People get ready!

Get ready to kiss goodbye to the Luxcore you thought you knew. Lux is about to usher in a new era, one that promises not only to revolutionize the Luxcore project itself, but the blockchain space entirely. Luxcore v5 is coming in mid-June and here’s everything you need to know about it…

Luxcore v5 will make its grand debut as a result of a hardfork that is slated to arrive the week after next. This will be by far the largest and most ambitious update in Lux history. Check out this incredible list of new features in Luxcore v5: Smart Contracts, SegWit, block pruning, Phi2 and perhaps most importantly a full-fledged marketing campaign!

People get ready, there’s a train a-comin’!

Smart Contracts

The integration of Smart Contracts into the Luxcore ecosystem will be completed upon the release of v5. In brief, Smart Contracts are pieces of code written onto the blockchain that store the rules for negotiating the terms of an agreement, automatically verify fulfillment, and then execute the agreed-upon terms. Being directly on the blockchain means Smart Contracts are immutable — they cannot be tampered with — and they are distributed in such a way that they must achieve network consensus over the fulfillment of terms. As a result, Smart Contracts effectively remove any possibility of fraud generally associated with traditional contracts.

Writing Smart Contracts can be challenging, however, for those of us who are not well-versed in programming. As a result, Luxcore plans to offer a premium service in the coming months to assist users with Smart Contract creation.

That’s one smart lookin’ contract you got there, Lux

SegWit

Segregated Witness, otherwise known as “SegWit,” is a security feature that splits the transaction data written onto the blockchain into two segments by removing the unlocking signature (i.e., the “witness” data) from the Merkle tree record and appending it as a separate blockchain entity. Implementing SegWit now proactively addresses two potential risks to the Luxcore blockchain: scalability and malleability.

Regarding scalability, SegWit reduces the size of the transaction data written into each block, thus enabling more transaction data to be included within the block size limits of the Lux blockchain. This, in turn, significantly increases the maximum transactions-per-second rate of Luxcore.

And regarding malleability, removing the witness data prevents hackers from possibly changing the transaction ID, which could lead to double-spending. Removing signatures from the transaction data helps to protect all Lux users from the possibility of blockchain fraud.

A graphical illustration of SegWit in action, courtesy of David A. Harding

Block Pruning

Block pruning is another blockchain feature designed to make using the Lux wallet easier and more convenient. As the Luxcore blockchain grows, it places an ever-increasing storage demand on users. With a block size of 4MB per block (for comparison, that’s four times larger than Bitcoin’s), the Luxcore block and undo files already require about 800MB of storage space, growing at a rate of approximately 100MB per month. Over time, it’s conceivable that the storage space requirement for Luxcore will become unmanageable for regular users like you and me. This is a potential risk that all blockchain projects will eventually face as they mature.

Enter block pruning. With block pruning enabled, a user can define the number of MB they want to devote to hosting the Lux blockchain. The wallet will then automatically delete the oldest block data, keeping only the most recent blocks on the chain to maintain the storage size target set by the user. This means you will be able to host a full Lux node on a USB stick or SD card, for example, without fear of running out of space.

Phi2

Phi2 is Luxcore’s new and improved hybrid Proof-of-Work/Proof-of-Stake hashing algorithm. Built by a team led by Luxcore Chief Cryptographer Tanguy Pruvot (tpruvot) upon the basis of the previous Phi1612 algorithm, Phi2 will introduce even greater industry-leading efficiency in electricity consumption and heat generation.

Phi2 is also designed to be scalable and modular so that its FPGA resistance can be maintained over time. As the possibility for an industrial, commercial or otherwise mass-produced FPGA for Phi2 becomes clear, the algorithm can be easily modified and updated to Phi3, thus immediately rendering those devices obsolete. This cat-and-mouse game can continue indefinitely until FPGA producers realize they are artlessly wasting their time and their money trying to build FPGAs for Luxcore’s hashing algorithm.

Luxcore’s 216k155, Tanguy Pruvot and Tran Nguyen: The men who brought you Phi1612 and Phi2

Marketing

Luxcore has deliberately chosen not to market itself too heavily up until this point, focusing instead on building the technology. We knew the project had to start meeting some of its ambitious roadmap goals before debuting in front of a wider audience. With Luxcore v5, many of our essential roadmap items will be achieved, leaving LuxGate, the listing on a Tier 1 exchange, a planned block reward change and enterprise engagement as our principal remaining roadmap items to be completed over the remainder of 2018. In fact, LuxGate has already been completed, tested and verified; it now only awaits licensing approval.

Now that we will have achieved these goals, a massive online and offline media blitz is planned for Q3 headlined by a nationally-televised TV spot in the United States. The commercial is being shot during the second week of June and will air throughout Q3 on CNN, FOX Business, Discovery and TLC. The scope of the media buy includes hundreds of network airings as well as concurrent streaming on Vimeo and YouTube.

Online, Lux will begin advertising on multiple high-traffic crypto portals and outlets, featuring a wide array of websites that cater specifically to a user base of crypto and blockchain enthusiasts such as (but not limited to) CoinDesk, CoinMarketCap and TradingView. This will occur alongside a significant grassroots communications campaign featuring prominent Twitter and YouTube personalities that will do in-depth product demos of Luxcore and the exciting, first-of-its-kind LuxGate asset swap platform.

We’ll be back after a few words from our sponsor…

In Conclusion

According to cryptomiso, Luxcore has pushed the 25th most commits in all of crypto over the past three months. Almost all of the other projects on that list are larger and more mature, so Luxcore is punching above its weight in this regard. We witness this day-in, day-out as 216k155 and his dev team continually add new commits to Luxcore’s GitHub. Thanks to their incredible diligence, work ethic and skill, the technology is finally starting to catch up to the dream. Alongside the massive marketing push in Q3, Lux won’t be crypto’s best-kept secret for much longer. So people get ready! This is going to be one wild ride!