Lodestar announces the mega launch of v1.4.0

Lodestar has announced the launch of v1.4.0. The update brings several fixes to ensure that it offers security, stability, and the absence of all the vulnerabilities that were publicly reported between 2020 – 2022.

Proposed first in November 2021, the mechanism is now ready to be used by institutional entities and home stakers. The development has been shared through an official blog post wherein it has been said that this update officially removes the tag of being under audit & review, making it the fifth consensus client with the Ethereum Foundation.

📣 Lodestar announces the launch of v1.4.0

👉 With the release of v1.4.0, @lodestar_eth can remove its “under audit and review” status with the #Ethereum Foundation and be officially listed as the fifth consensus client on the staking launchpad !

— CryptoNewsZ (@cryptonewsz_) February 3, 2023

While the upgrade is currently not mandatory, it is recommended every user implements it to get all the fixes integrated with their system. Most importantly, it deals with security and stability for the audit completed by X41-dsec.de.

Meanwhile, the community can check out the upgrade to the latest libp2p that has allowed the network to have a better node for networking and security. Titled v0.41.0, it is one of the most important inclusions to ensure that it passes the audit.

The upgrade is essential since the previous version had slow memory leaks. With the latest upgrade in place, the network has allowed itself to add a UDP port to ENR for better peering.

It is worth noting that the team has invested a lot of effort in integrating with Smart Node Application by Rocketpool with the objective of further decentralizing the ecosystem. This collaboration is handy as it offers several benefits:

• Better staking experience
• Client Diversity
• Increased usage

Lodestar v1.4.0 brings with it the LightClientHeader wrapper to add ExecutionPayloadHeader.

The community can take a chance to share its critique of the ecosystem. Several issues may persist; however, they are being worked upon. More updated versions will be released in the times to come. 

Contributions from the team can be expected to move in the direction where more source parameters will be added along with the feature for an intant_update.

As for the moment, it has been suggested to join Eth R&D Discord light clients channel for the updated discussion.

Now that the updated version has been launched, the team is shifting its focus to understanding the adoption of v1.4.0 among the users and analyzing how great the new UX is in driving the adoption among the community. v1.4.0 will show the keystore import process along with the feedback that has been logged.

The decryption of keys may take a longer time depending on how keys one has kept open. Users can choose to have fewer keystores to better the time of decryption, especially if they are on the mainnet.

Any type of feedback on Lodestar can be shared with the team to help them improve the upgrade. Light client protocol implementers last met at the Edelweiss interop. Another meetup is surely in store. Until then, one can safely assume to implement v1.4.0 for a better experience.