Time flies by… the last update only seems like a couple of weeks ago! Since then we’ve been incredibly busy behind the scenes. The last couple of months have seen another successful MainNet upgrade — arguably the smoothest and fastest upgrade to date. A huge Thank You! to our fantastic Validator community who were on the ball as usual, and quick to help each other during the upgrade. We really are blessed!

The upgrade - code-named “grog” - bumped Cosmos SDK from v0.45.9 to v0.45.14, and ibc-go from v3.1.0 to v3.4.0. Due to both a minor state migration implemented by ibc-go and per the recommendation from Cosmos (see release notes for v0.45.12), it required a coordinated upgrade via a Governance proposal. At MainNet block 4,727,000 (19th April, 2023 10:31 UTC), all nodes on the network halted and upgraded. The process took around 15–20 minutes, and the vast majority of Validators were back online to produce block 4,727,001 within that time.

A lot of work has been happening in the background these past couple of months. Not long after the MainNet upgrade, planning and coding began for the next upgrade. In addition, we advised the fantastic Shibarium team with their public beta testnet deployment, and have also working on deploying OoO and VOR on the Shibarium L2 testnet.

Cosmos SDK v0.45.15 was the final release in the v0.45 branch. As such, we have begun work on updating und to implement Cosmos SDK v0.46.x. This also requires ibc-go to be updated to at least v5.2.0. Code-named “keyleth”, the repo has already seen a significant number of updates and commits. Due to the scale of the updates, and the amount of code requiring modification and refactoring, we anticipate spending at least a few more weeks thoroughly checking and testing the codebase before rolling out to TestNet (which we’re aiming for towards the end of Q2). The MainNet rollout will follow the usual schedule of first ensuring that TestNet is stable for a couple of weeks.

This upgrade will bring Mainchain up to date with the latest stable release of Cosmos SDK.

Over the years, we have developed quite a number of bash scripts and Docker environments which have been used to test each of the coordinated upgrades in a configurable self-contained DevNet, prior to releasing and upgrading TestNet. The past couple of Mainchain upgrades have allowed us to refine and collate these into a reusable simulator, which has been used internally (in various iterations) to test the previous upgrades for und v1.6.x, v1.7.x and will be used to test the upcoming v1.8.x upgrade.

The upgrade simulator allows a DevNet to be configured with a specified number of validators, sentries, seeds and RPCs. In addition, it also spins up a tiny second chain for testing IBC transfers and deploys a Hermes instance to facilitate the transfers. Finally, several bash scripts are generated, which run within a dedicated Docker container, and which generate and broadcast test transactions to the DevNet. These include standard Cosmos transactions (randomised FUND transfers, staking, governance proposals etc.), Unification specific transactions (WrkChains, BEACONs and Enterprise), and IBC transfers between DevNet and the small IBC chain.

For those interested, we have published the code in a Github repo.

We are currently in the process of deploying both VOR and OoO on Shibarium beta testnet. To date, we have deployed the xFUND Test token on Shibarium beta testnet, and have successfully bridged L1 to L2. We have also successfully transferred xFUND test tokens between L1 (Goerli) and L2. The next stage will be to deploy the respective OoO and VOR Router smart contracts on Shibarium L2, and finally spinning up the Oracle applications to serve data requests.

Details will be published in the respective documentation in due course.

Much of the WIP left for the Cosmos/IBC upgrade revolves around QA and testing. This includes ensuring all required code has been correctly migrated as per the Cosmos migration guides, unit tests are working and the built-in simulators run correctly without error. Once verified, the next step will be to test several DevNet upgrades of various sizes using our Mainchain Upgrade Simulator.

We have also received a couple of interesting requests regarding additional data types that OoO could potentially support. These are currently under consideration for future OoO development:

1. The ability to query historical price data from a specified time

2. The ability to query gas prices — both current and historical

The OoO Data Request API has been developed in such a way that a variety of data can potentially be plugged in without disrupting the existing smart contracts or infrastructure, so watch this space.

Whilst we are still maintaining a fair bit of secrecy around UNoDE, we can reveal that we have moved from the R&D phase into full scale development. As development progresses over the coming months, we may be at liberty to reveal more — and perhaps even begin inviting some trusted early alpha testers. We anticipate alpha deployment some time in Q3.

Expect to see an intake form if you are interested in working with us in further decentralised revolution of the blockchain platform ecosystem!

