Protocol Development

June proved to be one of the most active months so far in terms of development in the Neo ecosystem. Hackathon participants strived to complete their projects as the Neo Frontier Launchpad's development phase draws to a close, while developer community members remained close by to lend their support and guidance.

Meanwhile, in these final stages between N3 RC3 and the official N3 release, Neo's core developers are working hard to optimize the code. Here, at the core protocol level, the benefits of the ongoing hackathon can already be witnessed. Several improvements completed in June can trace their origins to hackathon participant feedback, such as changes in the Oracle module and various bug fixes.

Much of the remaining work in the Neo codebase is to do with optimization and bug fixes, but the core developers also continue to add useful new features and make other changes intended to improve developer experience. A notable example from last month was the implementation of a built-in random number generator powered by a verifiable random function (VRF). 

Neo’s developer communities remained in step with the core throughout June. Several communities released their first RC3-compatible tools, and others produced further updates and refinements to the infrastructure already made available for developers. 

Despite the time spent assisting with the hackathon by hosting workshops and providing developer support, teams still made time to bring new features to the network. Notable examples detailed below include a new WalletConnect SDK, a TypeScript node and compiler, and new full stack dApp examples.

Preparations are now underway for what is intended to be the final 3.0.0 release and its corresponding TestNet. Once sufficiently tested and proven to be stable, the runway will be clear for the official Neo N3 MainNet launch.

Neo3 Progress

Following the May release of the N3 RC3 version, the team has been further improving the N3 experience by updating error handling procedures and fixing new edge case bugs across the core protocol, node, and C# devpack. Enhancements continue to be applied across various subsystems, including the Oracle, RPC, and consensus components.

Perhaps the most notable update to N3 in June introduced a nonce field into N3 block headers, used alongside VRF to provide access to the new GetRandom syscall for use in smart contracts. The ability to access a verifiably random number is very useful functionality across a wide range of smart contract types, including gaming, DeFi, and other applications. In the future, it is possible for the implementation to be further improved using BLS signatures.

NeoFS Transplanting

NGD has continued its efforts to port NeoFS logic from the original Go code to C#. Over the course of the last month, development efforts have focused on updating neofs-api-csharp and the FileStoragePlugin. NGD has also begun testing the C# version of the InnerRing node.

 

Infrastructure and Tools Development

Highlights

COZ 

Updated its tools including Boa, Mamba, and Dora with new functionality and created a new WalletConnect SDK for integration in N3 dApps.

NEO Tracker 

Rolled out an RC3-compatible build of NEO•ONE, including a full node implementation, client APIs, and a TypeScript contract compiler.

AxLabs

Released neow3j 3.11.2, featuring various improvements and full compatibility with Neo N3 RC3 across the SDK, compiler, and other tools.

NEXT 

Integrated the completed N3 DAPI into the NeoLine chrome extension wallet and published a custom build for developer use on private networks.

Neo SPCC 

Updated NeoFS nodes for RC3 TestNet and pushed major improvements across the SDK and HTTP/S3 gateways.

NGD Enterprise

Published the N3 PetShop example dApp with an Electron frontend and worked on various Neo Blockchain Toolkit upgrades.

Red4Sec

Issued an audit report on the Neo N3 RC3 blockchain, detailing the issues found and sharing its results from various tests.

 

Project Milestones

Node

NeoGo by Neo SPCC

In June, the NeoGo team worked on the P2P state exchange design and began drafting its required protocol changes. Support was also added for TLS-enabled NeoFS nodes.

 

Explorer & Monitor

Dora by COZ

Dora received a range of enhancements in June, including the addition of signature scopes, fee breakdowns, new event parameter types, and exceptions. These features are currently undergoing review and will be made available in a future release.

 

Smart Contract Compiler

Boa by COZ

COZ released Boa v0.8.2 in June, featuring numerous usability enhancements while remaining aligned with the latest N3 build. Improvements include new interops and triggers. The current focus for the project is on imports of user-defined packages, which is expected to substantially enhance the ability for large projects to build on Neo while keeping code maintainable.

 

SDK

WalletConnect SDK by COZ

June saw the COZ team complete its WalletConnect SDK for Neo N3, heralding the first time that the open-source protocol can be used with Neo wallets. Documentation and a compatible web wallet for testing has already been made available for developers to begin adopting the service as a secure method for integrations between dApps and Neo wallets.

Mamba by COZ

COZ also released Mamba v0.8 in June, adding critical features required by dApp developers. Additions include wallet support, the ability to sign transactions, and RC3 compatibility. The functionality currently available is expected to meet most of the basic needs of developers looking to interact with the N3 blockchain from a Python environment. Coupled with Boa, Mamba can now be used to create an entire dApp solution in Python on N3.

Smart Contract & dApp framework

neow3j by AxLabs

The AxLabs team released neow3j v3.11.2 in June, bringing the library up to date with the N3 RC3 release. In addition to a number of important bug fixes, various components in the library have been refactored and restructured to result in a more intuitive developer experience. 

In parallel, the team also developed an example dApp to serve as inspiration and a guiding hand for Java developers looking to build on Neo N3. The dApp makes use of a simple governance mechanism which allows participants to vote on the best memes, and gives an example of a NeoLine frontend integration.

