As our team continues to work on making Semux a scalable and high-performance blockchain, we want to take a moment to celebrate the first anniversary of the Semux mainnet launch. In a year of many firsts for Semux, we have seen the first version of the protocol released, exchanges list SEM for the first time, and community members launch online wallets, block explorers, mobile wallets, pools and more. Join us as we review the accomplishments and progress made to Semux over the past year which have laid the foundation for the project’s future!

Photo by Peter Osmenda

After undergoing six months of rigorous testing of alpha, beta, and five release candidates on the Semux testnet, the Semux mainnet went live on January 20th, 2018 The first version of the open source BFT pool software was also released to the public, setting the stage for the rest of the year.

February saw one of the first SEM airdrop program which was aimed at Bitcoin holders come to a close. The campaign, which started in early September 2017, resulted in a total of 1,207,905 SEM distributed to over 2000 unique addresses and brought significant interest to the project.

Continued improvements to the Semux protocol took place in March with the first mainnet update released, version 1.0.1. This patch contained minor bug fixes and improved stability of validator nodes.

In April, a validator reward distribution issue was resolved through a soft fork of the Semux network, via the version 1.1.0 release. A second airdrop of SEM, this time to Ethereum holders, also was started. By the time the Ethereum airdrop was completed in August, a total of 32,905 SEM were distributed.

SEM was listed on an exchange for the first time in May. The listing on STEX provided users with a platform to easily acquire and trade the coin. Our team continues to actively pursue the listing of SEM onto exchanges around the world, and we look forward to sharing new listings with you in the future! May also saw the release of both JS and PHP libraries, allowing developers and enthusiasts to easily interact with the Semux protocol.

Further advancements to the Semux project came in June with the release of version 1.2.0., bringing increased protocol stability through various minor bug fixes, the addition of a new API and several wallet enhancements. After the success of the inaugural Bitcointalk Signature campaign and in order to continue the distribution of SEM via airdrops, a second Signature campaign began on June 25th. Shortly after, the Semux online wallet, developed by community member witoldsz, was launched which provided users with a convenient method of storing SEM.

July was spent developing the highly anticipated version 1.3.0. Released in early August, version 1.3.0. included the long-awaited fast syncing feature for full nodes. There was also big news outside of the protocol development with Semux being added to popular cryptocurrency ranking site Coinmarketcap and the publishing of a full transparency report detailing all spending of foundation funds.

The second Bitcointalk Signature Campaign ended in September with total amount of SEM airdropped to Bitcointalk users increasing to 1,016,600 over the two campaigns. With the Semux network operating smoothly, developmental focus turned to the implementation of the Ethereum Virtual Machine.

Progress on the integration of the EVM continued in October, with initial testing taking place on the Semux devnet. Additionally, implementation of hierarchical deterministic wallets began in order to provide users additional methods to safely store SEM.

November saw the first release candidate of the upcoming version 1.5.0 go live on the Semux testnet after being activated via a hard fork. This release represents a significant milestone for Semux, adding support for both Dapps and HD wallets to the network.

Preparation for the v.1.5.0-RC2 release onto the testnet began in December, resolving issues discovered in the first release candidate. Outside of development, Semux began trading on its second exchange, Tokok.

The Semux project has come a long way over the last year, but we are just getting started. Version 1.5.0 is currently being finalized and our team looks forward to its upcoming release. Semux cannot succeed without the support from its dedicated community, and we are excited to continue to work alongside you to achieve the goals of the project and reach new heights in 2019!