Bytecoin Team has just updated Bytecoin to version 1.0.5. The following features have been introduced:

Bytecoin Reference Client

1. Real-time transactions pool synchronization is a solution, which guarantees that all network nodes have similar unconfirmed transactions lists. As soon as one node receives user's transaction, it ensures that this transaction is included into transactions pools of all nodes. Therefore, every miner will have a complete unconfirmed transactions list. Read more in our blog post that covers the solution.

2. New network library with network code operating significantly faster than the existing solution. It allows for increased stability of data exchange between the nodes in runtime. We are planning to release this library as a stand-alone project so that any p2p app developer can use utilize it.

3. Block Explorer high-level API has been added to our APIs. With its help, developers will be able to create services that obtain data directly from the blockchain. We've used this interface to integrate Block Explorer into the Wallet. Read more in Bytecoin Wiki

4. A new method "list_transfers" has been introduced in Bytcoin RPC Wallet allowing to receive all incoming transactions regardless of their payment_id.


Bytecoin Wallet

5. In-wallet integrated miner and block explorer. These features turn Wallet into an integral 'control center' allowing to receive and send transactions, mine BCN using any pool, and navigate inside in-app block explorer.





Links

Download Bytecoin
News post: Bytecoin 1.0.5 Released
Blog post: Unconfirmed Transactions Pool Synchronization Solution
Bytecoin Roadmap
Bytecoin Wiki

Bytecoin team has updated the roadmap for the upcoming three releases:

- Version 1.0.6 has been split. Real time transactions sync has been moved earlier to version 1.0.5, which is coming out this week. Other features (tracking key import/export and 8-bit color scheme) have been moved to version 1.0.7
- Multiple addressing for Bytecoin RPC Wallet has been moved to version 1.0.6 (instead of 1.0.7).
- Version 1.0.7 introduces two significant CryptoNote protocol updates: new transaction priority rules and transactions inputs optimization:

New transaction priority rules

This feature is a major improvement of transaction rules for Bytecoin network. It reserves a part of each block for specific zero-fee transactions. The latter are likely to emerge as a result of micro-donation protocol implementation and in case a large amount of tiny inputs is involved.

Transactions inputs optimization

As a result of new transaction priority rules introduction, Bytecoin Wallet is capable of optimizing your wallet funds. In a process similar to good old defragmentation, tiny inputs are joined into a smaller number of larger outputs. This is a significant improvement of the CryptoNote protocol, which will be covered in a our new whitepaper.

Bytecoin Roadmap 2015 Update

https://bytecoin.org/roadmap/

Low-level API for ordinary and multisig transactions

Bytecoin low-level API interface provides 3rd party developers with a flexible access to CryptoNote transactions engine. It covers CryptoNote's core functions that allow to create, validate, sign, and broadcast any kind of transaction including multisig.


Instant transaction notification

With this feature CryptoNote transactions become real-time. When Alice broadcasts her newly created Bytecoin transaction to Bob, his wallet will immediately recognize it and update Bob's pending balance before the transaction is included in the blockchain.


Simplewallet migration to high-level API

Legacy simplewallet code is completely re-written with the new high-level API libraries. This allows new Bytecoin simplewallet to process blocks and transactions 20% faster. It also acts as a showcase for Bytecoin high-level API for wallets. As for the user experience, it still the same CryptoNote wallet you're all used to, with a whole new engine under its hood.


In-process INode for applications

INode interface is Bytecoin's high-level API library that provides network node functionality. Its in-process implementation allows to launch an instance of Bytecoin daemon inside any C++ application. As an example, it allows Bytecoin Wallet to run a native network node. What's more, if you have a local Bytecoin daemon running, INode will connect to it rather than create a new in-app instance. This update marks the start of Bytecoin lightweight wallet development, a long-awaited feature in CryptoNote ecosystem.


Bytecoin GUI Wallet

Bytecoin team has designed an elegant graphic wallet. Bytecoin Wallet is much more than just a user-friendly implementation of simplewallet's functions. Our team has spent months prototyping, running A/B tests, and focus groups. The result is the well-polished application focused on user experience.


v.1.0.4

E-commerce solution designed for highload

Bytecoin e-commerce solution offers a new integration scheme for businesses that operate with Bytecoin. It is a robust demonized RPC Wallet that is capable of receiving and sending thousands transactions simultaneously. Designed for highload, Bytecoin RPC Wallet meets the requirements of the most sophisticated business cases.

Daemon refactoring and optimization

The data serialization code among various CryptoNote components is significantly updated. This feature improves Bytecoin code maintainability and is extremely important for future updates. It enhances CryptoNote code modularity and allows Bytecoin team to tremendously increase software test coverage.


Improved console logging

Bytecoin logging module is largely updated and standardized, both in daemon and simplewallet.


