The æternity Crypto Foundation, one of the key driving forces behind the furthering and the development of the advanced æternity blockchain, has announced that the road ahead is known.

The Q3 Roadmap is now out!

With Q2 squarely and safely behind us, much has been achieved this year already. With the Hyperchains Alpha test network up and running, following some bugs getting tracked and weeded out, the æcosystem took a strong step ahead. Whatsmore, significant progress has been made with respect to the parent chain integration, regarding the API. The user interface and the contracts have been improved and extended, and a new testing suite got implemented.

Moreover, the RocksDB refactoring task took quantum leaps as well. While the initial goal had been to improve data consistency, now that this refactoring is closing, a stable state and some rugged measurements on the system can be made. Now, there is no longer a need for a high number of file descriptors as before, which deprecates the need of bumping the ulimit on a system level before starting the node. Oh, and the sync is now twice as fast as before, with this refactoring still being under development.

As for Q3, there is a number of ongoing tasks.

For starters, the æCanary and the GUI Launcher are under constant and continuous construction and improvement. Also, the Rosetta API is in the final stage of implementation and will be published during Q3.

Furthermore, Hyperchains remain a strong priority for research and further development. Q3 efforts of the æternity development team will focus primarily on parent chain connectors, improving contract features, releasing process upgrades, and revisiting the UI — all the while keeping the æternity community and the entire æcosystem appraised and informed of the latest inlays made towards delivering Hyperchains.

Finally, the Garbage Collection old state improvement is in the developers’ sights as well, but it cannot proceed before the latest RocksDB is merged. After that, the work on the GC will proceed as well.

The final tally: three planned maintenance releases (6.5.2, 6.5.3, and 6.5.4) and two Hyperchains releases (hc_0.3.0 and hc_0.4.0) will be with us before Q3 is over.

The updates of the æroadmap and the ærelease schedule will be delivered dynamically on the æternity forum. Of course, ACF is open for communication and anybody can get in touch for more information.

Don’t forget that the ACF is providing funding grants for the promotion, success, and growth of the æternity ecosystem as well as for the æternity blockchain maintenance. You can find detailed weekly reports on the progress of all developers in the Active Grant Applications section fo the æternity forum’s ACF Grant Category.

The ACF’s goal remains the same: improve the æ node, make it faster, better, and lighter, while making the æcosystem more appealing for all users.