Steem On

A lot is happening on Steem, and that's great. Unfortunately, that's also the reason why I didn’t have enough time to write my updates.

^{Steem Boat, SteemFest, Amsterdam, 2016}

I'm currently #1 witness.
This is a great honor and a huge responsibility.
Thank you all for your support.
Please, vote for witnesses, every vote matters.

SBD peg

I've decided to set the non-zero sbd_interest_rate, for now at 1%
Please note that currently the SBD prices on Poloniex shouldn't be taken into account because of its recurring problems with deposits / withdrawals.

Exchanges

For the same reason, it is a good idea to use exchanges other than Poloniex until it solves its issues, proves its reliability, and regains our trust. I'm not talking about not using Poloniex for trading STEEM / SBD. I'm talking about not using Poloniex at all.
Obviously, that is not investment advice.
That is just common sense in a situation in which you wait more than 2 months, while your support ticket is being processed.
To be clear: I'm really looking forward to seeing them back on track. There's still hope.

Currently, the most reliable exchanges are:

• blocktrades
• bittrex

I continue to offer my help in solving various issues and implementing the best practices to increase security and reliability. I'm also looking for wider support and better diversification, which is a great opportunity for those who are willing to participate.
That is not as easy as it might look, especially when it comes to Bitcoin maximalists, but we are on the right track.

Steem self-support

Our platform is a whole new universe, full of unique, beautiful creatures, rules and mechanics. It's not easy to tame, and even if you are already interacting with other platforms, there is nothing like Steem. But fear not, among our community we have world-class experts in many fields that can help you.
If you want to use the Steem platform but you’re having difficulty with its implementation do not hesitate to contact me.

Remember, remember, the first days of November

To all those who somehow missed that info,
SteemFest² is going to take place on 1-5 November in Lisbon.
I've arranged a 10%-15% discount at the Official SteemFest² Carrier: TAP Portugal.
I'm also donating 50% of my liquid rewards from witness updates to support @steemfest and 100% of my liquid rewards from Official Carrier related posts to @t-r-f (Travel Reimbursement Fund).

Keys: Keep them secret, keep them safe

A month ago, I published a post saying that You shall not (leak your) pass!.
Has that changed anything? I hope so, but I’m afraid not much.
There is a fix in v0.19.1 that makes the nodes reject some of such leaks, but such attempts to shield the users from the consequences of their own actions are not very effective. The most important thing is to make the users realize that they should treat passwords to online services much in the same way they treat their car keys or their wallets.
Unfortunately, such leaks keep occurring.
I just recently managed to prevent a similar situation once again by changing the key immediately after the leak and by informing the user.
The bottom line is that if you lose your wallet, you should not hope that someone will find it and give it back to you.
You should try not to lose your wallet in the first place.

Full API node

A full node with public steem API
It's available at: https://gtg.steem.house:8090

To use it in your cli_wallet, run:
cli_wallet -swss://gtg.steem.house:8090

I’ve just switched it to a machine with 64GB RAM.
The "old" one will continue its service as a lab to improve the reliability of exchanges and other use cases.

Replay finished after 5 hours.
Currently, my shared memory file for such node (without account history filtering) takes 105GB and the blockchain itself over 26GB

The node is running v0.19.1, built with:

CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE = Release
LOW_MEMORY_NODE  = OFF
CLEAR_VOTES      = OFF
SKIP_BY_TX_ID    = ON

Available APIs:

public-api = database_api
public-api = login_api
public-api = account_by_key_api
public-api = network_broadcast_api
public-api = tag_api
public-api = follow_api
public-api = market_history_api
public-api = raw_block_api

Please note that due to high demand vs limited resources I might be forced to temporarily route that traffic to backup instances, so the number of handled requests might be throttled down.

If you are running a project that depends on my node, feel free to contact me when you encounter any issues or you need a dedicated node.

I'm going to improve the whole infrastructure by implementing data services and a JSON-RPC 2.0 reverse proxy, so if your service depends on my node, please make sure that you are following my updates and that you can adapt or switch to a different node in time (I can provide private nodes if you need them).

Other useful resources

Up-to-date blockchain data

available for download at:
https://gtg.steem.house/get/blockchain/

or if you prefer

Periodically updated, highly compressed blockchain data

available for download at:
https://gtg.steem.house/get/blockchain.xz
(compatible with parallel, indexed xz)

FUD

There are some trolls wandering around and spreading FUD so I thought that I should point it out, debunk fake news and ... no. No. It would be a waste of time. There's, however, one rule to bring them all and in the darkness bind them:
Rule #1: Spammers lie.

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^{As already mentioned 50% of liquid rewards from this post will be donated to support SteemFest2.
If you believe I can be of value to steem, please vote for me (gtg) as a witness on Steemit's Witnesses List or set (gtg) as a proxy that will vote for witnesses for you.
Your vote does matter!
You can contact me directly on steemit.chat, as Gandalf}

Steem On