August 2018 came and went in a rush. We are never ready for summer to be over but we were thankful for all the memories we get to hold on to! The focus of August 2018 was to work on some new capabilities and make sure maintenance is always moving the Factom® Protocol forward.

This month we were able to refactor the code in order to reduce the number of missing messages. This will allow the Authority Node Operators (ANOs) to communicate more effectively, have less bandwidth overhead and less risk of failure due to peer-to-peer network deficiencies. This is part of the protocol grant and you can see the testing proof here. The team was able to implement a few features: a control panel feature for dynamic control of logs and a balance finder utility. This allows the ability to diagnose behaving badly systems and determine anomalies within local nodes. To see a more technical update: click here.

The system is always in need of maintenance, which we do not consider a negative. Growing pains are part of life whether it be business, personal, or development. We work hard to make sure there is no single point of failure and that knowledge about the network is disseminated across the team. This month we performed some general maintenance tasks that make the protocol more resilient to malicious attacks and counteracted some discrepancies that could cause stalls.

You can always check the status of the network here. For more information about the Factom Inc. grants, please see: Protocol Grant, Oracle Grant, Anchor Grant, and Factom Governance Documentation.

Paul spoke at the 6th Annual Big Data Conference on the topic of “Using Blockchain Technology to Make Your Data Trustworthy.” This is one of the founding principles of Factom and we know that blockchain technology is a game changer when it comes to the Big Data marketplace. Paul was also able to speak at Stanford University in the China Life program.

Upcoming events:

Are you curious about Smart Contracts on Factom or are in the Chicago area? Make sure to form a team or register as a presentation day observer – we would love to see you there.