The rollout of Litecoin's upcoming privacy and scalability update (learn how buy bitcoin, litecoin and other cryptocurrencies in our in-depth article), MimbleWimble, continues to run smoothly, and no potential delays are expected before the testnet launch later this month, the Litecoin Foundation confirmed in a statement.
Litecoin will be faster and safer
For the uninitiated, MimbleWimble (the name refers to the Harry Potter saga) was first proposed in 2016 to fill some privacy gaps in the Bitcoin protocol. The latter provides transaction information that allows companies such as Chainalysis to associate transactions with an individual.
Last year, Litecoin founder Charlie Lee publicly tweeted that more confidential transactions for Litecoin were coming soon. But privacy isn't MimbleWimble's only benefit.
As project leader David Burkett said in an update in August, the team was even building a new synchronization process that would bring faster transactions to the Litecoin network, thanks to an innovative block processing model.
On September 3, Burkett gave the community a quick update on where the development had come. “I was able to finish downloading the early stage, specifically validating the MWSTATE messages.
There are still several ways in which malicious peers can use these new messages for DoS nodes. I'm not working on defending myself from all these attacks yet, but there will be plenty of time to focus on this after the testnet is released, ”Burkett said.
He also hinted at making changes to the code to make it "cleaner" and more secure before launch. This last note concerned “in particular the management of the UTXO set” or the collection of unspent coins.
Burkett further added: “Everything is on track for a testnet release later this month. I'm still trying to figure out some final details, but I'll share more information at the end of the month about what the testnet will look like and how everyone can get involved. "
Strong developments that stimulate institutional involvement
The latest developments aren't limited to the Litecoin community. Institutional investors are taking note of the potential benefits MimbleWimble brings to Litecoin as a long-term cryptocurrency investment when considering recent institutional transaction data.
Data from on-chain analyst firm Arcane Research showed that Litecoin was briefly traded for a 1.200% premium on Grayscale's brand new Litecoin trust.
The Litecoin fund is part of Grayscale's crypto products designed for accredited investors to gain exposure to cryptocurrencies. They are collectively worth billions of dollars and can be traded on the open market as an over-the-counter product, similar to traditional stocks. Litecoin is currently trading at $ 49, down more than 10% since Sept. 4 after a larger sell-off in the crypto and equity markets.
