Weekly Nano Update: 10/29/18

Confirmation Height, Colin on DataDash, Epoch Block Rollout

Confirmation Height Storage

One major feature in the upcoming Boulton release that hasn’t been covered much is the addition of confirmation height.

In Bitcoin, it is easy to check how many confirmations a block has by locating where it is on the blockchain and counting how many blocks have been generated since the transaction. Since each account in Nano has its own chain, confirmation height is instead specific to the block’s account-chain but can be used similarly.

Currently, to determine confirmation of a block your node must reach out to the network and request confirmation from representatives, which takes time. Confirmation height will instead be stored in the database and can easily be referenced to determine whether a block has been confirmed.

Confirmation height will inherently add block cementing, a feature that many in the community have been anticipating. Once a block is confirmed, any attempts to roll it back will fail.

Ease of integration with services will also be improved, as they will no longer be required to use callback requests to check if a pending transaction is confirmed.

Colin on DataDash

Last week Colin joined Nicholas Merten on The DashCast, a popular cryptocurrency based YouTube channel. Discussion revolved around Colin’s background, considerations taken while designing the protocol, short and long-term goals for the project, and plans for marketing and adoption.

Our team would like to extend a thank you to Nicholas for having Colin on his show, as well as for the consistent support he has shown towards the Nano project.

Epoch Block Rollout

Our team began distributing Epoch blocks last Friday by sending a single block to Kucoin. We decided this was a more effective way to upgrade certain services, by upgrading an account under our control and then sending Nano from that account to the services’ accounts. Due to the nature of Epoch blocks, once you receive a transaction from an upgraded account, for example, the main exchange account, your account becomes upgraded.

This method was used to minimize potential interruptions to services that could be caused by them not handling blocks being placed on their accounts correctly, as well as decreasing the amount of Epoch blocks that must be generated.

We will still need to distribute Epoch blocks across the network to upgrade inactive and unopened accounts. Currently, the network is being monitored for any issues and, upgraded accounts are being tracked. Stay tuned for an announcement on the full rollout date.