GRS (Groestlcoin) September ’21 Developer Update

9 min readSep 22, 2021

Whilst the crypto-coaster ride of earlier this year has dwindled slightly over the past few months, with more subtle ebbs and flows in the market, the price of GRS has remained mostly immune to these changing conditions, as has the development pace.

Exchanges and Advancements

Taproot was locked in on Mainnet on 24th June, to then be activated on 25th June!
GRS was accepted at Take Toys, the largest adult toy shop in Hong Kong.
Infinity Ecosystem’s wallet added support for GRS in version 1.0.78
GRS was listed on CoinEx exchange!

Social and Marketing

We released a guide on how to integrate Shopify accounts into your GRS Pay Account!
We released a guide on how to accept GRS donations on Twitch!

Todays Development Updates

Groestlcoin Core v22 Update

Click here for more information, download links and more for Groestlcoin Core

What’s New?

A full set of release notes can be found here.

(New!) VerifySignature

What is VerifySignature?

GRS VerifySignature is an implementation that can accept get parameters, so it is linkable externally, and users could easily copy-paste one link to their counterparties to verify. This should be useful for people who do OTC and regularly do proof-of-funds before the transaction.

This tool makes it easier for users to verify signatures online/offline.

Use VerifySignature

Live version available here. But it is recommended to download GRS VerifySignature offline and run it on your pc. Open index.html to get started.

Download GRS VerifySignature here

Source Code

https://github.com/Groestlcoin/VerifySignature

Groestlcoin Electrum-GRS 4.1.5 Desktop & Android Update

Click here for more information, download links and more for Electrum-GRS

What’s New? (Android-specific)

Kivy/Android: fix a regression where a non-LN wallet could not open the settings
Kivy/Android: fix paying bip70 invoices (regression)
Kivy GUI: implement freezing LN channels

What’s New? (Server & Desktop Client)

Builds/binaries:
— Android: the binaries (APKs) should now be reproducible
— AppImage: fix some startup issues by including libxcb deps
— macOS: the .dmg binary should now be reproducible
Lightning:
— smarter LN pathfinding (if trampoline is disabled):
— estimate liquidity in channels using previous attempts
— consider inflight HTLCs and try to route around them
— bugfix: add more safety checks to avoid “batch RBF” feature
merging LN funding txs
— remove HTLC value upper limit of ~42 mGRS
— improve payment success when using trampoline
Imported wallets: when enabling the “Use change addresses” option, change will now be sent to a random unused imported address. As before, by default, change is sent back to the “from address”.
Seed generation: make sure newly created electrum-grs seeds don’t have correct bip39 checksum by chance
CLI/RPC: fix “close_wallet” command
Fix: payment requests not saved if process is killed
Add support for signet test network
Qt GUI:
— allow restoring from SLIP39 seeds
— rework QR code scanning on Windows and macOS
— support smaller window sizes, decrease minimums
GUIs: add “funded or unused” filter option to Addresses tab
Other minor fixes

GRS RPC Explorer 3.2

Click here for more information, download links and more for GRS RPC Explorer

What’s New?

Public API! See the docs at /api/docs
XPUB pages: search for any xpub (ypub, zpub, etc) and see summary details and a list of associated addresses
Homepage: add “Predicted Next Block” section
Mempool Summary: add top-fee transactions table
Improvements to transaction details UI, especially on smaller screens
Cleanup support for Taproot/bech32m
New /mining-template tool, showing structured output of getblocktemplate command
Various improvements to charts and graphs throughout the tool (including lots of y-axis changes: linear->log)
Better support for BIP9 soft forks shown on /node-details (e.g. Taproot ST in 2.21.1)
New “Recent” and “Favorites” sections on /rpc-browser
Block lists: show (min, avg, max) fee rates instead of just avg
Random Groestlcoin-related quote shown in footer on each page load
New /quotes, curated list of Groestlcoin-related quotes (each quote also having its own page like this)
Preemptive support for upcoming format change to getrawtransaction output
Fix for incorrect homepage block count when using BTCEXP_UI_HOME_PAGE_LATEST_BLOCKS_COUNT
Fix for inaccurate difficulty adjustment estimates
Link to Tor v3 Hidden Service in footer
Fix for DEBUG environment variable being ignored
Fix for /rpc-terminal not parsing non-int parameters properly
Fix for edge case where txindex availability check fails at startup (add retries with exp. backoff)
Fix for tiny-value display (i.e. 1e-8 -> 0.00000001)
Misc UI/UX tweaks
Cache busting for frontend resources
Improved error handling in many places
Updated dependencies
Fix for regtest network errors on homepage
Fix for server errors in Docker-based installs
Improvements to no-txindex support: now available for all versions of Groestlcoin Core
Add back the /peers tool in the “Tools” menu. Note: The map on the peers tool now requires users set their own BTCEXP_MAPBOX_APIKEY in .env
Response compression
Remove reference to unused fonts.css
Increased static-files cache: 1hr -> 1mo
Clearer UX around RPC connection failures (show the fact clearly, instead of flooding the log with cryptic errors)
Fixed changelog for v3.0.0 release (added/clarified some issues)
Updated favicons
Fix for homepage error after failure to get AU exchange rate
UX improvements on /peers page
Graphs for top items in /admin/stats
Optional support for plausible.io analytics
Fix to avoid displaying empty “Summary” section when we fail to get address txid list
UX improvement around electrs too-many-txs-for-address errors
Major visual refresh:
— All new design (layout, fonts, colors, etc)
— Redesigned Dark Mode (now the default)
— New app icon
Support for pruned nodes and nodes with disabled txindex! Note: Currently only Groestlcoin Core versions 2.21+ are able to support this feature (a future improvement is planned to make it available to all versions)
Mempool Summary improvements:
— Greatly improved performance for multiple loads via caching
— Added: “Blocks Count” column by fee-rate bucket
— Tool for estimating Block Depth of a transaction or a fee rate
Mining Summary: added doughnut chart for rev. breakdown, simplified table data
Upgraded to Bootstrap 5 (currently beta3…)
Update mapbox API. Note: The map on the /peers page now requires that users set the env var BTCEXP_MAPBOX_APIKEY to their own API key
Fix for 404 pages hanging
Add convenience redirect for baseUrl
Make URL in logs clickable
Caching for static files (maxAge=1hr)
Frontend performance optimizations
Smarter performance/memory defaults for slow devices
Major refactoring, modernization, and code-reuse improvements
UX improvements and polish throughout
URL changes:
— /node-status -> /node-details
— /unconfirmed-tx -> /mempool-transactions
Environment variable changes:
— The below changes were made to more clearly acknowledge that multiple Electrum-protocol implementations (e.g. ElectrumX, Electrs) can be used for address queries:
— BTCEXP_ADDRESS_API value electrumx -> electrum (electrumx should still works)
— BTCEXP_ELECTRUMX_SERVERS -> BTCEXP_ELECTRUM_SERVERS (BTCEXP_ELECTRUMX_SERVERS should still work)
Updated dependencies:
— jQuery: v3.4.1 -> v3.6.0
— highlight.js: v9.14.2 -> v10.7.1
— fontawesome: v5.7.1 -> v5.15.3
New fee rate data on /block-analysis pages
New minor misc peer data available in Groestlcoin Core RPC v2.21+
New gold exchange rate on homepage
Fix for SSO token generation URL encoding
Fix for /peers map
Fix for README git clone
Support for running on a configurable BASEURL, e.g. “/explorer/”
Support for SSO
Support for signet and taproot
Support for listening on 0.0.0.0
Support for viewing list of block heights for each miner on /mining-summary
Sanitizing of environment variables
Fix for XSS vulnerabilities
Fix for low severity lodash dependency vulnerability
Fix for zero block reward (eventually on mainnet, now on regtest)
Fix for cryptic error when running regtest with no blocks
Fix for pagination errors on /blocks (not displaying genesis block on the last page; error on last page when sort=asc)
Electrum-GRS connect/disconnect stats on /admin
Add P2SH bounty address /fun items
Misc cleanup

