BitShares Witness and Developer Update
The BitShares Ecosystem
It's quite exciting to see the ecosystem evolve, and with a new Chinese Exchange, RuDEX, stepping in and taking some space from OpenLedger DEX, things are looking good.
With the increased pace of development on the BitShares Wallet UI, things are finally picking up some momentum. With the worker proposal and bounty system now running since a few weeks back, the wallet is getting some new functionality.
With development on the BitShares-Core system almost finalized, we're soon looking on a new Hardfork. This update will bring some significant fixes to handle the events of Black Swans, where bit-assets would stop working in some cases.
A Hardfork is scheduled at the end of November, 2017-11-27 14:40 UTC. (Source)
Really looking forward to this update
If you haven't done so yet, Join BitShares Today
If you haven't done so yet, Join BitShares Today
My Involvement and Engagement
Testnet Witness
Since a while back I'm running a witness node on the BitShares Testnet. I do this because I think it's important to support all parts of the network, not just the primary network. Development needs a stable testnet with a diversity of nodes. My presence on the testnet is also an excellent way for me to learn what's happening and what is to come.
I'm not as skilled as the rest of the gang to test the network for the various enhanced features, but I do my best to stand by and be of assistance to verify anything.
Running a witness node on the testnet also makes me able to assess my servers capabilities to perform. They've performed very well the past 1½ month that they've been running.
Main Network Witness
I'm also running for main network witness, and currently place as no. 62. As the BitShares network only rewards the active witnesses, which is 17 at the current time, I'm not yet an active witness.
As my testnet witness is doing a good job, I'm confident that my system can perform well for the primary network. As a Steem Witness since a few months back, now placed in the ranks of 58, I'm well aware of what it takes to be a witness.
I would appreciate any support for me as a witness on the BitShares network as well.
Main Network Wallet Access and Seed Node
Early in my engagement of BitShares, I decided to provide an access node for it. It's currently in the wallet, just select wss://bitshares.crypt.fans/ws in the Access list.
The node is currently running stable and is frequently used as and have no issues as far as I can tell to handle the load. I'm using it daily for my network access, so I will notice any change, something that I'll be capable of handling with a server upgrade with ease.
This service is also a seed node for the network.
Future Ideas and Workings
I will continue to engage in the BitShares Witness program, as I think the network needs active witnesses that tries to listen to the public and join in gatherings like @officialfuzzy 's BeyondBitcoin Whaletank Hangout and Open Source BitShares Hangout. Even though I'm not an active talker, I share my thoughts and ideas as well as listen to what's happening in the sphere.
I will continue to write articles on the topic of BitShares in the hopes that more users will see the benefit of the ecosystem how great it is. More tutorials and updates will be posted.
I'm also continuing to progress in the various script for monitoring the BitShares network, much like the SteemWatcher script I've made for Steemit.
A few of my BitShares Related Steemit Posts
- Preview of BitShares Wallet v2.0.171015
- BitShares - Transfering Funds; A Thoroughal Look on Available Services
- OpenLedger Steem and Peerplays Transfer Gateway Down, Again. [Updated: Gateway Up Again]
- BitShares UI 2.0.171001 Released - 34 Issues Closed
- BitShares TESTNET - Hardfork Trial Scheduled @ 15th September 12:00 UTC
Vote for me as Witness
Do You enjoy what I contribute to the community, consider voting for my Witnesses or as a Steemit Proxy Voter.
By voting for me as a witness, you will support an active witness on Steem and BitShares. I believe a witness should keep up-to-date on current happenings and be a conduit between the many users and the system.
Read my Witness Posts: BitShares, Steemit
Support my Projects: Project Minnow Witness, Gridcoinstats.eu, Crypto.fans
Steemit: sc-steemit 
BitShares: sc-ol 
As I've decided to get more active in both BitShares and Steemit, so I'll be following along with great interest since it looks like I just might learn a lot from you. 😎
@cryptographic I created an account at bitshares.org and transferred some steem already to convert to BTS. I am new with BTS. What security measures do you recommend me to take. This is the first time I am working with a decentralized exchange directly and don't know even if I leave my BTS there? Or were is the best place you know for now? Thanks for your help on this. @gold84
And price keeps tanking further and further.
best of luck, still trying to get more involved with bitshares / peace