What's New on Telos

A Word From the TCD’s Head of ZK Technologies — Alberto Garoffolo

In March, we focused on defining our roadmap, which, for instance, includes a SNARKtor POC, HW Acceleration for Proving, and research activities concerning a new model that facilitates Decentralized Parallelizable Provable Computation. Additionally, we prepared presentations for conferences in Hong Kong and Token 2049 in Dubai.

On the development front, we completed the ZKVM proof verifier utilizing Plonky2 primitives and also finalized the gates for the efficient simulation of the arithmetic of the Babybear field. Currently, our efforts are concentrated on the gadgets and, more broadly, on the circuit verifying the ZKVM proof.

‍

A Word From the TCD’s Head of Engineering — Jesse Schulman

March marked the release of version 1.5, a long-anticipated milestone that we are thrilled to have achieved. The team has promptly progressed to work on TelosEVM 2.0, leveraging the features enabled by version 1.5 through updates to Teloscan.

The month was also filled with extensive planning, coordination with new partners, and research and development activities aimed at some very exciting initiatives. These will be unveiled in the coming weeks, starting at Token2049 in Dubai!

TCD Roadmap 2024—

The strategic roadmap for 2024 outlines our key milestones and primary areas of focus. The first quarter of the year has proven to be very successful, and we are dedicated to delivering significant advancements in four critical areas as the year unfolds: the Scalable Proof Protocol, K2-18 (our zkEVM gaming chain), Telos EVM + Telos Zero, and Blockchain-as-a-Service (BAAS).

EVM 1.5 Highlight—

March saw the achievement of a significant milestone on our journey—the release of Telos EVM 1.5. This upgrade reflects Telos' commitment to innovation and sustainability, introducing essential enhancements that strengthen our network's scalability and expand the capabilities of our developer ecosystem. Our efforts are now focused on upcoming updates in EVM 2.0.

To read about EVM 1.5 in more detail, please visit: https://www.telos.net/post/telos-evm-1-5 

Teloscan Highlight—

March heralded a significant update to Teloscan, aligning with the launch of EVM contract version 1.5. This enhancement substantially boosts the platform's efficiency and overall user experience.

For comprehensive details on the Teloscan product update, please visit: https://www.telos.net/post/update-teloscan 

Telos Integrations — 

DeFi

Unizen

Website: https://www.unizen.io/
Unizen is a new class of DEX-aggregator that allows immediate access to 20,000+ assets across 9 networks. Unizen’s innovative trade-splitting algorithm allows them to outperform other leading aggregators. Unizen aggregates on both liquidity and interoperability which enables seamless and cost-efficient single- and cross-chain swaps.

XT.com

Website: https://www.xt.com/en
XT.COM Exchange was established in 2018 and registered in Seychelles. Its operating headquarters are located in Dubai. It has operation centers in Singapore, Europe and other countries and regions, and its business covers the world. The platform owns the global top-level domain www.xt.com and currently has more than 6 million registered users, more than 500,000 monthly active users, and more than 40 million users in the ecosystem. 

Verified USD

Website: https://usdv.money/ 

USDV is a first of its kind stablecoin with fully transparent on-chain supply and off-chain reserves, native omnichain capabilities and partnerships with world-class entities across the industry.

Gaming: 

Alternates

Website: https://alternatesgame.io/ 

Introducing Alternates - A first-person shooter (FPS) game that immerses you in a high-quality, competitive, and strategic experience.

With a singular focus on each player's individual skills and teamwork, the combat between the two teams comes to life in diverse scenarios and exciting game modes.

Conkis

Website: https://conkis.com/ 

In Conkis, players command medieval-like armies in a turn-based tactical battle to achieve victory by capturing flags or annihilating enemy forces. The game takes inspiration from both Chess and the Age of Empires series.

Infra & Tooling: 

Atka

Website: https://atka.io/ 

Established in 2018, Atka has emerged as a prominent Web3 incubator, supporting a range of successful projects that have significantly contributed to the Web3 space. Among these are Mangrove, PlayMakers, and Morpho, with Morpho notably surpassing $2 billion USD in Total 

Network Performance

In a continuous commitment to enhance transparency regarding network statistics, the TCD has been monitoring essential metrics. This endeavour will facilitate the recognition of potential trends within Telos blockchain. We plan to expand the range of metrics tracked as time progresses.

TCD March Development Updates

Executive Summary

In March, the Telos Core Developers delivered pivotal enhancements to our ecosystem, notably within EVM 1.5 and Teloscan. EVM 1.5 saw substantial improvements including advanced debugging tools, expanded instruction sets for Solidity development, and performance boosts through intrinsic updates. Simultaneously, Teloscan underwent a comprehensive UI overhaul and increased API integration to improve both user experience and system efficiency. These upgrades collectively aim to elevate the robustness and accessibility of the Telos network. Here are the key updates from a very successful March. 

