Finality incident fix, Launcher update, Comparison of consensus (Sybil-resistance) mechanisms, ‘Meet the Human nodes’ new Interview series, and Founders Talk highlights!

TL;DR

Welcome to Humanode Biweekly, your go-to spot for the freshest updates, development dives, and a peek into what’s buzzing in our ecosystem. This issue is packed with everything from network fixes and insightful comparisons of consensus mechanisms to a spotlight on the incredible people who make Humanode tick. Let’s start!

Dev news first. As you know, a few weeks ago, we tackled a major challenge with a finality that caused some hiccups in the network. The fix is now live. If you’re running a node with the Humanode Launcher, head to Settings and click "Check for Peer Updates" to stay current. This update is vital to ensure the network runs smoothly and prevents any more stalls in block finalization, helping to keep Humanode strong and resilient.

Meanwhile, our developers have been hard at work, cooking some cool updates for you. We’re making strides in portable cross-chain biomapping, rolling out improvements for the Humanode Launcher, and ironing out issues in our web app to make your experience even smoother. 

In the world of blockchain, how we achieve consensus is more critical than ever. We’ve just rolled out a detailed comparison between Proof of Work (PoW), Proof of Stake (PoS), and our unique Proof of Biometric Uniqueness. This comparison covers key factors like decentralization, security, environmental impact, and governance. Our Proof of Biometric Uniqueness is a true game-changer, offering a more secure and inclusive way to fend off Sybil attacks. Curious about how it measures up? Check out the full comparison here.

In our community spotlight, we’re excited to introduce our new interview series, "Meet the Human nodes," where we shine a light on the incredible people powering our network. Our first feature is MLH, a 77-year-old retired university professor with a passion for justice and equity in the financial system. In his interview, MLH shares the challenges he’s faced as a non-tech-savvy node operator and how our team’s support has made his journey a rewarding one. His story is a powerful reminder that Humanode is for everyone, no matter their background. You can dive into his full interview here.

The recent Founders Talk was another highlight, offering a chill space to connect, share ideas, and discuss the latest developments. Hosted across platforms like YouTube, Telegram, X, Discord, Instagram, and TikTok, it was a great chance to hear directly from the minds behind Humanode. Victor and Dato shared some insights into the impact of bots and Sybil attacks on multiplayer games and the hurdles of integrating Sybil-resistance into Dapps. Their take on how high metrics often overshadow the need for long-term security was particularly eye-opening. If you missed it, catch the highlights on our socials.

Main News

🚨Finality incident fix

As you know, we recently encountered two incidents related to finality stalls (an occurrence when the consensus process fails to decide on the final state of the block within a specified period). A fix is now deployed. 

The target version is eb403adcc6fa545c28e99d73d7e0be38054439ca

👉What you need to do: 

Please update your node to the latest version! If you are running the node using Humanode Launcher, go to Settings and Click on Check for Peer Updates. 

🔺Comparing consensus (Sybil-resistance) mechanisms

Explore our comparison table of Proof of Work, Proof of Stake, and Proof of Biometric Uniqueness, highlighting key aspects such as decentralization, economic systems, security, environmental impact, governance, and user accessibility.

🔗 Check it out here: link.

Development

Our dev team has been busy, and we’ve got some cool stuff to share:

• Finality incident fix: We have shipped the fix for the consensus issue we have discovered recently. Details soon!
• Portable Cross-Chain Biomapping: We’re making strides in cross-chain interoperability.
• Launcher Tweaks: Improvements are now live.
• Webapp Fixes: We’ve smoothed out a few bumps to improve your experience.
• Research on Polkadot Alternatives: We’re exploring new libraries to replace Polkadot.

Integrations

🤝 Chain integrations

🤝 BotBaher integrations

🔺 BotBasher is now protecting 607 Discord server communities.

Integrate BotBasher to your server: https://botbasher.humanode.io/ 

Publications

🔺 Meet the Human nodes - Kicking off with MLH

In our new series, we have interviewed a few human nodes who have been through the thick and the thin, from the very beginning of Mainnet or even before.  

The first human node to answer the call is MLH, a 77-year-old retired university professor. His reason for becoming a human node, “to help in some small way to bring about the beginnings of a just and equitable financial system.”, was one that made the team realize that they were on the right track. 

Here are some of the Q&A from the interview.   

Q: How has your experience as a human node been so far? What makes this experience unique?   

MLH: It’s been both challenging and interesting. Challenging because steps and words that seem normal to the programmers are not intuitive to me. Interesting, because there are many words and phrases that I’m learning as I go along.   

Q: What are the challenges in running a human node for you?   

MLH: Probably for me as a non-tech guy, learning what to do if my node has a problem, which fortunately doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, the tech support has always been stellar and has quickly solved my issue.   

Read the full interview here.

Roadmap 

Check out Humanode’s roadmap for the year 2024, outlining a comprehensive plan of action. The roadmap not only details the current initiatives but also leaves room for the incorporation of novel ideas, features, and applications throughout the year. 

Awareness & Events

🎙️ Founders Talk

Recently, we hosted Founders' Talk—nothing formal, just a casual hangout where we caught up, shared what we’ve been working on, and got your thoughts.

📍This time we hosted it on various several platforms:

• YouTube
• Humanode Announcements Telegram Channel
• X 
• Discord 
• Instagram
• TikTok 

Join us next time on whichever platform suits you best—we’re excited to connect with you! 

Over these weeks, we published some highlights from the Founders' talk:

• Victor and Dato discussed how bots and Sybils are ruining multiplayer games by disrupting their economies.

• Funds and exchanges, in pursuit of high metrics, prevent the integration of Sybil-resistance into Dapps. Simply because they operate with elevated numbers when looking into projects. These projects adopt to raise. 

MISC

• Which consensus (Sybil-resistance) mechanism the Humanode chain runs on? You all know the answer, right? Check out comments on X.
• With a Nakamoto Coefficient of 341, Humanode is the most decentralized network, far surpassing others like Mina (151), Polkadot (92), Solana (18), and Binance (7).

• Humanode Dev Content Preference Survey: The team is running a quick survey to learn what kind of content the community developers love and how they can improve it.
• Humanode invites all of you to join the official Humanode Dev group in Telegram. This group is your hub for connecting with like-minded developers, builders, coders, and innovators, sharing your ideas, and contributing to the world of Humanode’s crypto-biometric technology.
• Scam alert: there is a Humanode Hub named group with a different handle. Check humanode.io for links.

For more information check out Humanode’s:

▲ Website

▲ GitHub

▲ Discord

▲ X (Twitter)

▲ Telegram Announcements

▲ Telegram Chat

▲ LinkedIn

▲ Youtube