Ralf Kubli was the first guest of the call and he provided updates on the primary focus of the Association for the first half of the year. “The key priority is to ensure the smooth progression of planned releases, maintain high-quality documentation, and provide a developer interface and experience that aligns with top-tier project expectations,” Ralf elaborated.

Ralf also acknowledged the concerns around DeFi. “The Casper Association's goal is to establish robust and sustainable technologies that support various DeFi primitives.” he continued and encouraged the community to engage with existing DeFi projects.

“The Association actively supports several DeFi projects and has been granting resources to aid their development. These primitives include AMMs, DEXs, oracles, and bridges like Friendly Market, Casper Swap, Rocket X, Fluidify, Paradiso, and more.”

He directed the community to the recent blog post detailing Casper’s approach to DeFi, a highly recommended read for those interested in learning more.

Read “Let’s talk DeFi on Casper”.

“Casper Association has prioritized making access to cspr easier. Leading on-ramps and off-ramps such as Ramp, Uphold Topper, and Alchemy Pay facilitate this.” he concluded.

Another key innovation highlighted by Ralf was Odra, a smart contract framework for Rust, designed to facilitate interaction with the Casper Network for the developer community. “The integration of Odra is expected to streamline the process of building on Casper as well as to enhance the overall developer experience by simplifying the complexity of smart contract development."

Ralf mentioned that Odra will enable developers to interact with the Casper blockchain in a more accessible way. Specifically, he noted, that Odra provides an "abstraction layer," which simplifies the process of building on the network compared to current requirements. This abstraction layer means that Odra will help in abstracting away some of the complexities involved in smart contract development, making it easier for developers, especially those who might be new to blockchain development.

Peregrine Release

Medha started by discussing the recent deployment of the Peregrine update on the testnet. The update became active just 30 minutes before her speech on the call and includes additional patches to resolve an underlying networking issue triggered by a high volume of transactions from bots.

“Peregrine is scheduled to be active on the mainnet around February 8 or 9. The key features include 16-second blocks, reduced opcode fees, and the refunding of 99% of unspent gas.”

Juliet Release

“Following Peregrine, the next focus is on Juliet, which introduces a new networking layer.  This was initially a part of the 2.0 plan, which included a unified reactor model. Juliet aims to provide a robust networking layer with back-pressuring capabilities, enhancing the network's resilience during high-traffic events. The update is currently in active SRE testing and is expected to deploy in March.” Medha explained.

Condor Release

Medha touched upon the Condor release, which is also in development. She announced plans to have a developer network for Condor available in February, allowing developers and validators to preview and interact with it. The timeline for Condor experienced a slight delay due to the need to address the issues caused by the transaction storm and patch Peregrine.

Medha provided updates on two grant projects. First, Open ExO, which is migrating from the ExO chain to Casper, with Casper Labs assisting in the migration process. The transition is expected to occur around March. The second grant involves a project focusing on tokenizing real-world assets, particularly real estate, on Casper. The project includes over 2000 properties and involves regulated securities offerings.

One of the key developments of the past month was the successful integration of Casper with Ledger Live. Zondax, a Casper partner was behind the integration.

Emmanuel Murano, Zondax's Engineering Manager shared his experience and insights about the process. He highlighted the complexities and steps involved in the integration, noting that it was not just about developing the integration itself but also about navigating a multi-step process, including reviews, addressing various issues, and coordinating back-and-forth communications to finalize the integration.

As of now, the integration allows users to send and receive cspr, covering the basic wallet functionalities necessary to interact with tokens on the network. However, Emmanuel emphasized that this is just the beginning. Zondax is planning to integrate distinctive features on the Ledger wallet, particularly focusing on enhancing safety features and user experience.

Emmanuel detailed the technical aspects of the integration process. He explained that Ledger Live operates as a large mono-repo containing all the packages and dependencies required for development. The integration process follows a structured approach, where developers must adhere to specific steps and guidelines.

“The Ledger Live desktop application is built using various languages, including React, and the mobile apps use React Native.” Emmanuel described the development framework as well-documented and structured, facilitating the integration of new blockchains and features.

“A key focus for the future is to enhance the display of staking balance and other staking-related features, improving the overall user experience for those holding and transacting cspr on Ledger Live,” Emmanuel concluded.

MAKE CEO Michael Steuer conveyed the product releases spanning across various facets of the Casper ecosystem, enhancing and expanding the functionalities available to users and developers.

Michael emphasized that MAKE's core products, including Casper Click, Casper Cloud, and the Casper Wallet, are subject to ongoing updates and improvements.

“Casper Click is a pivotal tool for developers working within the Casper ecosystem. It enables rapid setup and deployment of frontend decentralized applications, integrating seamlessly with the Casper blockchain. The tool's user-friendly nature and comprehensive feature set, including integrated wallet functionalities and on-ramp integrations, make it an essential asset for developers looking to build on Casper.”

“Casper Cloud, which recently launched in open beta is a middleware platform that offers enterprise-grade services. It simplifies interactions with the Casper blockchain through its REST API, enabling efficient access and composition of blockchain data. The streaming API feature allows for real-time updates and subscriptions to network events, significantly enhancing the developer experience.”

Michael shared an interesting anecdote. He was challenged to create a meme coin using Casper Click and Casper Cloud within 24 hours. Embracing the challenge, Michael succeeded in creating the coin in just 24 minutes.

During our community call on Discord, he demonstrated the ease of setting up a fully functional frontend DApp for Casper using Casper Click. The key part of his demonstration was showcasing real-time subscriptions using Casper Cloud. He established a WebSocket connection to monitor contract events related to the meme coin app, illustrating how events were pushed to his connection as they occurred on the network.

We highly recommend watching the live demo by Michael to understand the potential of MAKE’s Casper product suite.

We invite you to join our developer-focused Discord community calls and more casual discussions on X Space. These calls will keep you informed and connected to the latest updates. We encourage you to bring your questions and actively engage in our forthcoming calls.

Thank you for being a part of our community and see you on the next call!