diff --git a/CHANGES/v2.5.md b/CHANGES/v2.5.md
index fc2beff34b7ea783de19181e5f4e43cc939153f0..b693749148e58b98ccc97f37f5c0f8e99d42bb1b 100644
--- a/CHANGES/v2.5.md
+++ b/CHANGES/v2.5.md
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ For users:
   - Using python 2 to create the cpp file uploaded on PyPI (this will change to python 3 in 2.6, see \issue{502}).
 - Module VES: Fixed a bug in updating of bias potential in \ref VES_LINEAR_EXPANSION that is present for certain integrators that call the calculation of the bias multiple times (see [here](https://groups.google.com/d/msg/plumed-users/kPZu_tNZtgk/LrkS0EqrCQAJ)) and replica exchange.
 
-## Version 2.5.4 (coming soon)
+## Version 2.5.4 (Jan 27, 2020)
 
 For users:
 - Includes all fixes up to 2.4.7
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 163fc6813c9ff10496bebf69c374055596c262db..05a53db6bfe9ec08af797f96ca3940fa38196692 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -5,4 +5,4 @@
 # (this is same as gromacs)
 # Notice that "plumed info --version" will return only 2.X
 # and "plumed info --long-version" will return the full string
-2.5.3
+2.5.4