Electra Bolts Forward with Second Fork. Ready? Set? Go!
The Electra team is excited to announce our upcoming fork will include many new technological advancements propelling Electra even closer to mass adoption.
Below is a list of features that were being considered and their status following this fork:
• Atomic Swap Integration (completed)
• Lightning Network Integration (completed)
• Block Time Reduction (completed)
• Block Size Increase (completed)
• “Header-First” Integration (completed)
• BTC Core upgrade to V0.14 (completed)
• PoS V3.0e Integration (completed)
• Several Network Security Upgrades (completed)
• New QT Wallet (completed)
• Master Node Integration (completed — not activated)
• Privacy Send Features (completed — not activated)
• SegWit Integration (in progress — to be completed in early 2019)
Before we get into the detailed upgrades of this fork, the Electra team would like to apologize for the delay. There have been many challenges and tough decisions to make that have taken longer than anticipated and everyday new blockchain technology evolves for consideration and inclusion. The benefit of the fork taking longer than anticipated is that ECA’s features are more robust now than if the fork had happened earlier. We hope to have your support and understanding and want to reassure everyone that our priority remains to develop and rigorously test the best possible combination of secure and healthy coding before releasing it to our community. There’s more about our Quality Assurance (QA) processes and examples of some specific delays later in this article.
Atomic Swap Integration (Completed)
One key feature completed with this fork is Atomic Swap integration. Atomic Swaps allow community members to “swap” Electra for another cryptocurrency in a two-way cross blockchain private transaction without having to know the other party. Swaps are completed between users with Electra’s integration of BarterDEX technology. BarterDEX is a core technology and also a decentralized exchange that provides amazing security because unlike a traditional cryptocurrency exchange, community members never deposit their coins on the exchange. Users hold their coins and initiate swaps from a local and secure wallet. Atomic Swap technology is enthusiastically being embraced by industry pioneers and appears to be a key element for the future of leading cryptocurrencies like Electra.
Lightning Network (Completed)
Incorporating Lightening Network technology into the Electra blockchain is a potential game-changer for mass adoption. The Lightning Network (LN) was developed by Lightning Labs out of San Francisco, California to increase the number of Transactions Per Second (TPS) that could be completed over a blockchain network. Historically cryptocurrencies have had very low TPS compared to other payment options like VISA. Bitcoin’s TPS rate is 7 per second. Electra’s new TPS rate is 800 per second and with Lightning Network integration it will go even higher. Technology like the Lightning Network is expected to surpass VISA within the next 10 years and be capable of handling millions of TPS.
Block Time & Block Size (Completed)
Included in this fork upgrade are reduced block times and increase block sizes which also improve the number of Transactions per Second (TPS) that can be completed. Previously Electra had a block generation time of 2.5 minutes and a block size of 1MB but now has achieved 800 TPS by reducing the block generation time to 64 seconds and increasing the block size to 10MB. When a transaction is initiated on the Electra blockchain it is transmitted to all active nodes on the network within milliseconds. Within 64 seconds of the transaction, the first block containing the transaction will have been created and a “confirmation” completed. Electra has also reduced the size of each transaction to fit more transaction data into each block to an average of 200Bytes compared to Bitcoin’s average or 420 Bytes per transaction. This is how Electra has achieved 800 TPS currently and with the integration of SegWit technology this year, Electra’s TPS will double to 1,600 TPS. There’s more on SegWit later in this article. Increasing the number of blocks per day from 576 to 1,350 also means many more community members will receive staking rewards each day with the latest and most secure Proof-of-Stake technology to date; PoS V3.0e.
“Header-First” Integration (Completed)
The Electra team took a giant leap forward towards a mobile wallet with the integration of “Header-First” coding into the blockchain with this fork. “Header-First” technology allows a user’s mobile wallet to review the contents of each block prior to synchronizing an entire block to a wallet. “Header-First” will allow mobile wallets to operate with only the blocks they need rather than the entire blockchain. This is a major breakthrough and will allow for a streamlined or “light” mobile wallets with reduced power consumption. The team is continuing to develop and meticulously test new wallets for future releases. Details about “Header-First” technology can be found here: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/4468
Other Core Upgrades (Completed)
The team upgraded one of Electra’s five native algorithms (SHA-2) which comprises our NIST5 code to BTC Core V0.14, one of the most stable and reliable BTC Core available.