Key Development Updates

EVM 1.5

• Advanced Print Functionality for Debugging: Enhanced print function now tracks init code of contracts created in internal transactions for better debugging.
• Instruction Set Enhancement for Solidity Developers: Added the PUSH instruction to improve efficiency and sophistication in smart contract development using the latest Solidity version.
• Precompiles and Intrinsic Updates for Performance Boost: Replaced precompiles with intrinsics to increase speed and align more closely with Ethereum EVM standards.
• Leap Software Compatibility: Updated cmake files for compatibility with Leap software, enhancing adaptability and performance.
• Feature Version Tracking: Introduced version tracking in EVM contracts for better management and activation of specific features and fixes.
• Gas Estimation Fixes: Addressed gas estimation issues for accounts with insufficient funds, enhancing transaction reliability.
• Trace and Contract Creation Fixes: Resolved issues with trace revert output and the contract creation process for more accurate transaction handling.
• Improved Error Messaging: Enhanced error messaging for transaction reverts, aligning RPC response more closely with traditional Ethereum nodes.
  

Teloscan

API Integration and Refactoring:

• Replaced RPC calls with Indexer API in key Teloscan components like transactions and account pages.
• Refactored contract manager for enhanced performance and maintenance.
• Integrated an NFT metadata scraper that optimizes and saves NFT images for better web performance.
  

User Interface and Experience Enhancements:

• Comprehensive UI overhaul across all pages to enhance user experience.
  

Contract and Transaction Handling Improvements:

• Improved handling of NFT metadata and transaction transfers.
• Enhanced ERC20 & ERC721 contract features, including holder and approval lists.
• Added support for common contract interfaces (ERC20, ERC1155, ERC721).
• Plans to incorporate Proxy Contract support in the near future.
  

Responsiveness and Accessibility:

• Improved responsiveness and accessibility across transaction and account pages for diverse devices.
  

Miscellaneous Improvements:

• Enhanced JSON printing and added event/function signatures.
• Fixed issues with internal transactions and contract interactions.
  

Language and Localization:

• Expanded multilingual support, updating translations for German, Portuguese, and Spanish.
  

Functionality Enhancements:

• Introduced token list sorting and batch transfer support.
• Improved contract interaction features such as bytecode display and collapsible code sections.
• Enhanced allowance management to improve user experience.
  

Health Monitoring Integration:

• Enhanced health monitoring features with more detailed logging levels including errors, alerts, and informational messages.
  

Translator/RPC Updates

• Early Block Ranges: Indexed all Telos blocks from the genesis to the deployment of the Telos EVM to support indexers and block hash generation.
  

• New Native State History Consumer: Implemented a state-history WebSocket consumer for more reliable block data retrieval and processing.
  

• Block Hash Algorithm: Updated to align with the Ethereum yellow paper, providing a true fingerprint of block contents.
  

• Fork Handling: Developed a new test suite for simulating forks and implemented robust fork-handling strategies.
  

• Improved RPC Response Structures: Created a test suite to ensure RPC response consistency with other EVM RPCs.
  

Telos Bridge

• Update pToken bridge URL.
  

Current Priorities 

• Enhancing and optimizing Teloscan, especially in terms of backend performance and API capabilities.
  

• Development and deployment of features related to EVM 1.5 and  Continued support and updates for the Telos Bridge.
• Overall system improvements such as RPC setups and error handling enhancements.
  

Ongoing Development Focus Streams 

Enhancing the Developer Experience with EVM 2.0:

• EVM 2.0 aims to enhance the dApp development environment with affordable smart contract deployment and high transaction throughput.
• It will introduce advanced debugging functionalities, instruction set enhancements for Solidity developers, improved gas estimation, and better RPC response structures.
  

Scalable Proof Protocol (SPP):

• Development of a new zero-knowledge decentralized protocol to make Telos massively scalable.
• SPP is designed to meet the technological demands for blockchain mass adoption.
  

Blockchain as a Service (BaaS):

• Development of Blockchain as a Service to allow users to create custom blockchains easily and efficiently.
• BaaS will support a variety of use cases, including those requiring regulatory compliance.

Conclusion

In conclusion, March's development updates represent significant strides in Telos's commitment to advancing blockchain technology. These developments not only refine our core functionalities but also ensure a more intuitive and efficient user experience. Looking ahead, our focus remains on refining Teloscan, integrating further EVM 1.5 features, and pursuing our ongoing development streams, including enhancing the Developer Experience with EVM 2.0, advancing our Scalable Proof Protocol, and continuing the development of our Blockchain as a Service.

‍

To explore repos being actively worked on, maintained or being explored by the TCD or to participate in testing or provide feedback on the various tools being worked on, visit: https://github.com/telosnetwork