GitHub: https://github.com/unification-com

Telegram: https://t.me/unificationfoundation

Discord: https://discord.com/channels/725618617525207042

Website: https://www.unification.com

Time flies by… the last update only seems like a couple of weeks ago! Since then we’ve been incredibly busy behind the scenes. The last couple of months have seen another successful MainNet upgrade — arguably the smoothest and fastest upgrade to date. A huge Thank You! to our fantastic Validator community who were on the ball as usual, and quick to help each other during the upgrade. We really are blessed!

The upgrade - code-named “grog” - bumped Cosmos SDK from v0.45.9 to v0.45.14, and ibc-go from v3.1.0 to v3.4.0. Due to both a minor state migration implemented by ibc-go and per the recommendation from Cosmos (see release notes for v0.45.12), it required a coordinated upgrade via a Governance proposal. At MainNet block 4,727,000 (19th April, 2023 10:31 UTC), all nodes on the network halted and upgraded. The process took around 15–20 minutes, and the vast majority of Validators were back online to produce block 4,727,001 within that time.

A lot of work has been happening in the background these past couple of months. Not long after the MainNet upgrade, planning and coding began for the next upgrade. In addition, we advised the fantastic Shibarium team with their public beta testnet deployment, and have also working on deploying OoO and VOR on the Shibarium L2 testnet.

Cosmos SDK v0.45.15 was the final release in the v0.45 branch. As such, we have begun work on updating und to implement Cosmos SDK v0.46.x. This also requires ibc-go to be updated to at least v5.2.0. Code-named “keyleth”, the repo has already seen a significant number of updates and commits. Due to the scale of the updates, and the amount of code requiring modification and refactoring, we anticipate spending at least a few more weeks thoroughly checking and testing the codebase before rolling out to TestNet (which we’re aiming for towards the end of Q2). The MainNet rollout will follow the usual schedule of first ensuring that TestNet is stable for a couple of weeks.

This upgrade will bring Mainchain up to date with the latest stable release of Cosmos SDK.

Over the years, we have developed quite a number of bash scripts and Docker environments which have been used to test each of the coordinated upgrades in a configurable self-contained DevNet, prior to releasing and upgrading TestNet. The past couple of Mainchain upgrades have allowed us to refine and collate these into a reusable simulator, which has been used internally (in various iterations) to test the previous upgrades for und v1.6.x, v1.7.x and will be used to test the upcoming v1.8.x upgrade.

The upgrade simulator allows a DevNet to be configured with a specified number of validators, sentries, seeds and RPCs. In addition, it also spins up a tiny second chain for testing IBC transfers and deploys a Hermes instance to facilitate the transfers. Finally, several bash scripts are generated, which run within a dedicated Docker container, and which generate and broadcast test transactions to the DevNet. These include standard Cosmos transactions (randomised FUND transfers, staking, governance proposals etc.), Unification specific transactions (WrkChains, BEACONs and Enterprise), and IBC transfers between DevNet and the small IBC chain.

For those interested, we have published the code in a Github repo.

We are currently in the process of deploying both VOR and OoO on Shibarium beta testnet. To date, we have deployed the xFUND Test token on Shibarium beta testnet, and have successfully bridged L1 to L2. We have also successfully transferred xFUND test tokens between L1 (Goerli) and L2. The next stage will be to deploy the respective OoO and VOR Router smart contracts on Shibarium L2, and finally spinning up the Oracle applications to serve data requests.

Details will be published in the respective documentation in due course.

Much of the WIP left for the Cosmos/IBC upgrade revolves around QA and testing. This includes ensuring all required code has been correctly migrated as per the Cosmos migration guides, unit tests are working and the built-in simulators run correctly without error. Once verified, the next step will be to test several DevNet upgrades of various sizes using our Mainchain Upgrade Simulator.

We have also received a couple of interesting requests regarding additional data types that OoO could potentially support. These are currently under consideration for future OoO development:

1. The ability to query historical price data from a specified time

2. The ability to query gas prices — both current and historical

The OoO Data Request API has been developed in such a way that a variety of data can potentially be plugged in without disrupting the existing smart contracts or infrastructure, so watch this space.

Whilst we are still maintaining a fair bit of secrecy around UNoDE, we can reveal that we have moved from the R&D phase into full scale development. As development progresses over the coming months, we may be at liberty to reveal more — and perhaps even begin inviting some trusted early alpha testers. We anticipate alpha deployment some time in Q3.

Expect to see an intake form if you are interested in working with us in further decentralised revolution of the blockchain platform ecosystem!

GitHub: https://github.com/unification-com

Telegram: https://t.me/unificationfoundation

Discord: https://discord.com/channels/725618617525207042

Website: https://www.unification.com