Hive blockchain Hardfork 26 is being prepared for a candidate release on Oct 11th. There are a lot of changes and improvements that will come to this ecosystem which should only build more trust that it evolves on the right path. As I've taken a peak at the Hive Git source repository, I have found a list of what's to come with HF26 if everything goes to plan.
HF26 will come with the following main changes:
- New block confirmation algorithm that enables One Block Irreversibility (aka OBI)
- Allow a larger HBD/Hive ratio before the HBD haircut rule takes effect (threshold changed from 10% to 30%).
- Users can vote more often than once per 3 seconds (relaxed pre-HF26 limitation)
- Eliminated vote edit penalty
- Dust votes are considered as regular votes (i.e. disallows further block comment_options). Details
- Account authority can be changed twice per hour
- Old/new JSON serialization is supported at transaction broadcast (to simplify 3rd party library adjust)
- Support for a new scheme of binary serialization (to use Numeric Asset Identifier (NAI) format which is much more compact)
Some of the additional changes and improvements that will be integrated with HF26 are:
- Support for online and offline compression of block_log storage file.
- Support for the exchange of compressed blocks during P2P communication.
- Many improvements to P2P layer
- Fixed functioning of the potential peers database (essentially the entire algorithm was rewritten as part of the fix).
- Implemented support for RC delegations.
- Deep analysis, redesign and reimplementation of Resource Credit calculation algorithm, resource credit cost recalculation
- Extended set of virtual operations, enhancing chain integration capabilities to 3rd party tools.
- Large-scale optimization of the entire block/transaction evaluation process (starting from receiving block/transaction up to writing it to the storage) using 1) worker threads for increased parallelism, 2) caching of already evaluated data in a new dedicated cache layer (aka full_transactions/full_blocks) to avoid redundant data calculation during execution, 3) and earlier processing of data that doesn't rely on state information that can be computed in parallel (e.g optimistic signature checking).
- Performance improvements to pending transactions processing
- Optimization of custom_json_operation validation
- Implemented support for building a mirror net. Added dedicated tool being able to convert mainnet blockchain into tested one, to be able fast setup testing network instance operating on fully supplied state data. This can significantly improve the possibility to verify performance-related issues in a safe, mainnet-isolated environment.
- As a performance improvement, especially during block syncing, replaced the old block_log.index file with new block_log.artifacts file which also stores block_ids and meta-data about how individual blocks are compressed.
- Many improvements to internal statistic data collection tools to be able to measure execution times, memory allocation etc.
- Many improvements to logging on console and in p2p.log file.
From both lists, I am most excited about the HBD/Hive ratio extending the HBD haircut rule threshold from 10% to 30% which should increase the HBD supply and allow more trading and arbitrage both ways. The stablecoin space on Hive blockchain is extending and this might bring new opportunities and innovations incorporating them.
The redesign and reimplementation of the Resource Credit calculation algorithm will make them more scarce and require more time to fill back up which should translate into accounts requiring more Hive Power. That should be a push to improve the value and price of Hive to fulfill the big amount of transactions and custom JSONs that are on the blockchain.
Besides this, extending the use of compression of block_log storage file and exchange of blocks during P2P communication should improve the total size of the blockchain and provide faster transfer of messages. Overall great changes and improvements, we simply need to keep on building and incorporating more features at base layer on the Hive blockchain!