A developer working on privacy cryptocurrency, Grin, predicts that the privacy protocol (Mimblewimble) which the coin runs on will be released on Litecoin’s testnet by September 2020.
Preparation for the mimblewimble launch on Litecoin’s testnet has been in the works for a long time. A lot of care has been taken to ensure that risks of errors in production are minimized.
While hesitant in making his prediction, David Burkett says,
“I’ve so far been very hesitant to give exact dates on when things should be finished, because writing blockchain software is difficult, time-consuming, and unpredictable at times. I didn’t want artificial deadlines to force us to rush through parts of the code and introduce defects or security vulnerabilities. Having said that, I think it’s finally time to commit to the first major event.”
David makes it clear that a usable graphical interface wallet will not be included in the testnet launch. However, the testnet launch will include the ability to mine blocks, peer-to-peer messaging, transaction pool, and validation.
Earlier in December 2019, Burkett released a statement describing the months of planning that going into the development of the mimblewimble extension block. He emphasisses that his efforts have mostly been focused on restructuring the core logic shared between Grin++ and LTC.
“This involves all of the logging, serialization, crypto, error handling, and common data structures (headers/blocks/txs)….Most of this was already written for Grin++, but since some parts were hurriedly coded on a tight time schedule, I’m using this opportunity to go over every line with a fine-tooth comb. As part of this, I’m standardizing patterns that were originally followed inconsistently, backfilling missing tests, and adding better documentation.”
Grin is a robust privacy coin with no addresses, no amounts, and higher transactional capacity than other privacy coins like Monero. It was released on January 15th, 2019, a period in which it experienced significant spikes in price, following news of its release.
It’s looking like a positive year for cryptocurrencies as more reveal major upgrades and launches. Whales are increasing their holdings of Ethereum (ETH) as data reveals the supply of ETH controlled by the top 100 wallets is almost 25%. Analysts assert that the behaviour is a result of anticipation for Ethereum’s blockchain upgrade, ETH 2.0.
