1 COUNTDOWN TO 12.1 It took a while, but we finally have a launch date for Dash 12.1. As the developers have said a few times, this update is much bigger than initially expected and thus the extensive testing done.



It will happen on February 5th after the blockchain pays the approved proposals. All budgets will need to be resubmitted and masternodes who don't update will stop getting payments pretty soon.



As for what we'll get, 12.1 will introduce a completely rewritten governance software and will lay the foundations for Evolution. Probably it is better to just quote Evan Duffield's announcement:



The first area of progress is Dash Core. In addition to running the network at present, Dash Core also serves as the backbone of the Evolution engine. We have done a great deal of work on Sentinel, our large-scale decentralized programmable database solution, which is going to allow us to move radically faster than any other organization in cryptocurrency. Among other things, Sentinel will allow us to push updates to Dash Core much more quickly and easily.



Sentinel can also be re-geared and deployed to operate digital companies that have a built-in workforce, infrastructure to deploy again, and as an engine for storage and retrieval of information. This is the concept we’re working on, which will allow companies to run on the Dash Network and compete with centralized companies that refuse to work with Dash. It’s a simple divide and conquest model.



We have recently moved a good deal of our funding into paying some new hires, who have now integrated into our team and have pushed through many new versions of the software. Among other things, they have fixed various issues with the stability of the daemon, the syncing of governance objects, and the workability of the new Sentinel system. Sentinel uses a complex set of rules and conditions for validation of objects and maintaining the consensus of the network. +Dash 12.1 prepares the path for Evolution. If you want a glimpse of what will come, check this Dash Detailed episode. 2 AND A NEW WEBSITE TOO It has been live for a while at www-test.dash.org. Maybe you already know it. If you don't, you will on February 5th because it will replace the old www.dash.org. There is still some work being done. Don't hesitate to check the test site and report in the forum anything weird that you find. Fist one to do it gets to create the thread.



The site is moving away from a CMS and will be fully static. This will improve speed and security by orders of magnitude. The looks are also much nicer. 3 AND DASHOUS! Dashous has softly, and quietly, beta (alpha?) launched. There has not even been an announcement because it is still being polished, but it needs testers and I'm bad with secrets that are not even secrets. There is also a subreddit.



For those who don't know, Dashous is the localbitcoins-like-site that the blockchain financed a couple cycles ago. 4 THE HARDWARE WALLET AND THE MASTERNODE Yes, you read it well. The long awaited feature, brought to you by the acclaimed Chaeplin. This beautiful piece of software will let you start your masternode from a Keepkey with a Dash Core wallet once we are on 12.1. It also works with a Trezor. As always, this is experimental, test in testnet first. That is why it is called testnet. 5 GOVERNANCE +Ryan Taylor published the official response to the report by IOHK in which they made an extensive analysis of the governance system and suggested some improvements. +Eric Sammons published his own review of the Dash Governance System in Medium. He knows the system and his writing is always great. Read it. +New section in the forum for updates on the funded projects that the team is working on. This should help solve the lack of communication and the dispersion of information about certain projects. Replying is not allowed there because it is intended to serve as a very fast status update for those who don't want to dig. We can all discuss in the rest of the forum.

Thanks,



Fernando



PD: Happy Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year and soon-to-be Chinese New Year!