Progress Report for Week of March 15th - March 21st, 2021

Development Work Completed During Week:

Repositories Updated:

• blur-network/dpow-blur - Testnet repository for v11 network hardfork
• blur-network/blur-explorer - Testnet explorer with v11 changes
• blur-network/blur-api-cpp - Compatibility layer for cross-chain comms with KMD
• who-biz/nntools - Notary node monitoring tools

Development Milestones Reached:

• Base58 encoding/decoding functions added to `dpow-blur` from bitcoin core
• `blur-explorer` display style changes, code style updates to `dpow-blur` with recent btc-base58 additions
• Efficiency improvements under-the-hood in notarization-related functions/operations in blur daemon
       ‣ Sync speed improved, by minimizing calls to expensive functions (notarization data is only polled when we add a new notarizing block to blockchain/DB successfully)
• LMDB map resizing mechanics updated in `dpow-blur` to now match those present in `blur` core repo since v0.1.9.9.5
• Version for `dpow-blur` updated to `v0.2.0.0-testnet`
• Fixed a bug which ignored incoming `ntz_sig` requests from peers if `target_height = 0` in `cryptonote_core` class
       ‣ This can happen, and is normal at `init`, and at points during protocol sync (particularly when we remove a peer connection)
• Resolved a consensus bug in testnet which resulted from `komodo_update()` not being called at proper points in blockchain sync
• Added support for `sig_count/signers_index` display for tracking of NN signer identities in Pending Notarization Pool of `blur-explorer`
• Added support for graceful display of lengthy `tx_extra` field to Blur Explorer for notarization transactions
• Successfully decoded `OP_RETURN` data from KMD notarization txs with embedded BLUR data


Community Work Completed During Week:

• Began participation in Komodo's 2021 Notary Node testnet
• Began lightning Network research in conjunction with CHIPS project (KMD ecosystem)

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Goals for Week of March 22nd - March 28th:

Development Goals:

• Add proper `decoderawtransaction`/`signrawtransaction` methods to `blur-api-cpp` compat layer
• Ensure that `OP_RETURN` data being posted to KMD (for BLUR ntz txs) is correct
       ‣ Need to embed more data than `(genesis_block | height | BLUR | 0x00)` (currently what is being displayed in each)
       ‣ Above correction of `blur-api-cpp` methods should accomplish this
• Make communication through blur-api-cpp bi-directional so that blurd can fetch information from `komodod` to embed in blur transactions
• Continued testing wtih Komodo Community

Community/Housekeeping Goals:

• Further participation in 2021 NN Testnet, LN research with Chips
• Shore up deployment procedures for Blur Notary Node setup
• Improve procedure instructions, consolidate full setup into single deployment script
• Update Roadmap for 2021, input milestones from 2020 not currently reflected on Roadmap
• Set up section for Progress Reports on https://blur.cash/, automate publishing of these releases to Medium/Twitter