Bee 2.0 has been released
Just two days before the Swarm Community Call, the Swarm Foundation released Bee 2.0. The release of Bee 2.0 is considered a turning point that comes with several features. Some concern the local store changes and optimisations – one can already observe a reduction in the so-called freezes, from over 60% down to under 40%, as well as other performance benefits, for instance 20% faster retrieval. But the 2.0 package also brought a substantial encryption upgrade, and of course, most importantly, the release of the erasure codes. The erasure codes are designed to address and overcome any retrieval issues, ensuring data availability even under extreme conditions where 50% of the network might be unavailable.This feature is now fully operational and working as anticipated, with thorough testing yielding no negative feedback.
At this point, the team would appreciate community’s feedback – not only from a functionality point of view but also from the UI/UX perspective. While the erasure codes are an additional feature, not “turned on” by default, the Swarm Foundation team would nevertheless want to make it part of the “normal Swarm experience”, more standardised and easier to use.
Ultimately, what does 2.0 mean? “It means that we are essentially production ready. For whatever retrieval issues Swarm had before, the erasure codes are able to overcome that [...] Unless you have over 50% of the network leave immediately, there’s not going to be any retrieval problems,” summed up Callum Toner from the Research Team. The implementation of erasure codes also positions Swarm as the only decentralised storage protocol to actually have this system set in place, while everyone else relies on replication. “It is an unconventional approach, but one that’s been working really elegantly and is very well suited for the overheads and the type of system that we’re dealing with,” concluded Callum.
The Bee and Research teams are now planning to see through the rest of the roadmap, which is mainly focused on the incentives for the node operators and more Bee optimisations, all of which is expected to follow at a much faster pace now that the enormous work releasing Bee 2.0 has been accomplished.
The fate of the bonding curve put to vote
In a significant moment for the Swarm network and its community, Costanza Gallo announced the opening of a community vote concerning the future of the bonding curve. The voting opened on 28 March at 11:59 UTC on Snapshot and will close on 25 April at 11:59 UTC. Wallets associated with the Swarm Foundation, Swarm Association and centralised exchanges will be excluded from the voting process to ensure fair participation.
Two options are being put to the vote. One is that the bonding curve stays as it is and nothing changes. The other is shutting down the bonding curve. If this should happen, the bonding curve smart contract will be deactivated, leading to the loss of any DAI remaining in the smart contract. There will be no new token issuance and the amount of BZZ currently in circulation will remain as it is.
Costanza stressed the importance of informed voting, urging token holders to utilise the 28-day voting period to fully grasp the implications of the bonding curve and the options presented.
For any further questions you might have, head over to the Swarm Foundation Discord (bzz-tokenomcis channel) and follow Swarm Foundation Blog, where articles providing more information and useful links can be found.