Introduction
On 29th February 2020, Road to 5.0 document was released in which we announced the implementation of Sapling - our next generation User Data Protection and anonymity protocol. Sapling is based on well researched and time-tested zk-SNARKs cryptographic proofs. This custom integration by the PIVX core developers was just recently announced as SHIELD.
5.0 is coming!
After multiple months of hard work, thorough code review and extensive internal testing, we’re proud to start the countdown to 5.0 on the public testnet. Sapling code has been publicly available on the PIVX GitHub repository for weeks already in Pull Request 1798, but detailed code review and testing has been performed to ensure a smooth release, by following the same strict procedure PIVX has been doing for the past 2 years for every major wallet release.
We’re now happy to announce that in a little bit over 8 months since the first announcement, testnet only binaries for 5.0 release are now ready for download! As already mentioned in the first paragraph, 5.0 protocol enforcement is set for block 1873550, which will happen on December 9th.
5.0 testnet only binaries can be downloaded here:
https://github.com/PIVX-Project/PIVX/releases
5.0 notable features
PIVX SHIELD (5.0) is by far the biggest wallet release in PIVX history and it comes with the largest code changes and improvements so far. Besides custom integration of the Sapling protocol which allows the ability to send and receive shielded transactions, major code improvements were executed around the PIVX masternode network code area, which will ensure faster blockchain synchronization, greater and much needed Tier 2 network stability for the upcoming developments and features planned around that area, such as the Deterministic Masternode Lists, Long Living Masternode Quorums (LLMQs), anonymous masternodes and more.
One of the most amazing features of 5.0 is the Encrypted Memo Field for shielded transactions, which is visible to the recipient of the payment. It opens up a space for numerous use cases such as sending the shielded transaction with pegged invoice number or some other information needed for the receiver to recognize the transaction, without revealing any of the sensitive information about the sender. Even more importantly, an Encrypted Memo Field allows satisfying the FATF Travel Rule through the possibility of attaching the personally identifiable information to the shielded transaction. It means that PIVX is fully compliant with the regulatory requirements, even more compliant than pseudo anonymous public blockchains which don't have the ability to attach such information to the blockchain.
Last but not least, PIVX codebase is continuously being enriched with new unit and functional tests, which further ensures that all the new code implementations are going through automated tests, thus significantly lowering the risk of any unintended code behaviour. More GUI improvements have been implemented into the 5.0 core wallet, major zerocoin code cleanup has been executed as well as many known bugs have been fixed now, all making 5.0 by far the most beautiful, most stable, fastest and leanest PIVX core wallet release since PIVX started.
Complete list of changes and improvements are publicly available on PIVX GitHub here.
Community testers needed
As 5.0 reached the final phase before the mainnet release, we are inviting everyone to join the testing. Everyone can try 5.0 and run it on testnet simply by putting testnet=1 in their pivx.conf file in their PIVX data directory.
In order to motivate more community members to join the testing process and incentivize involvement of the wider community into the project, PIVX core developers announced a “testing contest” for the 5.0. To join the contest and get all the details about it, join the PIVX discord and follow the #pivx_testnet channel, everything around 5.0 testing will be happening there.
When is 5.0 coming to mainnet and what is next?
The 5.0 testnet phase is expected to last from 3 to 5 weeks, depending on the collected community testing feedback and the amount of improvements needed to ensure 5.0 is well tested and ready for the activation on mainnet. Having said that, final 5.0 is scheduled to be released on mainnet sometime in January 2021.
We would like to thank everyone who supported us all the way here and helped us make 5.0 the reality. This is just the beginning of the whole new chapter in PIVX history and a strong base for all what’s coming in 2021.
5.0 testnet only binaries can be downloaded here:
https://github.com/PIVX-Project/PIVX/releases
