The main focus of development in September was adding features to improve the stability of the wallet and adding functionality to the Stratis Full Node so that it is ready for exchanges.
Development Update
A total of 179 commits were made during the month of September, encompassing 437 file changes and 14,791 additional lines of code to the Stratis Full Node. A summary of the key developments can be found below.
Wallet
- Created wallet repository feature
- Undertook extensive optimization of the wallet repository feature
- Added support for both database-per-wallet and multi-wallet-database to wallet repository
- Added cold-staking support to wallet repository
- Future-proofed wallet repository for use with federated transfers
- Updated wallet feature to use new wallet repository feature
- Added SignalR support for multiple wallets and accounts for Cirrus Core
- Updated API to expose SQL based wallets
- Stratis Core and Cirrus Core updated to use new SQL Wallet with latest SBFN codebase
- Various bug fixes and performance improvements
- Updated a large number of test cases related to the wallet feature to use the wallet repository
RPC
- Optimized “gettransaction” and “listaddressgroupings” RPC methods
- Aligning of RPC calls with Bitcoin Core
- Bug fixes for RPC calls
Certificate Authority Service
- Introduction of ‘Roles’
- Handle issuance and revocation of certificates
- Check the revocation status of any given certificate
- Implementation of an API to manage accounts and associated certificates
Smart Contracts
- Caching of contract code, for smart contract execution performance improvements
- Caching execution results between mining and validation for smart contract performance improvements
Testing Update
The wallet is a fundamental part of the Stratis Blockchain. In order to ensure future scalability, we have redesigned that key component to take advantage of a database engine rather than rely on the JSON file format.
In order to prove the wallet is functioning as expected and can cope with a large volume of transactions, we have further developed our test environment specifically for the purpose of testing the functionality and performance of the wallet, more so than ever before.
This test environment is based on a private blockchain and a large set of wallets with an even larger number of coins (i.e. UTXO). The test scenarios include creation of new wallets, filling them with predefined sets of coins and finally building and sending transactions on a significant scale.
This setup allowed us to uncover and fix wallet-related defects as part of an ongoing effort to make our solution faster, more scalable and more robust.
Hackathon announced – Stratis Smart Contract Challenge
We have announced the Stratis Smart Contracts Challenge, an online hackathon which will begin on 1st November and run through to 16th December 2019. A total of US$18,000 is up for grabs with a first place cash prize of US$10,000, second place prize of US$5,000 and third place prize of US$3,000.
The challenge is to develop smart contract applications that can have a big impact. They should be useful, easy to use, innovative and capable of being applied across a wide range of industries. These include banking and financial services, international trade and commodities, supply chain, energy, identity, Internet of Things, government, healthcare and medicine, automotive and gaming.
We are very excited to see how contestants harness Stratis Smart Contracts in C# to develop a set of varied and innovative use cases.
Partner update – MediConnect successfully closes ICO and proceeds with proof-of-concept
It’s been a significant month for our partner, MediConnect, who closed its ICO at the end of September. MediConnect also completed the workflow for its proof-of-concept (PoC) and began the integration of UK Meds, an online pharmacy and partner of MediConnect, to the PoC platform.
Stratis is developing the MediConnect blockchain as a bespoke solution based on the Stratis blockchain. The PoC is designed to trace medication through the supply chain from the point at which it is manufactured to its prescription by medical professionals and purchase by patients.
Stratis features in the news
Stratis CEO, Chris Trew, has been featured in the news recently as he discussed topics including the move towards a cashless society and the important role smart contracts can play in business.
In a piece titled Blockchain and the cashless society in Financial IT, Chris discusses the growing momentum pulling businesses, financial institutions and central banks away from a centuries-old system based on banknotes to one built on blockchain. In another piece featured in Business Cloud, Chris discusses how Smart contracts have potential to speed up business and could revolutionise how companies operate in the same way as the cloud or AI.
