We have completed the upgrade from Dash 13 and are testing the final stage. Expected, Hardfork at block 400K and switch to new chain, the old addresses still work normally. Some information on consensus changes is as follow:
Masternode collateral: 100K Geek
Block Time: 2.5 min
Masternode Reward: 50–80%
Governance & Budget: 180K
This release focuses on improving consensus methods on the network. It includes:
- Automatic InstantSend, which will improve the speed of most transactions at no additional cost;
- A deterministic masternode list to provide a single source of truth for clients validating transactions;
- Special transactions to accommodate non-financial transactions on the blockchain;
- A third masternode key to enable delegation of masternode voting; and
- Several improvements to private transactions.
What are the highlights?
Automatic InstantSend for Simple Transactions — No Extra Cost
InstantSend payments allow users to exchange payment instantly using GeekCash’s masternodes. When a user sends a payment via InstantSend, a quorum of 10 masternodes is selected for each input of the transaction. The transaction is then “locked” when a majority of masternodes for each input agree that the input they are responsible for is valid, thus preventing double-spending.
With Release v1.3, the system will automatically attempt to lock any transaction with 4 or fewer inputs — which are referred to as “simple” transactions — and remove the additional fee for InstantSend, so only the standard transaction fee applies. These transactions make up over 90% of all transactions on the Geek network — which means the majority of Geek transactions are about to get even faster, at no additional cost.
Deterministic Masternode List
When a quorum is used (for example, in an InstantSend transaction), nodes sometimes calculate different quorum sets to validate a transaction. Each node maintains its own individual masternode list through peer-to-peer messages, instead of pulling data straight from the blockchain. These discrepancies can result in problems with consensus and limit the possible uses of quorums.
The deterministic masternode list is derived from information found on the blockchain itself, providing a single source of truth for all clients wanting to verify transactions. This includes SPV wallets, which historically have relied on trusted SPV servers to relay transactions.
3 Masternode Keys: Owner, Operator and Voting
Today, a masternode owner has two keys for their masternode: (1) key to show they own the masternode, and (2) key to operate the masternode and also use it to vote. However, operating a masternode requires the operator to be online at all times in order to maximize rewards. The current system allows masternode owners to delegate the 2nd key to a third party, but then the owner must either give up the ability to vote, or maintain frequent contact with the third party to discuss votes. With the 0.13.0 release, we will break the 2nd masternode key into two, so masternode owners can have the flexibility to either retain or delegate voting as they wish.
Special Transactions
Traditional transactions only have inputs and outputs, which makes them useful for financial transactions — but not for transactions that carry additional data. There are workarounds, but they require developers to manipulate the current system in inconsistent ways to enable non-financial transactions. Special transactions provide new structures to enable non-financial transactions on the blockchain, thus laying the groundwork for many future uses of the Geek payment system.
PrivateSend Improvements
Geek users have the option of using the PrivateSend feature to protect their financial privacy. This way, no one can see the origin of the funds that were used, the same way you can’t deduce the origin of the paper cash in your wallet. It works by breaking transactions down into a few standard denominations of Geek (.01 Geek, .1 Geek, 1 Geek, and 10 Geek) and then “mixing” these with other transactions, all without the funds ever leaving a user’s wallet.
Updates to PrivateSend in v1.3.0 will speed up the mixing process slightly, as well as introduce an additional denomination of .001 Geek.
What’s Next?
After the update is complete, we will focus all the time to connect partners and create products that apply to Geek’s ecosystem.
Please be patient!
Geek Team
31 Jan 2019
