Dev Update 9 November 2026

News and Announcements
1

Neptune & Triton Dev Update

1. Last Week by the Numbers

  • neptune-core
    • Issues: 0 raised, 1 closed
    • Pull Requests: 0 opened, 3 merged
    • Commits: 30 merged into master

2. Stand-up Summary

  • Alan Szepieniec

    • Last Week: Continue developing the architecture for the DeFi layer to lock liquid Neptune coins in vaults in exchange for vaulted Neptune tokens; aligned on enabling inputs in Coinbase transactions via a hard fork. Designed the dedicated DeFi wallet daemon supporting both 24-word (SLIP-44) and 18-word derivation paths. Backed the incremental adoption strategy for Epsilon succinct guarantees.
    • Coming Week: Implement the DeFi wallet daemon according to existing design specifications, maximizing code reuse from the neptune-wallet crate.

  • Thorkil Værge

    • Last Week: Merged the Epsilon software upgrade for succinct block validation following resolution of false-positive soundness reports, scheduling activation for block height 62,500. Outlined the SATA hard fork timeline targeting activation at block 70,000, and proposed an incremental approach for application succinctness to accelerate sync times by approximately 1,000x.
    • Coming Week: Open a draft pull request for the SATA hard fork for community and LLM scrutiny; author tracking issues documenting specific hard fork changes and performance improvements for syncing (archival mutator set management and proofless block downloads).

3. Technical Discussion

  • Epsilon Software Merge & Activation: The Epsilon software has been merged into master, establishing succinct block validation. Activation is scheduled for block height 62,500 by the end of the week, with key composers already upgraded. Initial client releases (v0.20 / v0.20.1) will maintain archival validation to preserve continuity without altering default client behavior prior to activation.
  • Incremental Application Succinctness & Syncing Improvements: Rather than immediately overhauling the full application stack to rely entirely on Epsilon succinct guarantees, the team agreed to an incremental transition. The initial phase shifts the client from requiring all historical blocks up to the tip to verifying archival header sets and managing the archival mutator set up to the tip. This architecture is projected to achieve a 1,000x speedup in sync performance and will support optional downloads of historical blocks without cryptographic proofs.
  • SATA Hard Fork: A draft pull request will be opened early to allow community review and automated LLM scrutiny. The hard fork is scheduled for activation roughly three to four weeks post-Epsilon merge, targeting block height 70,000. Scope includes migrating chunk data, enforcing archival mutator set tip tracking, and permitting inputs in Coinbase transactions.
  • Coinbase Inputs & Vault Architecture: To support DeFi vaulting—where liquid Neptune coins are locked in vaults to mint vaulted Neptune tokens—Coinbase transactions must be allowed to consume inputs. The team evaluated alternatives and concluded that modifying transaction validation rules via the SATA hard fork is the cleanest and most robust approach.
  • Parallel DeFi Wallet Daemon: The DeFi layer will utilize an autonomous daemon operating in parallel to neptune-core rather than modifying the desktop wallet. This design provides direct, trusted access to state, manages its own UTXOs, and subscribes to the DeFi plugin hub. It reuses the core neptune-wallet crate and supports dual key derivation: standard 24-word seed phrases (SLIP-44) and Neptune Core’s native 18-word format.

4. Updates and Announcements

  • Epsilon software has been merged, with succinct block validation activating on-chain at block height 62,500.
  • A public draft PR and tracking issues for the SATA hard fork will be published shortly, targeting activation at block height 70,000.