Color themes

This update provides Bytecoin users with a new set of color themes for Bytecoin Wallet. Even though our main focus is hardcore protocol features, we believe it's time for CryptoNote to become more user-friendly.


v.1.0.5

Network-wide real-time transactions synchronization

This feature allows Bytecoin nodes to synchronize the transaction pools (transactions that are not in blocks yet) network-wide. It improves network stability by addressing multiple sophisticated cases for newly created transactions. It also lays ground for the upcoming transfer features.

High-level API for blockchain explorer

This API interface provides Bytecoin blockchain explorer functionality for any C++ application. It further decentralizes Bytecoin's infrastructure allowing anyone to easily implement block explorers.

New network library

The network layer is being migrated to a new library. Unlike epee library that has been used previously, the new solution makes node's behavior more predictable in runtime. This update splits network and worker threads and is a pre-requisite for multi-threading behavior optimization.

In-wallet blockchain explorer

A native blockchain explorer is coming right to your Bytecoin Wallet. It improves user experience, since all you may need to know about Bytecoin is already in your wallet.

In-wallet miner

An in-wallet miner is a long-awaited feature for Bytecoin Wallet. It simplifies mining in pools for average users and allows to start getting Bytecoins with a few clicks right in your wallet.


v.1.0.6

Multiple wallet addresses

Multiple wallet addresses is a secure scheme for payment identification. Implemented in Bytecoin RPC Wallet, it takes payment processing to a whole new level. It may well be the largest update to CryptoNote cryptographic protocol since 2012.


v.1.0.7

New transaction priority rules

This feature is a major improvement of transaction rules for Bytecoin network. It reserves a part of each block for specific zero-fee transactions. The latter are likely to emerge as a result of micro-donation protocol implementation and in case a large amount of tiny inputs is involved.

Transactions inputs optimization

As a result of new transaction priority rules introduction, Bytecoin Wallet is capable of optimizing your wallet funds. In a process similar to good old defragmentation, tiny inputs are joined into a smaller number of larger outputs. This is a significant improvement of the CryptoNote protocol, which will be covered in a our new whitepaper.

Tracking key import/export

The access to your Bytecoin wallet address is based on two private keys: tracking key and spending key. The former allows any party to learn your balance and all financial operations. This update extends the transparency-on-demand core feature and introduces a user-friendly way to export your tracking key or import the keys provided by other parties.

8-bit color theme

A taste of good old 8-bit style is coming to our elegant Bytecoin Wallet. This color theme is a tribute to the old Bytecoin website.


v.1.0.8

Instant transaction notifications through proxy INode

Instant transaction notification is coming to the proxying node module. The latter is the INode interface implementation for the wallet to work with the remote daemon. This is an important step towards lightweight wallets.


v.1.0.9

External keys for Bytecoin RPC Wallet

This update substantially extends Bytecoin RPC Wallet functionality allowing third party developers to securely pass private keys of the wallets to its API interface. This is a major feature that improves Bytecoin out-of-box security for various web applications.

Transaction comments

Transaction comments provide a functionality to enclose any message to the transaction that you are sending. Its content is going to be encrypted, stored in blockchain, and available only for the recipient.

Invoices

Invoices are a usability enhancement for Bytecoin Wallet. They allow merchants and services to send an invoice directly to the user's wallet. Therefore, payment for the end-users is simplified to just a couple of clicks required to accept the invoice.


v.1.1.0

On-blockchain alias

Bytecoin team aims to give on-blockchain aliases a new perspective allowing you to create aliases for basically whatever you want.


v.1.1.1

P2P layer refactoring

This update isolates p2p and cryptocurrency protocols to further improve testability, modularity, and reliability. This update allows to create any p2p project on top of Bytecoin's network layer.

Higher daemon synchronization speed

The ambitious goal is to improve the speed of daemon synchronization from scratch by 500%. After this update there will be no need to distribute blockchain files, since there will be no time difference between synchronizing with the network and downloading blockchain from a server.

Higher block relay speed

The updated P2P layer allows to polish the way the blocks are relaid across the network. It ensures that all Bytecoin nodes are synchronized with just a neglectable delay.


Various work in progress

Full daemon refactoring

Another significant daemon refactoring that improves code modularity. It also increases blocks and transactions processing speed by roughly 15%.

Lightweight wallet

Lightweight wallets are able to operate with any network daemon that has allowed external applications access, and exchange wallet peerlists. They minimize the resource requirements and allow Bytecoin wallet to run on a large variety of platforms.

Colored coins and assets

Colored coins are the next big thing in cryptocurrencies and is the next significant step for CryptoNote. They will allow Bytecoin users to create and distribute various securities and digital assets.

Alerts

Alerts are a handy feature to ensure that all Bytecoin network nodes are notified on software updates and important notes from the Bytecoin developers.

SOCKS-proxy for wallet

Native SOCKS-proxy support for Bytecoin wallets connected to remote daemons.