Android Wallet 8.14 Update

Click here for more information, download links and more for Android Wallet

What’s New?

Fix issue with not being able to send due to blockchain replay.
Fix layout on 10in tablets.
Customize the connectivity notification in trusted peer mode.
Fix a build reproducibility issue.
Update translations from Transifex.
Improve offline payments via Bluetooth for Android 8.1 (Oreo) and up. Merchants should configure their own Bluetooth address in the settings.
Restructure the settings page.
Use CoinGecko.com for exchange rates.
The color of the transaction confirmation indicator has been changed. It now starts red with one confirmation, slowly blending to green for 7 confirmations.
On Android 9 and older, switched the app-widget back to dark. On Android 10, use the dark/light system setting.
Get rid of the last internal content provider; replace it with a repository and an SQLite database.
Remove the ability to directly add an address to the address book from the clipboard due to safety concerns. The QR code scanner can still be used, and addresses you’ve already sent to can be added as well.
Visual overhaul of the address book.
Visual overhaul of the network monitor.
Visual overhaul of the exchange rates list.
Visual overhaul of the transactions list.
Allow multiple trusted peers by separating them with a space character.
The app now requires Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) or higher.
On modern devices: Introduce a blockchain synchronization mode that prioritizes privacy vs data usage.
Trusted peers with custom TCP ports are now supported. Use the IPv4:port or [IPv6]:port syntax.
Minor bugfixes

C-Lightning 0.10.1 Release

Click here for more information, how-to guides and more for C-Lightning

What’s New?

Experimental-dual-fund allows advertizement of funding rates which we will contribute to channels automatically, on a 1-month lease.
Withdraw and close (if peer supports) now supports Taproot (and other future) addresses.
listchannels can now be queried by destination, as well as source.
Plugin rescan now automatically reloads plugins which have changed.
We try to restart automatically if we notice subdaemons have been upgraded underneath us.
fundpsbt will no longer include uneconomic UTXOs (unless all).
Close will return a stream of notifications if there is a delay in closing.
Unilateral close feerates were reduced from groestlcoind’s “2 CONSERVATIVE” to “6 ECONOMICAL”.
Tor v2 is deprecated: please upgrade to v3!
Fixed disconnection bug when an HTLC failed.
Fixed bug in rapid feerate changes, and make code space them out (LND compact).
Fixed bug where Tor on different ports could be advertised incorrectly.
Fixed various bugs to make pay more robust.
payment secrets in invoices are now compulsory, finally closing a potential probing (or, with amountless invoices, stealing) attack.
option_shutdown_anysegwit allows peers to close channels to any future segwit version address (taproot!).
keysend now understands routehints, for routing to unpublished nodes, and sets the final CLTV to 22, for rust-lightning nodes.
Invoice now allows creation of wumbo invoices (> 0.0429 GRS).
We will now discuss old channels with peers who reconnect, even if we consider them closed.
Manual pages now document exactly the JSON you can expect from each command (and it’s tested!)
Plugins can now publish notifications for other plugins to listen to.
force-feerates allows complete feerate override (mainly for regtest), and a bug fixed where we could send 0 update_fee on regtest.
The HSM daemon is now separated into libhsmd, which also provides Python bindings.
createonion can now make variable-sized onions, and sendonion no longer requires direction and channel for firsthop.
dev-sendcustommsg is now simply sendcustommsg.
Many offers API improvements and updates, including unsigned offers (smaller QR codes!).