Development update May 2019
An apology and some exciting news.
First off, an apology: we aren’t able to release v0.13.4 by 6 May. Although the current release candidate solves the slow sync problem, fixes the display of immature rewards, fixes the address labels problem, and (added bonus) reduces the memory requirement, it has proved to be a bit unstable. It will be released as soon as the instability is resolved.
Now that MN-PoS is operational we are looking forward to the next developments in the evolution of the Crown platform. In order of arrival, and scale, they are:
- Trezor integration
- NFT framework
- Codebase update
Trezor integration
This is an exciting development which brings the security of a hardware wallet to Crown users and offers the possibility in future to start masternodes and systemnodes without requiring a full desktop wallet.
It involves several components, some of which are completed and others which are nearly complete. The completed components are the new address prefixes in Crown v0.13 (“Jade”) and update of the Electrum-Crown wallet to understand the new address format. Changes to Bitcore to understand the new address formats are in progress and could be ready within two weeks. Bitcore will provide an Insight explorer which allows access to information in the Crown blockchain. The final component is the actual Trezor integration. Our target release date is June 2019.
NFT framework
This will extend the use-cases for the Crown platform and allow users to develop their own applications. Non-fungible tokens can be used in myriad ways. The initial framework version is expected in the “Emerald” release and will provide registration and timestamping facilities. One of the most basic applications of NFTs is recording proof-of-existence and we already have people interested in developing more complex applications. To facilitate this we aim to provide developer documentation ahead of the release, expected in testnet by July 2019.
Further development of the NFT framework will be guided by user feedback on the initial release.
Codebase update
Crown is based on Bitcoin core v0.10 and v0.11. In computing and crypto terms this is ancient. Bitcoin v0.18 was released on 2 May 2019.
Updating the codebase is a major undertaking with the principal benefit of making future maintenance easier. It will also enhance security and provide access to additional features. There is no estimated completion date yet but the project will take several months.
Would you like to know more?
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