The latest release of the open-source Elements sidechain software is now available for node operators and developers! This release brings the Elements codebase up to date with Bitcoin Core 23.2, while adding new support for Apple silicon and fixing multiple important bugs.
Elements 23.2.1 adds support for arm64 macOS native builds. This allows Mac users to run the latest versions without relying on Rosetta to do the code translation.
We also addressed an issue regarding the getnewaddress RPC: getnewaddress will now return an unblinded Bech32 address even with -blindedaddresses=1 in config. This change brings consistency to the RPC call. Since we also apply updates to some of our older versions, this fix will be in the upcoming release of Elements 22.1.2 early next year.
Elements 23.2.1 brings all the same functionality and improvements recently added to Bitcoin Core 23.2, including its bug fixes and RPC interface changes. Unlike Bitcoin, however, Elements is not changing the default wallet format from legacy to descriptors. This is because some Elements features like peg-ins and peg-outs are only compatible with legacy wallets. You can see the full release notes for Bitcoin here: 23.0, 23.1 and 23.2.
Developer Advocacy Initiative
The Liquid engineering team and federation members have also been hard at work expanding developer education resources and tools to make building on Liquid more accessible. For beginners who want to get started on Elements and Liquid, there is now a comprehensive developer portal, an accompanying documentation site, and the all-new Elements Academy tutorial series.
Elements Academy shows you how to execute simple RPC commands using elementsd. It covers the basics of setting up and running your own Elements node, verifying the network, and interacting with others using features like Confidential Transactions and Issued Assets.
You can access Elements Academy through the Build On L2 (BOL2) community and the Liquid YouTube channel. Note the BOL2 version offers additional text-based learning and a progress tracker with quizzes for the best experience. While the YouTube version is video only, quizzes are still accessible via the description box if you wish to challenge yourself!
Finally, for those seeking to connect with developers and other Liquid enthusiasts, you can join the Liquid Community and Liquid Dev Telegram channels or spin up a thread in the BOL2 community.