Symbol Launch Reporting & Single Source of Information

Announcements Symbol Launch
#16

Release Update: 0.9.6.4 is now available.

Full details are available: NEM Symbol 0.9.6.4 Release Announcement

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#17

Rebaselining of launch date and Project Plan

NEM Group published a live document launch plan almost four months ago to the day and steady progress has occurred in development, testing and release management as we get closer to the launch of V1 MainNet of Symbol.

Today is our first full re-baseline of the plan and we have attempted to communicate regularly about any risks or issues we have faced. The finality solution, which is explained here and is at the bleeding edge of this technology, has taken us a lot longer to get to a solution that satisfies the NEM philosophy and gives us a scalable, secure solution that can be launched as soon as possible. Last week we gave an update of progression and we continue to be cautiously optimistic that the solution found will satisfy all NEM requirements.

We have also taken this opportunity to appoint a Programme Manager, improve our release management, reconcile our github repositories, revisit the UI/UX of outward facing elements such as wallets, and perform additional security testing and review of the code to ensure that we have the best possible product.

The latest live plan output shows the following key milestones that I know you will be interested in:

  • 24th Aug - Confirm optin date (this will coincide with a launch marketing plan)
  • 15th Sep - Code freeze, V1 launch
  • 7th Sep - Optin Opens
  • 3rd - 16th Dec - Snapshot range
  • 17th Dec - MainNet Launch

The Symbol Launch Single Source of Information post has been updated, the Symbol Launch Plan post will be updated within a few days as will the roadmap on the forum and website.

I would like to also highlight some of the risk still in this plan below -

  1. Finality coding and testing: the plan depends on the finality solution remaining achievable as it is being coded. We are mitigating this from a time perspective by working closely with the core developers and looking at bringing on a specific security specialist C++ dev to help if that is practical and helps with the timeline.
  2. As always with testing and testnet, if we find something part way through and need to restart the testnet this would reset the clock on a 3 month soak period. To date this has been mitigated by multiple version releases with various test cycles but will remain a risk.
  3. The Opt In process and modules that have been developed are being put through testing and security reviews to complete by early Sept. Owing to the advice to have a 3 month opt in window pre-launch if that is delayed by more than 2 weeks it could impact launch.

We continue to press hard for a 2020 launch date and thanks all for your patience as we enter the final stages before Symbol launch.

High Level Summary of Changes

  • New launch date is 17th December 2020. This predominantly relates to the planning estimate for a finality solution to be approved being incorrect. We are monitoring progress closely
  • Optin will begin in mid September
  • The snapshot will occur during a window in the first 2 weeks of December
  • Multiple date changes to lines in exchanges
  • Added new versions 9.6.1 and 9.6.4
  • Added work completed by two external security firms on code and finality solution
  • Significant increase in the timings for finality solution to be approved and coded
  • Added in additional security and pen testing wallets for optin
  • Added in additional security and pen testing to wallets and external facing elements
  • Added section for KeepKey addition of XYM
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Rebaseline of Launch Plan
#18

Opt-in Date Announcment

The Opt In date has now been announced: Opt-in Date Announcement for 15 September 2020

Further information will be provided when it opens in guides and some is available in the post above

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#19

Optin and Testnet Updates

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#20

Testnet update

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#21

NEM Symbol Testnet Launch and v0.10.0 Release

Have just been announced on the forum at the link below

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#22

The desktop wallet has been updated

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#23

Wallets Update and revised plan - future comms will be on the wallet thread not this one and we will report back here with releases

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#24

Discussion Threads

We have started three forum discussion threads today:

Post Launch Opt-in

Node Monitoring and SuperNode Rewards Programme

Snapshot Block Height

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#25

Snapshot and Launch Process

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#26

Summary of Current State

Following todays post regarding snapshot and launch date, here follows a post with more detail around some of the elements involved with launch. Each component in isolation does not present an insurmountable risk but together they push launch back by a critical few days;

Wallets - Desktop wallet has been delivered before and Android wallets will be delivered on the 20th of November - the target date in the recovery plan - a fantastic achievement from the tech team in a very short time frame, given where we were just over 4 weeks ago. While we believe the wallet is complete for release, there is very tight testing time and the extra 1 month soak is expected to produce a more robust product. No new features will be added but bugs will be addressed and patch releases may be provided. There is still some testing required, particularly on the IOS mobile wallet, which we expect to take an extra few days to complete.

Core Server - Some issues were found (Finality and memory usage) and minor new functionality added (IPV6 and some future proofing on block types) . These proved to be a bit harder than initially thought and have introduced a few days delay beyond the comfort threshold of having Testnet patched with at least 1 month soak time remaining. This version of the core code is expected in the week ending 20th Nov so the work below can continue.

REST & SDK - Some of the changes to the Core Server above have minor knock on changes to REST + SDK, additionally some of the Wallet work have identified minor changes required. There is approx 3-4 days work required between the Core Server release and the full release candidate that can be tested prior to the Testnet Patch.

Testnet Patch - The above Core Server release requires a patch of Testnet, this going through final testing but will not be possible to release onto Testnet before the week ending 27th Nov (also requires the item below). This also represented a minor upgrade to the Testnet during the testing period, a process that will happen multiple times on the live Mainnet so it offers a good opportunity to test that process and approach.

Symbol Bootstrap Tool - While it is not required for launch, it has become widely used by some parts of the community and will be expanded to enable the upgrade of an existing node rather than requiring a full rebuild. There are also some security issues that should be resolved prior to using it on anything other than a Dev / Testnet, these will be released in a version as part of the Testnet Patching process

Node Monitoring and Supernode Programme - The additional work required to get the Wallets back on track has meant this has had to be deprioritised temporarily. The work is expected to be complete by late Nov/1st week of Dec. This allows 4-6 weeks of soak on the Testnet prior to launching on Mainnet

Tokenomics Updates - Some minor updates have been identified which will be communicated by Friday 27th November for consultation. These are relatively light in effort but cannot be completed until the snapshot date is known, which this announcement now confirms

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#27

Exchanges Supporting Launch

I have added a list of exchanges that have committed publicly to supporting launch

#28

The Symbol Wallet Recovery Plan

A thread is here which shows the process to get wallets back on track by 20th November which resulted in the Desktop Wallet being released 2 days earlier than thought and the mobile wallets coming in on time

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#29

15 Dec 2020 - Symbol 0.10.0.4 released, 14th Jan Launch on Target

Wallets have now been released as well for the new testnet

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#30

POI Votes Relating to the launch of Symbol



#31

Testnet Issues Updates

This post is to try and collect all the Testnet updates:

I will try and update this post as we have new posts and if I have missed any please let me know by DM here or telegram etc

Votes

Per David M’s post above:

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Symbol Launch - Snapshot Binding PoI Vote Result (08-Jan-20)
Symbol Testnet Reset & Release (14-Jan-2021)
NEM Symbol Launch - Early Block Harvesting & Rewards
Symbol launch issues & Testnet update (06-Jan-2021)
#32

February 2021 Discussion Topics

It is necessary to have various conversations, informational posts and general launch topics this month so I will collect them here for easy reference:

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Symbol Launch - Genesis Block Creation and Opt-In Validation
#33

Desktop & Mobile Wallet + CLI Release 08 Feb 2021

This includes Ledger functionality for the desktop wallet

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#34

Nano Wallet v2.5.0 Release + Ledger Support for NIS1 & Opt In

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#35

NEM Symbol 0.10.0.7 Release Announcement (15-Feb-2021)

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