The Bytecoin Team has released a roadmap for the upcoming year. The events outlined on the map consist of improvements in anonymity, functional and visual redesign, and the addition of useful features.
The roadmap starts with the release of Amethyst v3.4.1, which features a number of important alterations. At the forefront, interaction between platform software and the memory pool will be improved, eliminating recent lag times, and the computational load for Bytecoin miners will be decreased, resulting in more transactions capable of being mined. The updated software is scheduled to come out on March 7th.
April 4th is an important date on the roadmap. On the 4th the Bytecoin devs will send official pull requests to Ledger and Trezor. A pull request is an appeal for permission to amend someone else’s code. Bytecoin developers are working on an amendment that would introduce Bytecoin software support to the Ledger and Trezor hardware wallets. Provided Trezor and Ledger approve the requests, Bytecoin will be officially supported on Ledger and Trezor devices out of the box (or out of the firmware update, to be precise).
The mainnet hardfork is tentatively set for April 2019. Though this hardfork is non-contentious, it depends on Bytecoin miners adopting the new software. Fortunately, Amethyst v3.4.1 is full of reasons for them to invest their time in updating the software.
If the pull requests are granted full support of hardware wallets will be incorporated into Amethyst v3.4.2 on April 18th. Keep in mind that much of the time frame for hardware wallet support is dependent upon the hardware wallets’ reviews of Bytecoin’s proposal. In the run up to full implementation, users will be able to assemble and install custom firmware for these devices, provided by the Bytecoin devs.
On July 4th the redesigned Bytecoin Desktop app will be introduced to the community. The improvements are not purely visual; aesthetic improvements will be matched by improvements in functionality. The release will be named Beryl, after a beautiful and strong mineral. Emerald, aquamarine and heliodor are all varieties of Beryl.
July 11th is the date set for the debut of the anticipated Gateway technology. As of now, all the technology required to form a bridge between Bytecoin and another blockchain, is ready to go.
On September 12th the Team plans to release Copper v3.6.0. This release will bring messaging functionality to Bytecoin, making it one of the most secure decentralized messaging tools. Messages will be processed similarly to regular Bytecoin transactions.
The 24th of October marks the release of alpha support for hidden amounts. This technology will ensure that transaction amounts will be concealed on the Bytecoin blockchain. Transaction amounts don’t explicitly disclose any sensitive information, but the information they do disclose is often unwanted. This addition is aimed at preventing outside parties from tracking transactions with large or uncommon amounts. This technology will also reduce the average size of transactions with multiple inputs while increasing the level of anonymity in the system, as well as reducing the number of generated output coins per transaction. That will potentially slow the growth rate of the blockchain, leaving it compact for the time being.
If you’re wondering how you can prove your Bytecoin TX to your partner after the introduction of the hidden amounts feature, you can look to Sendproof - one of Bytecoin’s most underrated features. Sendproof is a string of text, generated from Bytecoin, that contains a cryptographic object. This string can be used by any party to verify that a certain amount of BCN has been sent to a given Bytecoin address. Sendrpoof can be tried out by anyone with the Bytecoin desktop app or Bytecoin daemons.
There is a lot in store for Bytecoin users in 2019. Stay tuned for new articles and updates on the official blog and social media accounts.
Best regards,
The Bytecoin Team