February Development Update
We are now past the halfway mark for the first quarter of 2020. So, let’s begin with what everyone is asking about: the audit. The Hyperdrive audit is still underway, but we expect to receive the results very soon. This will allow us to make any final fixes, and move to the last phase: auditing the RZL sMPC algorithm.
However, this month we were still able to take a big step towards Mainnet SubZero: the deployment of the first release candidate. The first release candidate is a feature-frozen version of RenVM that is believed to be ready for production. All features have been implemented, and all known bugs and performance issues have been fixed. In fact, Chaosnet has experienced zero unplanned downtime since its release. The only thing we are now waiting for is results from the auditing team.
There is also a lot of other stuff that the dev team has been up to this month:
RenVM
- The first version of GatewayJS was released, alongside several tutorials on how to use it. GatewayJS makes it quick and simple to integrate BTC, ZEC, and BCH support into any Ethereum dApp. We have also begun on the next version, which will natively support GaaS and CaaS. This allows developers to make sure their users do not have to pay gas fees, or wait for confirmations. Check out this blog post for more information.
- RenLab | We developed and deployed a set of examples that demonstrate the kinds of cross-chain applications that can be built using RenVM, and the kinds of user experiences that are possible. So far, we have added BTC/ETH trading using Uniswap, BTC payment streaming, and the MakerDAO BTC Vault will be added next week. We’ll continue to add even more examples as they are developed.
- The new version of our testing framework, Lotan, is now operational. This has made testing performance improvements and bug fixes much easier, giving us greater confidence in the stability of RenVM.
- We have started working on a new data migration system for Darknodes. This will make upgrading to new versions easier and more reliable. We will be able to make more dramatic changes to the underlying storage structures without losing data or breaking backwards compatibility.
Other
- MakerDAO BTC Vault | This month, some of the team went to ETHDenver to meet with projects/developers, grow the Ren Alliance, and participate in the hackathon. As part of the hackathon, we worked with developers from MakerDAO to collateralize Dai with real BTC. It is simple, easy to use, and only requires one Bitcoin transaction. Check out the demo here.
- We have begun working on the next version of our P2P library: Airwave. This new version will support some new safety features, more efficient message gossiping, and some big performance improvements. So far, we have been able to benchmark Airwave at ~300 nanoseconds per message, with ~20 bytes of memory used, and 1 memory allocation. These performance improvements will allow Darknodes to take on more work without needing better hardware.
It’s been another busy month for the dev team, and we are already beginning to set our sights on the many tasks to come after the first production release of RenVM. The next two months will be an exciting time for the project, so stay tuned for the audit results and the publication of the RZL sMPC specification.
Most of all, get ready to run those Darknodes.
— Loong Wang, CTO, Ren