The Electra team also upgraded to the latest Proof-of-State technology which is more secure and less vulnerable to orphan blocks; PoS V3.0e. This upgrade is one reason for the fork taking longer than expected. The previous release of PoS V3.0 was found to have a bug in the coding and would have created a security risk.
While PoS V3.0 vulnerabilities were being fixed the team decided to focus on enhancing security vulnerabilities related to:
• A reduced block time of 64 seconds.
• “Coinage” (coin calculation within ECA algorithm).
• No staking reward scenario.
• Spent staking reward scenario.
Additional BIPS (Bitcoin Improvement Proposals) upgrades were made that are described here:
https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0062.mediawiki
https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0065.mediawiki
https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0066.mediawiki
https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0112.mediawiki
https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0146.mediawiki
https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0147.mediawiki
New QT v2.0 Wallet (Completed)
To complete all of the new features described in this article, the team decided to postpone the development of a new desktop wallet and instead focus our effort a simpler QT Wallet. A new desktop wallet will be released later in 2019 once the team ensures the stability and functionality.
IMPORTANT: USERS CAN CURRENTLY DOWNLOAD AND UPGRADE THEIR WALLETS THAT SUPPORT THE FORK AT #182.750 https://www.electraproject.org/wallets. HOWEVER, IF YOU UPGRADE YOUR WALLET BEFORE THE ANNOUNCED FORK BLOCK, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO STAKE OR RECEIVE STAKING REWARDSUNTIL THE FORK BLOCK HAS BEEN REACHED.
Master Node Integration (Completed but not Activated)
The team integrated Master Node capability with this fork coding but decided it required additional feasibility research and transaction fee versus financial reward modeling. Master Nodes have many advantages and disadvantages that the team needs to carefully evaluate prior to final consideration for activation.
Privacy Send Features (Completed but not Activated)
Privacy Send capabilities have been integrated with this fork but the team decided not to activate at this time as further consideration and analysis needs to be completed as considerations are still underway as to whether or not Electra will be a full “privacy coin” in the future.
SegWit Integration (In Progress)
As mentioned above, the Electra Team is currently developing SegWit integration which will greatly improve the number of Transactions per Second (TPS) the Electra blockchain can process. SegWit integration will improve Electra from 800 TPS to 1,600 TPS.
Electra’s Quality Assurance (QA) Process
We would like to explain our QA process and with the following flowchart diagram. As a piece of code is developed, it is tested. If it passes the test, a new piece of code is amended to the first and testing continues. If the amended code fails the test, it is fixed, retested until it passes before any new code is amended and the process continues. Below is a visual representation of our QA testing process.
When testing new code, it can take as little as a day, a week or even longer to find and correct bugs before testing can begin on the next piece of code. For example, ECA utilizes TX Version 7 but as we were testing Atomic Swaps integration with BarterDEX, we found that they were utilizing TX Version =<4. The Komodo (KMD) team working with BarterDEX to help update their code base to support TX version 7 so ECA would be fully compatible.
Another fork delay occurred in early January when we found a bug and security vulnerability within PoS 3.0. The Electra team applied two different patches from two different open-source codes to mitigate the vulnerabilities quickly and securely.
We also lost a bit of momentum in December because of several holidays and key team members being on vacation.
As you can see, we have been hard at work and thank you for your patience. We always strive to bring the best and most secure development applications to our community.
Which wallet will support the fork and where can I download it ?
The QT Wallet V2.0 will support the fork. QT Wallet v2.0 download links will be available on February 15th on our website and on the official GitHub page.
Important Fork Guide
For help upgrading your wallet, please refer to our detailed fork guide through this link
Which exchanges will support the upcoming fork ?
We are in talks with the exchanges. So far, the majority of the exchanges and 3rd party wallet providers will support the fork phase 2. We will prepare a list and inform you through during the next week.
To join the Electra team, visit our website: electraproject.org
Written by: Captain Ron, an investor in Electra.
