Since our last update, development is continuously progressing. We’d like to give you a brief update on the progress of the µRaiden and Raiden Network projects.

µRaiden

Major efforts were put into polishing µRaiden. Following the Devcon presentation and the bug bounty release at the end of December, µRaiden version 0.2 was recently released. It includes lots of improvements, an updated documentation and better usability. For further details, see the announcement blogpost and the changelog.

To start implementing payment channels into any application, a µRaiden package is now available through pip install microraiden . To see how it can be used give the online demos a try. If problems arise, please ask for help in the µRaiden gitter channel!

The Raiden Network

Raiden Network clients should be able to restart and continue to work where they left off after an unexpected shutdown. To assure this the codebase is undergoing a big refactoring to implement recoverability.

Additionally, the codebase was updated to use Python 3. Using the same major Python version as other Python Ethereum libraries fixes compatibility problems and allows for the use of modern language features. Further, the update results in a cleaner codebase and opens the path for other improvements in the future, such as using type annotations and static analysis to check the codebase for errors, while better documenting internal and external APIs.

When updating to the latest version of the Raiden Network it’s important to make sure to update your Python virtual environment and delete the data directory (default is ~/.raiden ).

The codebase now supports macOS. Standalone binary packages for macOS will be available from the next release onwards.

There were a few issues that commonly came up when people tested the Raiden Network. Checks and improvements have been implemented in order to avoid these. For example the Raiden Network client now makes sure that an Ethereum node is fully synced before it can be used. The client also tries to reconnect to the Ethereum node automatically if the connection breaks.

For those testing the Raiden Network, error messages have been improved, thus making it easier to debug problems if they occur. Furthermore, the REST-API was extended to provide more information and is now more consistently named.

Contributing & Jobs

While there is a lot to work on for the Raiden team, there are ways for the community to help: Play with the Raiden Testnet, have a look at the documentation and share your experience in the Raiden gitter!

Furthermore, a list of issues that provide an easy introduction to the Raiden Network codebase is being maintained and contributions are greatly appreciated.

Lastly, the Raiden team is looking for smart minds to join the team. If you are interested in working for one of the leading blockchain companies, a list of open positions can be found here.

The Raiden Team

The Raiden project is led by brainbot labs Est.