Hello Everyone
I would like to take a moment and go over what has just recently been done and what you can expect coming up soon.
1. Our build environment for Windows and Linux system has been updated with the latest gcc compiler, latest dependencies (all 2019 save for BerkeleyDB which never changes for a few reasons). Please refer to the first attached image for a view of the Windows environment dependencies. This is rather a large deal due to a few of the dependencies featuring fixes and exploit patches that were included in prior builds and patched with recent ones released as of September 2019. This includes libpng which suffered from an exploit for numerous versions of its 1.6.XX releases. We now build with 1.6.37 release which does not contain any known exploits where as builds as of 1.6.36 and lower are susceptible (please refer to second attached image). Qrencode has been updated from 3.4.4 to 4.0.2, OpenSSL build is now 1.0.2t, protobuf libraries are updated from 2.6.8 to 3.10.0, Boost libraries upgraded from 1.68 to 1.71,Qt was upgraded from Qt5.11 to Qt5.13.1 and finally miniUPNPC upgraded from 1.9 to 2.1
2. First you can expect to see a new build of Espers for Windows and Linux (Mac may be built as well since there have been many updates since the last one's release). This new build will be compiled with the new environment and new dependencies offering numerous improvements to overal underlying functionality as well as allowing us to focus on the fun features everyone has been expecting for some time now. Next we will be focusing on the promised PoSv4 and X-Node systems feverishly with frequent community progress updates on the current status of the features development. Finally, we have been working on (among many other things) a full replacement of underlying algorithm functions with our own implementation rather than using traditional SHA256 for them as ALL other altcoins do. Currently we already have replaced ~80% of the hashing functions or encryption functions with own (BMW512, while TXs are "hashed" with HMQ1725). Replacing the remainder of the underlying systems with an alternative to SHA256 is of the utmost importance as with the advancement of recent technology this algorithm will soon be rendered obsolete as many people have speculated for ages and even though it is still stated as a "hypothetical" reality it is a possible reality nonetheless and we are not here to take chances. Keys will be enlarged to 4096 key sizes as apposed to 256/512/1024 key sizes currently employed along with the algorithm change will significantly bolster our security and durability of our software. That being said this will also be a significant step in the right direction for all altcoins and developers alike as we should have stepped away from these older algorithms a long time ago yet NO ONE has. In fact the amount we've replaced is already considerably more than most any other bitcoin based coin has attempted in the past.
Conclusion
So there you have it, I hope you are all satisfied with my explanation and I mean that very sincerely as I hope you now see what we've been doing. Many things are always looked into even if things seem to be still it's far from it behind the scenes. Our ENTIRE codebase was rewords a few months ago in preparation for the promised features and we've been looking things over in the meantime and buttoning the codebase up in anticipation of the upcoming releases. Having things like new dependencies, new codebase format and patched up files is important to do BEFORE slapping in expected features so as to not experience odd or unexpected issues upon launching everything that people have been waiting for, for so long. (Sorry that's worded terribly). We hope that you have a better understanding of the wait and delays associated with this project and are excited for the future. We all hope that you are there when we reach out goals