Midweek With Max: January 7, 2025

Welcome back from the holidays!

Welcome to another episode of Midweek With Max! In this episode, the Hemi team provided updates on progress toward mainnet stability, with significant work completed over the holidays. Efforts focused on enhancing the RPC backend using Optimism’s Proxy D, which improves reliability by routing requests based on their type and maintaining consensus among downstream nodes.

These upgrades are expected to enhance scalability and are being prepared for testnet deployment soon. Auditing and security remain top priorities as the team finalizes preparations for the mainnet launch, targeted for late January 2025. Smart contract audits on the Bitcoin tunnel were completed by two firms and Hacker One conducted a comprehensive code and infrastructure audit. An additional audit phase is planned before launch, ensuring readiness across all systems. To prevent potential issues, monitoring systems were improved to provide immediate visibility into network activity and enable rapid response.

The network has also undergone recent upgrades, including enhancements to the HVM endpoints and the Bitcoin Kit version. These upgrades have been running successfully on testnet since early December. Challenges such as the Bitcoin Testnet 3 difficulty bomb exploit were resolved, demonstrating the network’s ability to handle adversarial scenarios. On the partnerships front, the team has been highly active, announcing 28 collaborations since the testnet launch in July 2024.

Recent partnerships include SatLayer and B2, and efforts continue at an accelerated pace. The team remains focused on platforms like Twitter and Telegram for engagement. Looking ahead, the team outlined goals for 2025, emphasizing partnership growth and ecosystem expansion. A strong focus remains on enabling seamless Bitcoin and Ethereum interoperability. Developers are encouraged to explore advanced applications using HVM, such as non-custodial DEXs and Bitcoin staking solutions. On-chain resolutions include supporting mainnet launch efforts and introducing governance structures that combine token-based voting with unique human identity verification for community decisions.

NFT updates include migrating existing testnet NFTs to mainnet and discussions around creating security-aware gaming NFTs. While NFTs are not the immediate focus, the team plans to support innovative projects and partnerships in this space. For fans of our points system we have plans to make them even more powerful in the future. Keep an eye on the Discord and join us every Tuesday for Midweek With Max.

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