The State of Sia, February 2025

February was a month of continued growth and refinement for the Sia ecosystem. We made notable strides in development, launched several major releases, and introduced new grant initiatives to further strengthen the network. Our work on renterd, walletd, and hostd brought key improvements in preparation for the upcoming hardfork, enhancing network stability and security. Additionally, we approved multiple new grants, supporting innovative projects that drive the ecosystem forward. As we move into the next phase of development, we remain committed to making decentralized storage more powerful, accessible, and resilient. In this update, we’ll take a closer look at the progress we’ve made, the challenges we’ve tackled, and what’s ahead for the Sia community.

Development Updates

renterd: Full v2 Support & Hardfork Preparations

The release of renterd v2.0.0 marked a major milestone, introducing full v2 support to align with the upcoming hardfork. This version introduced a substantial API refactor, streamlining functionality by replacing deprecated components like contract sets and event webhooks with a more efficient and simplified design. Validation for S3 bucket names was added, and contract lifecycles are now independently managed.

One of the most impactful changes is full support for RHP4, the new protocol for renter-host communication, which improves efficiency and stability. Additional refinements include:

• Automatic account drift resets, reducing inconsistencies over time.
• Short-lived API authentication cookies, improving security.
• Improved migration tools, reducing friction for renters upgrading to v2.

Shortly after, renterd v2.0.1 was released, addressing key bug fixes, including:

• Correcting storage tracking and version scoring for v2 hosts.
• Improved migration logging, ensuring a smoother transition for users.

These updates position renterd as a stable and feature-complete foundation for the upcoming network upgrade.

hostd: Stability Enhancements & Improved Contract Management

February saw the release of hostd v2.0.3, v2.0.4, and a pre-release of hostd v2.1.0-beta.1, each focusing on different aspects of stability, performance, and feature improvements.

hostd v2.0.3:

• Resolved a critical concurrency issue affecting large-volume migrations.
• Fixed a panic scenario in rpcLock operations.
• Improved log file path handling, ensuring correct migrations.

hostd v2.0.4:

• Fixed an issue where syncer processes would stop until restarted.
• Updated core dependencies, improving reliability.
• Fixed a decoding error in RHP3 account IDs.

hostd v2.1.0-beta.1 (Pre-release):

• Introduced QUIC support, allowing renters to communicate with hosts over web browser.
• Added two new API endpoints for querying v2 contracts, improving contract management.
• Implemented RPCReplenish, which simplifies fund management for renters with large number of accounts.

These updates enhance host stability while ensuring a seamless transition for v2 renters.

walletd: Hardfork Readiness & Security Enhancements

walletd v2.0.0 was a critical update that introduced multiple security and usability improvements, including:

• Merkle proof UTXOs are now returned through the API, allowing for improved client-side transaction validation.
• A redesigned consensus update API, simplifying chain state indexing.
• Standardized application data storage, aligning walletd with system-wide best practices across Linux, macOS, Windows, and Docker.

This release ensures that walletd is fully compatible with the upcoming hardfork and enhances the security of Siacoin transactions.

explored: Performance Improvements & Enhanced Host Metrics

The explored repository, which powers blockchain and host exploration tools, received notable updates to improve performance and data accuracy.

• Geolocation services now use Maxmind instead of IP2Location, providing more precise host location data.
• Host metrics calculations now use the median instead of the mean, ensuring more accurate pricing estimates.
• A streamlined host querying API makes it easier for developers to retrieve host data.
• Significant performance optimizations were made to the address events endpoint, improving response times.
• A fix for contract-proof outputs ensures all relevant output sources are properly retrieved.

These improvements enhance the accuracy and efficiency of blockchain and host data retrieval, making explored a more reliable tool for users and developers alike.

Grant Program Updates

Newly Approved Grants

• SAI — Sia AI: A Python framework integrating AI-powered interactions with Sia’s walletd. It enables users to manage Siacoin transactions and wallet operations via natural language commands.
• Refurbishing of Sia Satellite: Aims to update and maintain the public Sia Satellite storage gateway, ensuring compatibility with v2 hosts and contracts while improving the UI and user experience.
• Nydia — Passkey Holder (Chapter 2): This project introduces Ed25519 cryptography to WebAuthn authenticators and extends decentralized credential management to Safari.
• Retroactive Grant for SiaFund Earnings: A website providing real-time insights into SiaFund claim amounts and network utilization, helping investors and users track network participation.

Progress Reports from Ongoing Grants

• Lume Web: Significant progress was made on portal infrastructure, abuse reporting, and billing support. The goal for next month is to finalize the free portal infrastructure.
• SiaGraph: The backend has been reworked to remove dependencies on SiaCentral, focusing on financial stats and host monitoring. Work continues on designing new financial reporting pages.
• Dartsia Mobile App V2: Notifications functionality was implemented alongside a host scoring system. Next, the team will finalize the app’s website and begin working on backup functionality.
• Tiri Vault: The project saw improvements in subscription stability and UI enhancements. Next month, work will focus on synchronization algorithms and wallet integration.
• S5 Network: The team implemented key missing components in the TypeScript library and made solid progress on the web design components. Work will continue with testing and the first major release of Vup Web.
• Sia Virtual Block Device (sia_vbd): A persistent caching layer was introduced, significantly boosting performance. The team is now focusing on implementing resizing, branching, and tagging features before the final release.
• SecureSphere — Decentralized Password Management: Research and development on encryption and Sia integration progressed, with plans to develop browser extensions in the coming month.

Final Thoughts

The past month has seen numerous crucial updates and exciting innovations in the Sia ecosystem. With the hardfork on the horizon, the core development team has been hard at work ensuring a smooth transition. The grants program continues to support new and existing projects that enhance Sia’s usability and adoption. We look forward to March as we continue to march toward the hardfork and further the decentralization of cloud storage.

That’s all folks!

Thanks for your continued support and dedication as we build the foundation of the decentralized future.

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The State of Sia, February 2025 was originally published in The Sia Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.