P2P pools

With all the updates mentioned above we expect Bytecoin network to significantly increase. P2P pool is a temporary sidechain that implements decentralized pooled mining, which is important for network decentralization.

Turing-complete language for on-blockchain scripts

This update is on the early prototype stages. We aim to provide a brand new Turing-complete language and an interpreter capable of powering CryptoNote's smart contracts.

Why is your address so long?

oh, .. btw, .. to impress people around here you need to talk "tech" .. not screenshots .. those might work over at BCT .. but certainly not here :/

Bytecoin is privacy-centric currency so address is a data format of 2 public keys.

Regarding the technical details, I hope this text will cause a greater interest. And I apologize for the delay with the response.

Developing GUI Wallet for Bytecoin

In Bytecoin Reference Client release version 1.0.3 we have rolled out Bytecoin high-level API that is capable of providing top-notch tools for GUI developers. This update is a crucial prerequisite for Bytecoin Wallet, as it allows to run a native Bytecoin network inside any application. It acts as a showcase for INode and IWallet interfaces and allows 3rd party developers to focus on making their product without the necessity to understand complex CryptoNote cryptography.

However, this update was not dealing with the core only: we have released a GUI Wallet, which is a big step towards users. Not only does it allow to use Bytecoin with more pleasure, but demonstrates convenience of new API libraries that allow to concentrate on developing applications.

Benchmarking

We were looking at the best solutions only during wallet development. Our goal was to select the best that was created before us while keeping specific Bytecoin features.

Bitcoin-Qt was selected as a basis, being one of the most popular yet easy-to-use wallets. We did not stop here, though. We liked the NXT Wallet's elegant design, and Hive showed us the way to be user-friendly.

We considered many solutions during development, such as Electrum and Multibit. Despite all their benefits, we chose not to follow their paradigm but to concentrate on making a simple yet elegant wallet that provides general Bytecoin functionality.

UI prototyping and focus groups

After laying out the plan, we invited team of UIX professionals. Two 'working-weeks' later we arrived at design concepts of Bytecoin GUI Wallet that satisfied everyone on Bytecoin team.

The next step in Bytecoin Wallet development was UI prototyping. We have narrowed down the list of features we wanted to see in the first Bytecoin Wallet release and sent them to UIX group.

The following week we derived an image of Bytecoin Wallet that would be ideal from our point of view. The time came to check if our image of ideal corresponds with that of users. To do this we gathered two focus-groups representing two target audiences. The first one included people deeply involved in the cryptocurrencies' world. The second one included those who did not have such experience.

The first focus-group provided us with some valuable advice regarding functionality and usability, while the second tipped us off on how to make the wallet more intuitive and user-friendly.

The development!

Finally, we have moved to the actual development of Bytecoin's GUI-Wallet. We invited a team of professional UI developers and one third-party tester. Our choice was Scrum development methodology. To ensure that we're on the same page, Scrum is an iterative and incremental agile software development methodology for managing product development.

We've set our sprint interval to two weeks. At the beginning of each sprint we had a planning game with the UI development team to select the functions to develop this sprint and give estimates. In the end of each iteration UI development team presented demo version of Wallet, which was given to our tester.

The complete development required six iterations, but the prize was awesome. We have polished the code so much in four months that even our lead programmer-perfectionist praised our work. It was the first time in almost three years, when he appreciated our work this way with the first try.

We are going to take a break in developing GUI Wallet after such concerted effort. We have plans for many functions of the wallet, including mobile version of it. Still, despite positive evaluation from both focus-groups, we would like to collect comprehensible feedback before continuing development.

We would appreciate it if you share with us your development experience, comment our development process or give us your opinion on our new GUI Wallet here in the comments or send us email to contact[at]bytecoin.org.

Bytecoin Reference Client 1.0.3 released

A new update, Bytecoin Reference Client v.1.0.3, has been released today. This update represents new paradigm in the interaction between Bytecoin and 3rd party applications. The new version contains High-Level API, opening up possibilities for the developers to easily create wallets and other add-ons that will best suit their business solutions. The release consists of:

• Instant transactions notification, which allow users to see incoming money transfers before the transaction gets into the blockchain.
• INode. INode is a High-Level API interface that provides the developers with an easy access to all Bytecoin core features.
• ITransaction. ITransaction is a low-level API interface that allows full control over Cryptonote transactions and multisignature protocol.

This update is another significant step for Bytecoin as it improves the convenience of Bytecoin for the industry. The update allows the entrepreneurs to focus on the design of their products while all of the hard work related to communications between external applications and the Bytecoin financial system is carried out by our reliable high and low-level APIs. The complete description of the updated 1.0.3 version is available in the Bytecoin dev blog.

bytecoin.org
bytecoin.org/blog/bytecoin-under-the-hood

Bytecoin roadmap 2015