BLOCK - Blocknet Project Update — October 5, 2021

Since our last project development update the Blocknet core developers and community contributors have been focused on integrating ERC-20/ETH with the Blocknet XBridge protocol, adding new assets and improvements to the Service Node automated setup tool, releasing an XLite wallet update, and starting work on the new v2.0 UI for Block DX, Blocknet’s flagship DEX.
Work has also continued on the implentation of XRouter in Go and JS programming languages, both integral to the enabling of the Blocknet protocol in lightweight dapps and services.

But before we dive into the details, here’s some other important news…

BLOCK/USDT pair opens on Bittrex Global

This month also saw the opening of a new $BLOCK market on Bittrex Global exchange, with a USDT (Tether) pairing now available. Since the new market opened we have seen the trading volume pick up considerably across both pairs:

An example of 24hr volume on Bittrex Global for BLOCK/USDT and BLOCK/BTC pairs

Development updates

XLite Wallet

The latest version of XLite was released on the 23rd September which addressed some minor bugs and added some UI improvements, facilitating even easier sending of assets. The Cloudchains developer has also recently worked on a fix for the Litecoin wallet on the back-end servers which should fix the intermittent balance and transaction issues that users were experiencing in the previous version of XLite.

New to XLite? Check out the website here: https://xlitewallet.com

XRouter JS

A new ‘beta’ release of the XRouter JS library is now available for anyone to install and test. More features are being worked on for the final release and we are currently on track to have the first ‘public release’ version delivered early next week.

The remaining dev items can be viewed here: https://github.com/blocknetdx/xrouterjs/issues/4

To get started with XRouter JS beta, check out the ‘read me’ here: https://github.com/blocknetdx/xrouterjs/blob/master/README.md

Block DX

UI design work has been continuing for the Block DX v2.0 project and remaining work is expected to be completed by the start of next week, paving the way for the front-end developer to make a start on the coding.

The new UI is intended for the existing Block DX desktop dapp, and being built in ReactJS ensures we can reuse the same front-end code for the future web version of Block DX.

As the project is being built in stages, it was necessary to remove any future features from the design for the first development phase.

You can view (and click through) the new, optimised version here: https://www.figma.com/proto/7Wlpg1QdG5WhpLEgeWrJ1d/Block-DX-UI-v2.0?page-id=431%3A316&node-id=556%3A12206&viewport=367%2C48%2C1&scaling=scale-down&starting-point-node-id=556%3A12206

New to BlockDX? Check out the website here: https://blockdx.com

XQuery decentralised indexer

Work continues on XQuery, the new indexer service built on XRouter. The core developer has recently fixed some bugs but a few bug tickets are still outstanding on the project board. You can follow the dev board here: https://github.com/orgs/blocknetdx/projects/6 and for a more detailed look at the progress, view the GitHub updates here: https://github.com/blocknetdx/go-xrouter/pulse

Work has also started on a new XQuery microsite which will showcase the main features of the indexer, enabling us to introduce and onboard interested developers and service providers to XQuery. The new website is expected to launch within the next couple of weeks.

ERC20 / Ethereum integration

The integration of ERC20 and ETH with the Blocknet protocol was delivered last week, and the majority of the work appears to be completed. After some preliminary QA testing our team noticed that there was a minor decimal precision issue which, after some discussion between our core devs, is now being fixed (you can read more info about the exact issue in the #developer channel in the Blocknet Discord server). We expect this work to be completed in the next few days, with QA testing set to restart once the fix has been pushed to the follwing repo branch: https://github.com/blocknetdx/blocknet/tree/feature/ethereum-support

Automated Service Node setup script

The new automated SNode setup tool is now live on the official Blocknet documentaion website. The task of adding the XQuery indexing service to the setup script has been started and we hope to see this delivered later this week.

To get started with the SNode auto deploy tool, see here: https://docs.blocknet.co/service-nodes/setup/

Please remember to bookmark our GitHub projects here: https://github.com/orgs/blocknetdx/projects

Current developer tasks in progress are as follows (GitHub ID — task):

Corvaxx — ERC-20/ETH precision fixes, rebasing to latest branch
rikublock — merging 18 decimal places code into core repo, core protocol fixes
rBurgett — XRouterJS — remaining items as outlined above
Akado2009 — continuing with remaining XRouter-Go tasks
leonVrashitov — Docker-based automation project: adding XQuery support.

These project updates are intended to keep everyone up to date on the Blocknet development progress as we work towards our official roadmap.

You can view the Blocknet roadmap here: https://blocknet.co/roadmap

As always, please feel free to post any questions or comments in the Discord #feedback channel. Join the Blocknet Discord server here: https://discord.gg/RHTYaE7Kqv

About the Blocknet

The Blocknet is a decentralized network that connects blockchains, similar to how the internet connects computers.

Whether it’s through cross-chain dApps or using the protocol as a 2nd layer to index blockchains, the Blocknet provides developers with the capability to create the applications of tomorrow.

Blocknet Project Update — October 5, 2021 was originally published in Blocknet on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.