Syscoin, a cryptocurrency built specifically for online merchants and marketplaces, has announced a major software upgrade for the Syscoin Core service, introducing a feature-rich blockchain service package to its users.

According to the official announcement, Syscoin 2.1 was released successfully on December 18th, 2016. The upgrade includes many new features, including blockchain pruning, moderation & feedback, multi-signature Syscoin services, shipping notifications, increased privacy through anonymous ZCash payments, and many other core improvements targeted at increasing long-term usability and scalability. It brings the Syscoin experience from a proof-of-concept experience to a production-ready software package.

“This software release reinforces Syscoin's commitment to keeping up to date with the latest blockchain innovations and improvements being developed by the Bitcoin Core team,” said Syscoin development team manager Dan Wasyluk. “With this update, we’re integrating the latest changes from Bitcoin Core version 0.13 into Syscoin 2.1.”

Syscoin 2.1's Marketplace Moderation offers two tiers, both user-defined via SafeSearch, as well as being team-defined; the moderation system allows for a more public-friendly, legal and moral marketplace. A feedback and rating system can now be provided for Merchants, Customers and Arbitrators, ensuring an accurate representation of reputation history for all parties.

Multiple concurrent payment options, including private payments via ZCash, are now offered. Merchants can now sell to users who wish to pay in Syscoin, Bitcoin or ZCash (ZEC, which natively includes enhanced privacy). Escrow services can be used for all three currencies. Aliases, Certificates and Offers now support multi-signature transactions, enabling a whole new set of use cases for Syscoin services beyond the marketplace.

As a solution to blockchain bloat over time, "Blockchain Pruning" provides improved scalability to the Syscoin blockchain by efficiently pruning (deleting) expired service data to minimize blockchain bloat for full nodes.

Merchants and consumers can optionally provide their geolocation in order to find their nearest associates. A shipping notification system is also provided to merchants in order to allow them to optionally notify their customers that an item has been shipped.

The roll out of the latest upgrade follows the establishment of an official Toronto, Canada-based corporation named Blockchain Foundry Inc, primarily responsible for the ongoing development and maintenance of the Syscoin project. Syscoin also explained its plans for the forthcoming year saying:

“We’re working on redesigning and updating all of our web properties ahead of the Q1 2017 Blockmarket release”, Syscoin said in a blog post. “With Blockmarket and a new Syscoin desktop wallet experience being released in Q1 2017 (just a few months away!) we have a very bright future ahead of us. We’re also working on securing our first round of investment funding for Blockchain Foundry, which would serve as a massive development and marketing accelerator; and with the Syscoin Core now more capable than ever we’re confident it’s only a matter of time before that funding is secured.”