Dec 23, 2022
Razor Year-End Review — 2022
TL;DR As the year 2022 draws to a close, we look back proudly at all that we have achieved and all the hurdles we have overcome.
This was the year we launched our mainnet on the Skale Network, preceded by 2 phases of our incentivized testnet.
We focussed on strengthening the technical aspects of Razor’s decentralized oracle network and integrated a host of updates into Razor node and RazorScan.
A host of leading names from the blockchain industry joined us as validators of Razor’s Oracle network.
Expanding our global community is something we constantly strive to do. This year, we launched multiple Razor farming opportunities for our community members, which have been tremendously successful.
With an eye on all that we want to achieve in 2023, join us as we walk down memory lane and bring you all the important updates from the world of Razor in 2022.
Tech Updates
Let’s begin by taking a sneak peek at some of our critical technical updates. We promise not to bore you with too many facts or figures.
We have constantly been making Razor Network more user-friendly by improving RazorScan and integrating more features. Now, RazorScan features a new dashboard along with universal search functionality that allows users to make queries based on transaction hash, address, epoch, or collection names.
The integration of search and filter functionality with all relevant tables allows users to share RazorScan links complete with address and transaction hash queries. Users can access more in-depth information about the network straight from their dashboard. The new homepage provides detailed information about the number of active stakers, delegators, TVL, the latest block info, and so on.
The Razor Staking page now includes Total Stake Distribution details, a sidebar that acts as a navigation bar, and a universal search bar that helps users query relevant data based on address, transaction hash, and collection.
We’re constantly upgrading the Razor node in order to improve its efficiency and security. This month, we released Razor node v1.0.5 after a round of rigorous internal testing phase. Validators who wish to upgrade their Razor nodes can go through this documentation here. You can expect many more enhancements to the Razor node over the coming months.
Smart Contract Security Audit
The mainnet launch followed extensive testing and stringent audits, apart from the community testing rounds. After creating and testing v0.1, v0.2, and v0.3, we finally deployed Razor Contacts v1.0 along with our v1.0 Golang implementation Razor-Go.
Given the importance of security when it comes to smart contracts, we got Razor’s smart contracts audited by 2 of the industry’s leading blockchain security and audit firms before the launch — Halborn and Slowmist.
Halborn is run by a group of ethical hackers and serves over 250 clients, including Solana and Avalanche. SlowMist’s client list includes Huobi, OKEx, Binance, Crypto.com, Klaytn, EOS, 1inch, and PancakeSwap.
The smart contracts and Razor Go repository were audited by Halborn’s smart contract security experts for nearly four weeks. The code was scrutinized, and components were put through rigorous manual and automated security testing processes. As expected, no major security vulnerabilities were found in the Halborn audit report.
Likewise, the SlowMist team conducted a manual analysis of Razor smart contract codes to check for any red flags. After thoroughly scrutinizing the Razor core module and other modules, SlowMist’s audit report identified one potential low-risk issue and suggested minor improvements, all of which were addressed in no time.
Razor Mainnet Launch
The much-awaited launch of the Razor mainnet happened this year, and the foundation for the launch was laid as soon as the year started.
Razor Incentivised Testnet Phase-1 was launched in the month of January itself on the Polygon Mumbai Testnet. The testnet saw more than 80 people participate as validators.
This encouraged us to launch Phase-2 of the testnet on the Skale Network in May. The second installment was even more successful, as 100+ validators participated.
Finally, the Razor Network Alpha went live on the Skale Network on 1st September. With the launch of the Razor mainnet, the $RAZOR network staking on SKALE also went live, offering an APY of up to 89%. The total value locked (TVL) surged to 86.6 million $RAZOR shortly. Mining tokenomics for the Razor Network Oracle had already been released in the month of August.
Our community has been a steady source of inspiration behind all our achievements. Their enthusiastic participation in the incentivized testnet campaigns significantly helped us in stress-testing various network components and ironing out minor issues.
They have also played a huge role in driving the growth of the Razor Network. In fact, there has been a steady increase in the TVL of $RAZOR, and in a moment of immense pride for us, the TVL of $RAZOR locked in the Razor Network oracle crossed $1 million on 7th November. You can check the real-time stats here.
Razor Validators
It’s not only our community members who have taken a keen interest in Razor’s mainnet. As many as eight industry leaders joined us as institutional validators last year, securing the Razor decentralized network and ensuring that we offer the best service to our clients. The validators are StakingCabin, InfStones, Validatrium, Terminet, NGC StakeX, Stakin, FiberBlock, and FutureWave.
These collaborations have also enabled us to strengthen our presence on multiple popular and emerging protocols and constantly provide quality, censorship-resistant data streams to the DeFi ecosystem.
Looking Ahead
All these above-mentioned developments are just the tip of the iceberg, as a lot of things happened over the duration. In this year-end report, we handpicked a few notable events, partnerships, and breakthroughs to offer our community members a glimpse of what an average year at Razor Network looks like. The next 12 months will see us make more technical prowess, build a bigger global Razor community, and in general, create more value for our supporters.
From Team Razor, we wish a very Happy New Year 2023 to all of you and your families. Hope our association continues this year and beyond.
