Pi 3 is already released and going out fast (but not enough to be already out of stock, so you can get it fairly easily). 64 bit will certainly be an advantage for things related to cryptography... But we'll see if it will be a major improvement for Bitcoin. I doubt that a bit. An improvement to run a node would be more RAM, and that's not possible with the current SoC on the Pi.
Wow that was really fast. So that means I could get my hands on one and improve my BTC node. Still, I would also order a Pine 64+ which has bigger RAM and will be suitable for running a BTC node as well.
Well, it took some time for development, but yes, it was quite fast to be released after the rumors. After all, Raspberry Pi's anniversary day was the best and obvious choice to release a new product.
Pine gives you 2GB + Wi-Fi for 39$, excluding shipping, making a little bit more expensive and shipping in May only... I'm not sure if I'll be getting one just to upgrade RAM in order to run a bigger node as my personal usage does not require 2GB RAM (neither a Wi-Fi chip for that matter... I'd settle for 2GB without Wi-Fi which has a much more appealing price).
Also, no reviews and low community support doesn't inspire me confidence in Pine, yet. Things might change if or when I can afford running bigger nodes just because