The first joint report for Hydra and Mithril projects highlights progress since January 2024. Mithril released distribution 2408.0, with updates like SanchoNet network release and Cardano transaction certification. Enhanced support for Conway and SanchoNet was also implemented. Hydra saw roadmap changes, with significant updates including dropping JSON encoded transaction support, progress on the Hydra heads explorer, and work on incremental commit features. The team resolved a fanout bug discovered during hydra-chess development and deployed a Hydra explorer supporting multiple versions, though it currently supports only one version per network.

Since November 2023, the Hydra project has made significant progress. Version 0.15.0 was released, featuring offline mode and Conway support. The team also prepared for running Cardano nodes in P2P mode, with non-P2P relays shutting down in January 2024. Notable developments include API changes, removing JSON transactions in favor of CBOR encoding, and ongoing work on Hydra Chess to refine the DApp workflow. Additionally, the Hydra Explorer was initiated to track Hydra heads. The team is also involved in community events like the upcoming Cardano Buidler Fest and supporting Catalyst projects, including streaming API and Hydra auctions.

Since October 2023, the Hydra project has seen significant developments. The release of version 0.14.0 is imminent, focusing on stateless chain observation and internal refactoring. The roadmap was updated to clarify support for the upcoming Conway hard fork and drop Babbage support, while substantial progress was made on the design of the incremental decommit feature. Collaboration with the MeshJS team led to the integration of Hydra-specific features in their SDK. The Hydra specification is being migrated to Markdown for easier accessibility. Community contributions include SundaeLabs' offline mode PR and TxPipe's Cardaminal wallet, aiming for Hydra compatibility.

Since September 2023, the Hydra project has achieved several milestones, including the release of version 0.13.0, which focused on security fixes, inline datums support, improved stability, and state persistence. The project roadmap was updated for version 0.14.0. Key developments include enhancing network resilience, creating a Hydra Poll DApp for the Cardano Summit, and upgrading the toolchain to GHC 9.6 and Brick 1.10. Community contributions were highlighted, such as the Hypix project integrating CIP-68 NFTs, Kupo's integration with Hydra, and progress on offline mode for Hydra nodes. The Hydra-for-voting project was revived to improve on-chain voting processes.

Since August 2023, the Hydra project has made several important strides. The roadmap remained largely unchanged, focusing on clarifying upcoming features. Notable updates include completing support for inline datums in the commit API and making progress on network resilience, particularly in handling node crashes and disconnections. The work on incremental commits and decommits has been split into two features, with ongoing design discussions. A workshop in Nantes, France, brought together the Hydra and Mithril teams, where they explored topics like Aiken validator experiments and the concept of a "Shallow cardano-node" using Mithril to streamline Hydra node operations. Additionally, the team worked on refactoring the chain state to improve storage efficiency and maintain backward compatibility.

Since July 2023, the Hydra project has made significant progress, including the release of version 0.12.0, which introduced support for cardano-node 8.1.2, authenticated messages, event-sourced persistence, new API endpoints, and security fixes. The project roadmap has been updated to prioritize network resiliency and incremental commit/decommit features for version 0.13.0. The team also updated the Hydra tutorial to include Mithril and prepared for a Hydra master class at RareEvo 2023, which had positive feedback. In addition, the team participated in Catalyst Fund10, reviewing several proposals related to Hydra and Mithril.

Since June 2023, the Hydra project released version 0.11.0, enhancing external wallet support and transaction processing, and deprecating internal commits. The team improved security with authenticated network messages and optimized protocol performance by sending only transaction IDs in snapshots. They also addressed a multi-signature verification bug via GitHub security advisories and updated to GHC 9.2.7, improving compatibility and Plutus script efficiency. The Starmap update focused on making Hydra more accessible and preparing for mainnet deployment.

Since May 2023, the Hydra team has focused on several key developments, preparing for the upcoming version 0.11.0 release. Notable updates include allowing commits with multiple UTXOs, enhancing off-chain performance, and introducing commits from external wallets. The team also benchmarked Hydra Head performance, identified persistence as a bottleneck, and made improvements based on real-world usage. Community engagement included planning a Hydra workshop and concluding the Hydra for Auctions project, which successfully demonstrated moving smart contracts from layer 1 to layer 2 for enhanced scalability.

Since April 2023, the Hydra project released version 0.10.0, the first mainnet-compatible release, which includes key features like limited mainnet exposure, client API enhancements, and quality-of-life improvements for running the hydra-node. The team focused on timed transactions, removing unnecessary configuration options, and improving continuous integration (CI) performance. Community contributions included the Hydrozoa research proposal and updates to the Hydra for Payments project, which aims to make Hydra more accessible for payment use cases with the HydraNow mobile app. The team continues to refine and expand Hydra's capabilities and user experience.

Since March 2023, the Hydra project made significant progress, focusing on preparing for the 0.10.0 release, which will be the first mainnet-compatible version. Key developments include updates to the configurable API, enhancements to the Hydra specification, and fixing script continuity issues. The team also addressed a rollback bug that affected the opening of Hydra heads on the mainnet. Community projects like Hydra for Voting and Hydra for Auctions are advancing, driving API discussions and exploring new use cases like ballot voting and NFT auctions on both L1 and L2.