As we step into a pivotal phase of our project, the Zano team is thrilled to share our progress over December and January, gearing up for the highly anticipated Zarcanum hardfork, set to launch as expected on February 15th. This update is a testament to our team's dedication and hard work, ensuring that the hardfork will introduce significant improvements to the Zano ecosystem, enhancing security, privacy, and user experience.

A quick note to our users and developers: all changes introduced are backwards compatible. There's no need for any action on your part—simply download the new version upon release and wait for the hardfork to occur. However for stakers, we recommend creating a new wallet with Zarcanum PoS and transferring your coins to the new address (they can be sent back to the old one right away) to ensure your outputs switch to the new scheme. Remember, you can also transfer your alias to the new address.

Core Development

December

The focus was on refining the decoy selection algorithm, a critical aspect for the privacy and security of transactions within the Zano network. More details on the topic can be found in this post Decoy Selection Algorithm

January

• RPC API Transition Code: Verified and fixed to ensure the Zarcanum hardfork proceeds smoothly, with minimal impact on exchanges.
• Mandatory Decoy Set Post-Hardfork: Implemented a mandatory decoy set for the post-Zarcanum hardfork, alongside fixing related tests.
• PoS Coinbase Optimization: Made significant improvements to reduce wallet bloat and eliminate the need for sweep transactions.
• Fee Burning: Implemented and tested the fee-burning mechanism to ensure network stability and security.
• Network Enhancements: Executed multiple network restarts incorporating new fixes and improvements.

Research and Papers

December

• Worked on enhancing and optimizing cryptographic primitives for Zarcanum, achieving significant speed improvements that enhance transaction and block processing for Confidential Assets.

January

1. d/v-CLSAG Preprint: Released a preprint on the d/v-CLSAG extension, improving the flexibility and security of RingCT-like transactions dv-CLSAG-extension.pdf (hyle-team.github.io)
2. Confidential Assets Scheme Paper: Detailed the CA scheme's implementation in Zano, emphasizing anonymity preservation and the seamless integration with the Zarcanum PoS scheme Zano_CA_for_RingCT_and_Zarcanum_v1.0.pdf (hyle-team.github.io)

Frontend and Apps

• Ionic Swaps: Implemented ionic swaps in the Zano Trade UI and the Zano Companion browser extension.
• Zano Trade Web App: Focused on resolving bugs and making various fixes to enhance user experience.
• Light Version of Zano Desktop Client: Ongoing development aimed at providing a more streamlined and efficient user experience.
• Mobile App Preparation: Actively preparing our mobile apps for both Android and iOS platforms for the upcoming hardfork, ensuring a seamless transition for all users.

The Zarcanum hardfork represents a significant milestone for Zano, marking a new era of privacy, security, and efficiency. We're committed to making this transition as smooth as possible for our community. Your continuous support fuels our progress, and we're excited for what the future holds. Stay tuned for further updates as we move closer to the hardfork date.