1 Sep 2022

[blitz]

Here’s a recap of what happened this August in the Monero community:

Breaking

• Monero v0.18.1.0 Fluorine Fermi was released (1)
• MineXMR finally closed down on August 19 after a one-week delay ‘to give more time for miners to switch pools’ (2)
• The Monero v15 network upgrade was successful (3)
• The Dread staff issued an urgent ‘exit scam’ warning after MajesticBank’s subdread and main admin account were wiped ‘without any explanation’ (4)

R&D

• There were 5 Monero Research Lab meetings in August (5,6,7,8,9)
• selsta posted a July 2022 Monero dev report (10)
• hinto-janaiyo released multiple monero-bash versions (1.7.0-1.8.3) (11,12,13)
• busyboredom released AcceptXMR v0.11.0 (14)
• binarybaron completed the first milestone for the XMR-BTC atomic swap desktop GUI CCS proposal (15)
• The Farcaster Project released Farcaster Node v0.3.0 (16)
• COMIT released a new xmr-btc-swap version (0.11.0) which updates to Monero v0.18.0.0 (17)
• MAGIC Monero Fund started a GoFundMe fundraiser campaign for noot’s ETH-XMR atomic swaps project (18)
• Cake Wallet, Edge, Monero.com, Monerujo and MyMonero released new versions compatible with the v15 Monero network upgrade (19)
• tobtoht released Feather Wallet v2.1.0 (20)
• Haveno announced the launch of its test network (v0.0.1) (21)
• The AgoraDesk and LocalMonero mobile apps were released into open beta testing in celebration of 5-year anniversary (22)
• SChernykh released P2Pool v2.3 (23)
• Version 13.2.0 of the MMGen online/offline command-line cryptocurrency wallet was released (24)

Funding

• tobtoht’s CCS proposal to continue developing Feather Wallet for 3 months was fully funded (25)
• selsta’s CCS proposal to continue working part-time on Monero development for 3 more months until the end of October 2022 was fully funded (26,27)
• monero_archive submitted a CCS proposal to maintain a Monero Github code ‘archive’ for 1 year (28)
• UkoeHB submitted a new CCS proposal to build the core Seraphis library, which was successfully funded (29,30)
• ForgotSudo was looking to release a Monero USB flash drive and submitted a CCS proposal to build the Merkato XMR marketplace plugin for the Onionr network (31,32)

Interviews

• Monero Talk interviewed Luke Parker on developing Serai DEX (33)
• Monero Talk interviewed Viktor Vecsei of IVPN (34)
• Monero Talk interviewed Goldback’s Benjamin Shaffer (35)

Culture

• Monthly Monero transactions reached a new ATH in July with 963,209 confirmed (36)
• AllArk.io started accepting XMR for Prepaid Visa virtual debit cards and various gift cards (37)
• Cake Wallet launched the Cake Pay gift card marketplace (38)
• John Foss published 4 The Monero Moon newsletter issues (#53-#56) (39,40,41,42)
• v1docq47 posted a CCS progress report for June-July 2022 (43)
• CryptoMorpheus_ published an XMR adoption metrics report on Moneroj.net for the month of July 2022 (44)
• rottenwheel published 4 Revuo Monero issues (#131-#134) (45,46,47,48)
• monerobull won MAGIC Grants’s ‘special election’ for the MAGIC Monero Fund (49)
• Kivojo published 1 The Monero Standard issue (#22) (50)
• moneromooo-monero submitted a PR to remove Cake Wallet from Getmonero.org (51)
• Binance announced their support for the v15 Monero mainnet hard fork (52)
• Exodus Wallet released desktop version 22.8.26 with support for Monero network upgrade, after expected delay (53,54)
• Daily Monero transactions reached a new ATH on August 12 with 61,305 confirmed (55)
• CryptoMorpheus_ built 8 new charts for Moneroj.net (56)
• Spirobel created a Monero testnet tutorial video (57)
• The MyMonero and Edge lightweight Monero wallets were added back to Getmonero.org after a temporary removal (58,59)

• [AFH] 3d Modeling / Mechanical Design Services (by strangefolk) (60)
• [ANN] Alternative dashboard for P2Pool & Mini (by skzap) (61)
• [ANN] XMPP Group Chat & Introduction (by MobiPrivacyActivist) (62)
• [ANN] Monero Freelance Site Project (looking to collaborate) (by ryitnoise) (63)
• [LTH] Someone to write a Python script: 0.15 XMR (by xmrack) (64)
• [WTB] Solar products (panels, inverters, controllers, etc) or LiFePO4 batteries (by CryptoGrampy) (65)
• [WTS] MACBOOK PRO 2015 (by MoneroMixing) (66)
• [WTB] 1oz Gold bars, or Kruger Rands (by opticbit) (67)
• [WTS] The Monero 500 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle: $25 (by eMoneyMerchcom) (68)
• [WTS] Master and Commander (1st edition) 8 XMR (by ProfessorCrumbledore) (69)

My personal contributions

• Daily
  • published 74 Monero Observer Reports (70) (consult the Archive page for a complete list (71))
  • updated Changelog (72) and XMR Stats (73)
• As needed/On demand
  • updated reports, listed 56 Community Messages and 5 Calendar events (74,75) & added 5 new Resources (76)
  • published 1 Monero Workgroup Meeting Log Summary Report (MRL 2022-08-10) (77) and uploaded 5 meeting logs (MRL 2022-08-03, MRL 2022-08-10, MRL 2022-08-17, MRL 2022-08-24, MRL 2022-08-31) (78,79,80,81,82)
  • minor stats bar / CM section CSS tweaks (full list of updates and improvements can be viewed on the Changelog page (83)
• Weekly
  • (SUN) published 4 Monero Dev Activity Reports (Weeks: 31/32/33/34, 2022) (84,85,86,87)
  • (MON) published 5 weekly MO XMR TA Reports (Weeks: 30/31/32/33/34) (88,89,90,91,92)
  • (SAT) published 4 MO Artistic Saturday Top 5 reports (Weeks: 31/32/33/34, 2022) (93,94,95,96)
• Monthly
  • published MO Blitz Report: #12 (July) (97)

Credits/special thanks to:

• everyone that reported broken links, suggested edits, sent anonymous news tips and shared my reports
• the cypherpunks for their encrypted emails and XMPP (OMEMO) messages
• gnuteardrops from Monero.Graphics for consistently delivering amazing art, pro bono publico
• all anon MO loyal readers and generous CCS contributors
• hard working people that keep building and maintaining cool stuff for the Monero community

That’s it for the 13th edition of Monero Observer Blitz.

Previous editions can be found on the /tag/blitz page.

Let me know if this was helpful, thanks for reading!

–escapethe3RA

PS: Happy 1st B-DAY, Monero Observer! Onward.