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Wrote Codex R&D update week 11

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-# News Logs
-> Discover the latest news and updates about our project.
+# Codex R&D Update for the week of 11
 
----
+The Codex dev team is moving forward rapidly. The organisation’s development efforts mainly focus on launching the beta testnet by the end of the year. Following are some recent research and development highlights. 
 
-### Thursday, 22 July 2021
+Development 
 
-#### 🚀 Product Update: Version 2.0
+Development is currently broken into three distinct sub-teams: 
+Client, Testing and Infrastructure
+Marketplace and 
+Research. 
 
-We've released Version 2.0 of our software, bringing several enhancements:
+Below are summaries of each sub-team.
 
-- Enhanced user interface.
-- Bug fixes.
-- Improved performance metrics.
 
-Code snippet for illustrative purposes:
+Client
+For the client, the team is focused on primary tasks: block merkelization, Poseidon2 NimNim-poseidon2 implementation, and wiring the proving system. 
 
-```python
-def new_feature():
-print("This is a sample of a new feature!")
-```
+The client is the software that runs ^on the user’s local machine. It has all the components to handle the endpoints integrations, data, block management, erasure coding, and interactions with the marketplace. 
 
-Full changelog can be found on our [GitHub Repository](https://github.com/yourproject/repo).
+See currently exposed endpoints for the Codex client (conform to OpenAPI specification) at: https://api.codex.storage
 
----
 
-### Wednesday, 21 July 2021
+Active work is ongoing in order to integrate the above Codex client endpoints to be accessible via the Codex frontend written in React here: https://github.com/codex-storage/codex-frontend
 
-#### 📣 Community Highlights
+Epic: Block Merkelization 
 
-Notable contributions from our community include:
+For block merkelization, the team is focused on reducing metadata overhead. They are optimising the structure for handling and indexing block data. This effort requires changes in block Merkelization. These are the most recent efforts, which can be publicly viewed on GitHub:   
 
-- John Doe's new testing framework. [Details](https://example.com/johndoe).
-- Jane Smith's tutorial on tool integration. [Watch Tutorial](https://example.com/janesmithvideo).
 
-Feedback:
+Merkelization concrete PR (merged)
+https://github.com/codex-storage/nim-codex/pull/566
+Working on nim-datastore to support atomic updates (in review)
+https://github.com/codex-storage/nim-datastore/pull/58
+Working on safe block deletion - using ref-counting
+Continuing work for #566 to integrate with Poseidon2 and the proving system
 
-> "This project has enhanced my workflow. Great job!" - Alex Q.
 
----
+Epic: nim-poseidon2
 
-### Tuesday, 20 July 2021
+Poseidon2 is a faster version of the original Poseidon hash function used in zero-knowledge systems (zk). Nim-Poseidon2 is the Nim implementation that the Codex team is developing to work efficiently and effectively with the Codex client. 
 
-#### 🎉 New Website Launch
 
-Our revamped website, powered by [Docusaurus](https://docusaurus.io/), offers:
+Merged outstanding PRs
+![](https://github.com/codex-storage/nim-poseidon2/pull/7)
+![](https://github.com/codex-storage/nim-poseidon2/pull/8)
+https://github.com/codex-storage/nim-poseidon2/pull/9
+Added keyed compress
+https://github.com/codex-storage/nim-poseidon2/pull/10
+Updated Merkle root with extra bits to mitigate possible attacks
+https://github.com/codex-storage/nim-poseidon2/pull/11
+Fixed compilation problem with Constantine and secp256k1
+https://github.com/codex-storage/nim-codex/pull/625
 
-- Streamlined user experience.
-- Mobile-responsive designs.
-- Updated documentation.
+Epic: Wiring the Proving System
 
----
+The proving system comprises a SNARK circuit that generates the proof  a Storage Provider needs to submit to the marketplace contract in order to prove it is faithfully storing the associated slot data. Additional components such as the trusted setup ceremony, hash functions , and the multiple manifests generated for different purposes are included in the proving system. The team is working on ensuring the proving system is built out and functions to successfully remote audit the slot data by validators. These stories represent the most recent efforts: 
 
-### Monday, 19 July 2021
+Nim reference implementation of the proof input generation (WIP)
+https://github.com/codex-storage/codex-storage-proofs-circuits/tree/master/reference/nim/proof_input
+Ongoing implementation of Groth16 (WIP)
+https://github.com/codex-storage/nim-groth16
+Testing and Infrastructure
+The testing and infrastructure group is preparing to deploy tens or hundreds of nodes and efficiently monitor the activity. This is crucial for a successful launch of the testnet. The following are the epics and stories of development for this process. The main areas of concern are ensuring the testnet is set up and configured properly. It will also include ensuring the client maintains a suitable level of stability. 
 
-#### 🎤 Devcon 6 Participation
 
-We're presenting at Devcon 6:
+Epic: 2023 Testnet setup
 
-| Session               | Time  |
-|-----------------------|-------|
-| Product Deep Dive     | 10 AM |
-| Workshop: Best Practices| 2 PM |
 
-Full schedule available [here](https://example.com/devcon6).
+Configure TCP/UDP port forwarding for Testnet deployment
+Configure Pods placement for D/C-Tests runners and tests workload
+Check available options to build a service to get Codex Public IP for announcement
+Deploy Codex Bootstrap nodes for Testnet
+Deploy Geth Bootstrap nodes for Testnet
 
----
 
-### Sunday, 18 July 2021
+Epic: Improve Client Stability
 
-#### 📚 Updated Documentation
 
-Our new documentation sections include:
+Ongoing debugging of performance and stability issues in the testing environment
+Tooling developed 
+Elastic search log retrieval https://github.com/codex-storage/logtools
+https://vimeo.com/884370956/e8a32a58c8?share=copy
+DHTDht fixes related to performance and stability 
 
-- Getting Started.
-- Advanced Configurations.
-- Troubleshooting tips.
+Fix: queue messages when there is no encryption key
+Fix: arrive at working keys in case of simultaneous cross-connect
+Fix timeout and delete
 
-*Tip: Navigate with our search bar for quick topic access.*
+Marketplace
 
-## Stay Connected
+The marketplace is a smart contract deployed on a blockchain. This smart contract defines all the logic required for users to ask for storage, store collaterals, assign storage nodes to user datasets, settle payments, deal with storage failures, storage provider proof issuance, and all the contract interactions.
 
-For more updates, join our [community forum](https://forum.example.com) or follow us on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/yourhandle).
+Epic: End-to-end Testing
+
+Working on integration testing cleanup (WIP)
+https://github.com/codex-storage/nim-codex/pull/607
+Debugging various issues for end-to-end testing
+
+
+Research 
+
+Current research is mostly halted due to focus on implementing past research for the imminent launch of the testnet. Ongoing efforts include: 
+
+
+Near-term:
+
+
+Ongoing “Groth16 prover” research and analysis. 
+Details for the functionality of the current proof system
+Hash and Merkle tree conventions to make them safe
+Continuing research for Codex’s use of erasure coding
+
+Long-term:
+
+Figuring out how to aggregate proofs (proof compression) for proving system
+Determining the correct proof system for Codex
 
----