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drand: 2022 Year in Review & our 2023 Roadmap

· 3 min read
Yolan Romailler
Yolan Romailler
Co-Founder & Cryptographer

drand: 2022 Year in Review​

🥳 Reflections on a Year of Achievements​

As 2022 wrapped up, the drand team took a moment to reflect on the incredible journey we’ve been on. The year was packed with milestones, innovations, and expansions that have set the stage for an exciting future. Here’s a look back at some of the standout moments from our year.

🆕 New Features That Shaped Our Journey​

One of the highlights of 2022 was the development of some game-changing features:

⛓️ Unchained Randomness and Higher Frequency Beacons 🚨​

Early in the year, we rolled out unchained randomness and higher frequency beacons on our testnet. These features have shown immense potential, and we’ve been thrilled with their performance. They promise to expand the horizons for drand and the applications using it. We’ve been testing them rigorously, and they’ve been operational for several months now.

Want to dive deeper? Check out Multi-Frequency Support & Timelock Encryption are coming to drand! for all the details.

⏱️ Timelock Encryption​

Building on the success of unchained randomness, we developed Timelock Encryption on drand. This feature has been a hit, garnering a lot of attention and excitement. While it’s still in the testnet phase, we’ve already launched a web app, Timevault, and we’re looking forward to deploying it on the mainnet soon. Stay tuned for updates!

🔭 Enhancing Network Visibility​

Monitoring and maintaining a robust network is crucial. This year, we made significant strides in enhancing our visibility into the drand network:

  • Integrated Metrics: We embedded metrics directly into our codebase, providing a clearer view of the network’s health.
  • New Dashboard: We built a comprehensive dashboard that gives us a holistic view of nodes before, during, and after resharing ceremonies. This tool has been instrumental in enabling async ceremonies, making the process more flexible for node operators.

Curious about the technical details? Read more in Observing Randomness

🛰️ Taking drand to New Heights – Literally!​

One of the most exciting developments of 2022 was our collaboration with CryptoSat. In October, we deployed drand on one of their satellites, sending it into space! This space node interacted with ground station nodes, marking a significant milestone in our journey.

We’re not stopping there. Our goal is to have a permanent drand node operating from space, further enhancing the resilience of our network.

Read all about this groundbreaking achievement in CryptoSat takes drand to Space!

🪴 Growing the League of Entropy​

2022 was also a year of growth for the League of Entropy (LoE):

  • New Members: We welcomed four new members to the League and have several more lined up for consideration in the coming months.
  • Community Engagement: We presented drand at several high-profile events, including NorthSec, MCH, and DEFCON. These presentations sparked new collaborations and expanded our community.

Interested in joining the League of Entropy? Learn more at The League of Entropy

Celebrating 💯% Uptime!​

We’re proud to report that our network had 100% uptime throughout the year, with no hiccups or disruptions. This level of reliability is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team.

😎 Looking Ahead: drand in 2023​

As we celebrate our successes, we’re also gearing up for an ambitious 2023. Here’s a sneak peek at what’s in store:

🔧 Network Maintenance and Upgrades​

Our ongoing commitment to maintaining and enhancing the drand network includes:

  • Optimizing storage for beacons.
  • Implementing unchained randomness and higher frequency beacons on the mainnet.
  • Refactoring the Distributed Key Generation (DKG) process to improve resilience and flexibility.

Expanding the League of Entropy​

With improved processes, we’re looking to expand the League of Entropy. We’re also exploring incentive structures to reward those who contribute their time and resources to the network.

🪙 Integrating with Filecoin Virtual Machine (FVM)​

The Filecoin team is working on the Filecoin Virtual Machine (FVM), and we’re excited to integrate drand beacons into this system. This will significantly broaden drand’s user base and application scope.

🤝🏽 Supporting the drand Community​

We’re committed to making drand more user- and developer-friendly. This includes updating our processes, websites, and “how to” guides, and holding regular “code walkthroughs” and hackathons to engage with our community.

🛣️ Join Us on Our Journey!​

2023 promises to be a year of growth and innovation. We invite you to join us on this exciting journey. Whether you’re a developer, a potential partner, or just a fan of what we’re doing, we’d love to have you involved.

  • Monitor Our Progress: here on this blog!
  • Get Involved: Join the discussion in the drand Slack workspace through this invitation link.

Best wishes for a productive 2023! 🎉

Feel free to let us know if you need more adjustments or further details!