Worklog. October results

Hello, and welcome to the latest issue of our monthly news digest! We will discuss Demlabs and Cellframe development progress, and other news. October turned out to be very busy and productive for us, so this worklog is a long and detailed one. We collected news from all the most interesting areas: development, architecture, testing of post-quantum signatures, the two-way bridge and, of course, marketing. Read and enjoy!

Cellframe staking site

Let's start with our staking site https://stake.cellframe.net/. We are constantly working to improve its functionality. We respond to community messages about any errors and shortcomings, and try to eliminate them. For example, in October we fixed several unstaking bugs and solved the problem with duplicate transactions.

Cellframe Dashboard and Wallet

In our wallet applications, we have changed the architecture from monolithic to modular. Now each tab is a separate, independent module. This configuration will help us optimize application development and updating.

And a few more important improvements:

• Mechanisms for translating interfaces into different languages ​​were integrated into both applications

• Cellframe Dashboard has optimized the JSON-RPC-based protocol for data exchange between the dashboard service and the node

• Cellframe Wallet has implemented a multi-threaded operating mode. Now requests are processed not sequentially, but in parallel, which means that the application will work faster and more stably.

Cellframe DEX Project

Cellframe DEX is one example of a t-dApp that is being implemented in the Cellframe ecosystem.

The structure of Cellframe DEX will be radically different from most other decentralized exchanges. It will not have any AMM protocols or smart contracts.

The token exchange will run on the same limit-order engine that forms the core of the service delivery engine in our ecosystem. Accordingly, the role of smart contracts, as in other Cellframe t-dApps, will be performed by conditional transactions, in which the terms of exchange are stored. This is a simple, reliable and safe mechanism.

Cellframe DEX is designed primarily for token exchange within the Cellframe network. Therefore it will feature all the native CF-20 tokens, as well as popular tokens such as DAI, USDC, ETH, BNB. All owners of our wallets will be able to use it. Cellframe Wallet and Cellframe Dashboard already have a DEX tab.

In October, we resumed active development of the DEX. Here’s what we accomplished:

• We configured the order_history command, which shows the history of trades for a given order and the current balance of funds.

• We adjusted the process of sending transactions to the ledger when an order is executed.

KelVPN project

The team is working to improve the functionality of the KelVPN app. They added a Notification Center, which displays all errors\warnings\notifications on the screen. In addition, work is also underway to improve the kelvpn.com website. We updated the design, texts and added new sections.

We also want to remind you that you can already launch a masternode on the KelVPN network. The technical requirements and sequence of actions are the same as in the Cellframe network. The main difference is that to launch a KelVPN masternode you must have at least 100 mKEL on your balance or 100,000 KEL available to stake.

For now, only the role of network validator is available for masternodes; the functionality for providing VPN service is still being developed. The team continues to fix bugs in the KelVPN/Cellframe Dashboard collaboration mode.

It is important to understand that running a masternode is a prerequisite for becoming a provider. Detailed instructions for launching a masternode can be found here: https://wiki.cellframe.net/02.+Learn/Become+a+Master+Node/Master+Node+Manual+Setup

Just follow each step in these instructions, but choose the KelVPN network, not Backbone. If you have any questions, you can always contact KelVPN technical support team here: https://t.me/kelvpn_tech_support

Bidirectional bridge

The bidirectional bridge is our main big task for the near future.

In preparing to launch the bridge, it is important for us to carefully debug network synchronization and ensure the maximum level of security to eliminate the possibility of hacking and illicit withdrawal of funds. This will also help minimize the number of errors when interacting with other networks.

Therefore, we are now focused on improving the stability of Cellframe Node: eliminating crashes and freezes, and also adjusting the function of various commands.

Main network architecture

We are now continuing a major refactoring of the main network. On the one hand, Global DB (distributed data storage of the Cellframe network) will become a more independent and secure module, and in the future it may become a separate product (we will talk about this in more detail next time).

On the other hand, we are moving the main network to a cluster architecture. This means that the network will become a set of interconnected clusters. Each network node can then be part of several clusters at the same time, and play different roles in them. There will be three types of clusters:

GDB Group cluster is, for example, a cluster of KelVPN nodes, which includes the groups KelVPN.nodes and KelVPN.nodes.aliases

Role cluster is a group of nodes with special rights. For example, validators of the mainchain network.

Stream cluster is a set of node addresses that can be grouped according to a certain criterion, such as those belonging to the same network.

Thus, one stream cluster can include many GDB group clusters, and each of them, in turn, can have its own role clusters.

Our next step in the development of the main network is sharding. This feature logically fits well into the concept of clusters, so there is a high probability that we will implement it precisely on the basis of this concept. But it is important to understand that the cluster architecture itself is not yet sharding - it is only a prerequisite for building this function.

Post-quantum encryption

In October, we measured the performance of different NIST-recommended post-quantum signatures on the average PC. The Falcon, CRYSTALS-Dilithium and SPHINCS+ algorithms were tested.

Two parameters were studied: transaction-signing speed and signature verification speed. For testing, we ran a loop for 1000 iterations with the following steps:

- Creating a random message

- Signing this message

- Signature verification

Based on the testing results, we will be able to select the optimal node configuration for maximum performance. For example, during testing, the SPHINCS+ algorithm performed worst of all. It's heavy and too slow, so we won't be adding support for it in our wallets. But FALCON and CRYSTALS-Dilithium turned out to be quite fast. At the same time, FALCON is faster at verification, which means that if it is not inferior in security to CRYSTALS-Dilithium, then it will be preferable to use it.

Marketing activities

October was a busy month for marketing. We had many interesting events:

Firstly, we had two AMA sessions in a row. On October 12, as usual, we held our traditional AMA stream where Dmitry Gerasimov, CEO of Demlabs and Cellframe, spoke about our news and plans and answered questions from the community. Then on October 19 we had a partner AMA session with blogger tuNNCay Crypto on the BinanceLive platform. The broadcast was watched by more than 10 thousand people. We think this is an excellent result!

The recording of the broadcast can be viewed here: https://www.binance.com/en/live/video?roomId=2157926

Secondly, the international cryptography Olympiad NSUCRYPTO (https://nsucrypto.nsu.ru/) took place, in which we acted as co-organizers and participated in the preparation of tasks. The Olympiad was held online from October 15 to 23, and more than 1,100 students from 44 countries took part in it. The competition entries are currently being reviewed and the final results will be announced in December.

Thirdly, we have entered into a partnership agreement with the HYVE project, a platform for crypto freelancers. Cellframe will be a payment solution for HYVE and will provide fast and secure transactions.

We are teaming up with the HYVE project for further joint development. We'll reveal more details soon!

And finally, in October we relaunched the Demlabs company website https://demlabs.net/ with updated design and content.

And now we are preparing to participate in a forum on global trends in technology at The Trends 2023, which will take place in Moscow on October 15-16.