diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 30c78017..4c0396f3 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ OUTDIR=${ROOTDIR}/_output
 TARGET_ARCHS ?= amd64 arm64 s390x ppc64le
 
 # Identifies the current build.
-VERSION ?= v1.53.0-SNAPSHOT
+VERSION ?= v1.53.0
 COMMIT_HASH ?= $(shell git rev-parse HEAD)
 
 # Identifies the Kiali operator container image that will be built
diff --git a/manifests/kiali-community/1.53.0/manifests/kiali.v1.53.0.clusterserviceversion.yaml b/manifests/kiali-community/1.53.0/manifests/kiali.v1.53.0.clusterserviceversion.yaml
index 66c620dd..3ece771d 100644
--- a/manifests/kiali-community/1.53.0/manifests/kiali.v1.53.0.clusterserviceversion.yaml
+++ b/manifests/kiali-community/1.53.0/manifests/kiali.v1.53.0.clusterserviceversion.yaml
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ metadata:
     support: Kiali
     description: "Kiali project provides answers to the questions: What microservices are part of my Istio service mesh and how are they connected?"
     repository: https://github.com/kiali/kiali
-    createdAt: 2022-06-13T12:27:23Z
+    createdAt: 2022-07-04T07:22:24Z
     alm-examples: |-
       [
         {
diff --git a/manifests/kiali-upstream/1.53.0/manifests/kiali.v1.53.0.clusterserviceversion.yaml b/manifests/kiali-upstream/1.53.0/manifests/kiali.v1.53.0.clusterserviceversion.yaml
index 308d22ed..f605d5e4 100644
--- a/manifests/kiali-upstream/1.53.0/manifests/kiali.v1.53.0.clusterserviceversion.yaml
+++ b/manifests/kiali-upstream/1.53.0/manifests/kiali.v1.53.0.clusterserviceversion.yaml
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ metadata:
     support: Kiali
     description: "Kiali project provides answers to the questions: What microservices are part of my Istio service mesh and how are they connected?"
     repository: https://github.com/kiali/kiali
-    createdAt: 2022-06-13T12:27:22Z
+    createdAt: 2022-07-04T07:22:24Z
     alm-examples: |-
       [
         {