NEO•ONE by NEO Tracker

In June, the NEO Tracker team released NEO•ONE v3.3.0-rc3 with a fully compatible node implementation. New APIs and bug fixes in the compiler were also included to facilitate the creation of RC3 smart contracts written in TypeScript. The team also updated the N3 version of its website with improved documentation and guides on environment setup and available APIs.

Neo Blockchain Toolkit by NGD Enterprise

The NGD Enterprise team worked on various Neo Blockchain Toolkit enhancements in June. In particular, support for Mac M1 chips in the Toolkit and Neo Express has been a much requested feature. Additionally, time-travel debugging support for the Visual DevTracker component has also been completed.

 

Wallet

Neon by COZ

COZ has begun working on N3 support in both the desktop and mobile implementations of the Neon wallet. A desktop milestone reached in June has resulted in a release candidate currently undergoing testing, planned for release within the following few weeks. The mobile wallet will receive a planned update in the near future to mitigate various issues found during the beta.

The team will integrate WalletConnect for N3 natively into both versions, with Ledger support for N3 to follow shortly afterwards. Planning is also underway for a Legacy to N3 migration path for Neon wallet users.

Neoline by NEXT

NEXT completed development of the NeoLine Chrome extension’s N3 DAPI in June, providing an interface for user wallets to interact with dApps. An additional private chain mode has also been created as a tool for developers, simplifying the process of testing DAPI integrations on local networks.

 

NeoFS 

NeoFS by Neo SPCC

In June, Neo SPCC completed a minor refactoring of its inner ring code and storage node config. The team produced monitoring infrastructure for the RC3 TestNet and pushed various bug fixes discovered during the first round of developer onboarding. API client improvements for service developers were also included in the updates, and a section for the reputation subsystem has been added to the NeoFS specification.

The team also made notable progress on various NeoFS services, especially the S3 gateway, which now features support for container creation and deletion, a number of bug fixes, and a reworked authentication scheme. Updates were also applied to the HTTP gateway and SDK, adding support for NEP-6 wallets amongst other changes.

 

Audit

Code audit from Red4Sec

June saw Red4Sec deliver its audit report on the Neo N3 RC3 version. Issues identified during testing are currently under review as Red4Sec continues its security evaluation for new changes to the protocol.

 

MIscellaneous

Dojo by COZ

New articles were released on Dojo in June with a focus on dApp developers. Tutorials for writing Python smart contracts and interfacing with them in JavaScript are available, and a new WalletConnect article demonstrates how to integrate the protocol within an application.

 

Marketing and Operations

• Jun . 12 - Denis Suslov and Harry Pierson were invited to participate in the first Discord voice chat of the Neo Frontier Launchpad. The purpose of this exchange was to help guide Planathon submissions while providing the platform for teams to look for potential members.

• Jun . 16 -“Neo Global Community Video Competition” was officially launched and was updated to “Neo Global Creative Content Competition” 2 weeks later. The competition has received a very positive response locally and internationally.

• Jun . 18 - COZ CEO Tyler Adams was invited to participate in the second workshop of Neo Frontier Launchpad. The workshop focused on "How to develop smart contracts on Neo", followed by a Q&A session to facilitate direct communication between participants and sharers.

• Jun . 21 - The third workshop of Neo Frontier Launchpad was hosted by Li Chen from NGD digital asset unit. The workshop is designed to share how to develop a DeFi project on Neo through a Flamingo case study.

• Jun . 22 - Stanislav Bogatyrev and Alexey Vanin from Neo SPCC were invited to host the fourth workshop of Neo Frontier Launchpad. They gave a practical introduction to NeoFS, the native decentralized data storage system on Neo.

• Jun . 25 - Harry Pierson and John deVadoss were invited to participate in the fifth online workshop of Neo Frontier Launchpad. The workshop mainly focused on NFT development on Neo and Neo N3's native NEP-11 standard for NFTs.

• Jun . 28 - Claude Müller, Micheal Bucher, and Guil Sperb. Machado from Axlabs were invited to host the sixth workshop of Neo Frontier Launchpad. AxLabs gave a talk about Governance in smart contracts and published a Governance dApp consisting of a JavaScript frontend and Java smart contracts.

• Jun . 29 - Neo hosted a Q&A open question meeting with guests from Neo SPCC, NGD Enterprise and NGD, to help participants learn more about the launchpad and development on Neo.

• Jun . 30 - Neo Founder, Da Hongfei, was invited to join the online AMA of PANews Chinese Telegraph Community to discuss how Neo N3 will break the boundary between the digital and physical worlds, and what kind of approach will be adopted to build up strength for eco growth.

Ecosystem Growth

 O3

• O3 is building a partnership with Polygon and O3 Swap will soon complete cross-chain transactions on Polygon

• Completed airdrops on Heco, BSC, CMC

• The total amount of O3 TVL reached US $700 million

 Switcheo

• Joined the Ethereum ecosystem to increase liquidity
• Went live with ERC-20 token, supported swap directly between SWTH and ETH.
• Reached cooperation with Zilliqa. ZilSwap upgraded ETH-TradeHub-Zilliqa through PolyNetwork. 
• Demex Future launched a month-long trading competition

 nDapp

• A new contracts view was added to nDapp.org to allow users to easily see rank by network activity.