build-rust-optimizer build-workspace-optimizer
 
 build-rust-optimizer-x86_64:
diff --git a/optimize.sh b/optimize.sh
index f79d0ee..71f84be 100755
--- a/optimize.sh
+++ b/optimize.sh
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ mkdir -p artifacts
 rm -f artifacts/checksums_intermediate.txt
 
 # There are two cases here
-# 1. All contracts (or one) are included in the root workspace  (eg. `cosmwasm-template`, `cosmwasm-examples`, `cosmwasm-plus`)
+# 1. All contracts (or one) are included in the root workspace (eg. `cosmwasm-template`, `cosmwasm-examples`, `cosmwasm-plus`)
 #    In this case, we pass no argument, just mount the proper directory.
 # 2. Contracts are excluded from the root workspace, but import relative paths from other packages (only `cosmwasm`).
 #    In this case, we mount root workspace and pass in a path `docker run <repo> ./contracts/hackatom`
@@ -44,7 +44,8 @@ for CONTRACTDIR in "$@"; do
     echo "Creating intermediate hash for $NAME ..."
     sha256sum -- "$WASM" | tee -a artifacts/checksums_intermediate.txt
     echo "Optimizing $NAME ..."
-    wasm-opt -Os "$WASM" -o "artifacts/$NAME"
+    # --signext-lowering is needed to support blockchains runnning CosmWasm < 1.3. It can be removed eventually
+    wasm-opt -Os --signext-lowering "$WASM" -o "artifacts/$NAME"
   done
 done
 
diff --git a/optimize_workspace.sh b/optimize_workspace.sh
index 0b84b12..cc18426 100644
--- a/optimize_workspace.sh
+++ b/optimize_workspace.sh
@@ -65,7 +65,8 @@ TMPARTIFACTS=$(mktemp -p "$(pwd)" -d artifacts.XXXXXX)
       echo "$INTERMEDIATE_SHA" >>"$INTERMEDIATE_SHAS"
 
       echo "Optimizing ${BASENAME}..."
-      wasm-opt -Os "$WASM" -o "$OPTIMIZED_WASM"
+      # --signext-lowering is needed to support blockchains runnning CosmWasm < 1.3. It can be removed eventually
+      wasm-opt -Os --signext-lowering "$WASM" -o "$OPTIMIZED_WASM"
       echo "Moving ${OPTIMIZED_WASM}..."
       mv "$OPTIMIZED_WASM" ../artifacts
     fi