[This was originally posted on Reddit [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/gridcoin/comments/8029ua/an_update_from_the_dev_team/).]

First, let me introduce myself.  I am Barton26, the newly appointed "Gridcoin Testing Coordinator".  My job on the dev team is to oversee testing of new releases and monitor situations like the one we are currently in.

Recently users have raised many valid questions about the current state of development and when the exchanges will be reopened.  I am writing this quick update for those who have not been following the latest information on Slack or GitHub.


Here is a list of "breaking issues" that were identified in the original forking period that lead to the closing of the exchanges:

1. Crashes due to tally
2. Forking due to PoR checks
3. RPC slowdowns
4. Unable to get past 1163544
5. Inability to sync from 0 without getting stuck


Here are the most recent updates from the development team regarding these issues:

1. Fixed in hotfix.
2. Believed to be either entirely or mostly fixed.  Still being actively tested.
3. Fixed in hotfix.
4. Fixed in hotfix.
5. Under active testing.


As you can see, we have made significant progress towards a production-ready release version.  Our current testing priorities are Proof of Research Check forking (believed to be fixed, but we want to be sure) and syncing from 0 without getting stuck.  Syncing from 0 is slow to test due to the length of time it takes to sync over 1.1 million blocks on production and nearly 500k blocks on testnet.


Please bear with us as we finish testing and hopefully verifying that this hotfix is ready to be released.  We will make the announcement to open exchanges when we feel that the hotfix is stable and ready to be deployed to production.


Thank you for your patience in this difficult time.  I apologize for the lack of communication and I will personally strive to communicate on other platforms to keep as many of our users up to date as possible.  Please know that the development team is working as hard as they can to get this hotfix released as soon as possible.  If you have any questions feel free to comment below.