The State of Sia, October 2025

This October, the Foundation published V2 – The Final Cut: Network Upgrade Scheduled for December, detailing the completion of the V2 hardfork and outlining what users, miners, and exchanges can expect as Sia finalizes its transition to the new network.

Notably, the benefits of V2 the Final Cut mean that

Running Sia will be just 200MB (down from 80 GB!)
Full chain syncing will take just 1 hour (down from 12 hours sync time), and
Instant syncing if you do not need the full chain history

Check the compatible versions of all Sia terminal apps below. And importantly, upgrade before December at sia.tech/software-downloads.

Across the ecosystem, major repositories including indexd, walletd, and hostd saw improvements that will unify the developer experience and lay the groundwork for the upcoming SDK integrations that will drive the next generation of decentralized applications.

Meanwhile, the Grants Program continued its steady progress — advancing long-term projects such as S5, Cypherock X1, and SecureSphere, and celebrating the completion of four grants that have now reached successful delivery.

Development Updates

renterd: Precision and Clarity

This month’s updates to the renterd UI improved the accuracy of displayed wallet balances and provided a smoother visual experience.

Fixed rounding and precision of y-axis values on the wallet balance evolution graph.

hostd: Refinements and API Transparency

hostd continues to advance as the backbone for Sia’s hosting infrastructure, introducing better interoperability and responsiveness for storage providers.

Added OpenAPI spec for improved developer integration.
Implemented wallet rescan when seed is updated to ensure synchronization and accuracy.

The hostd UI also received the same graphing precision update as the renterd UI to maintain a consistent user experience across interfaces.

Fixed rounding and precision of y-axis values on wallet balance graphs.

walletd: Expanding Integration Capabilities

walletd added a new OpenAPI spec, streamlining integration for developers and exchanges who leverage Sia’s wallet infrastructure in their applications.

Added OpenAPI spec to enhance API documentation and automation support.

Sia Storage: Sync, Stability & Onboarding Improvements

The Sia Storage App, which is currently undergoing internal alpha testing, made meaningful progress this month toward a more polished user experience. With recent improvements to syncing, onboarding, and file handling, development continues steadily towards a future public release.

Other notable highlights include:

Expanded file viewer support for image, video and audio, as well as .pdf, .json, .md, and .txt files.
Added thumbnail icons and memoized viewer components for better performance.
Introduced onboarding flow with welcome and education screens.
Automatic scanning and queuing of pending uploads.
Device-wide object event sync (created, changed, deleted).
Search and rename functionality for files, with advanced metadata hidden behind developer mode.
Added account and usage information in settings screens.
Internal library refinements to secure storage, event emitters, and SDK alignment with sealedObjects and AppKey APIs.

The team is now focused on developing an Automatic Photo Library Sync for seamless mobile backup.

Sia SDK: Reliability & Encryption Enhancements

The Sia SDK saw progress made on stability and data handling, ensuring more robust interactions between Rust applications and the Sia network.

Fixed decoding failures when encrypted metadata was null or missing.
Implemented randomly generated encryption keys for stronger security.
Added methods for pinning multiple slabs and introduced a slab pruning endpoint.

Grants Program Updates

Newly Approved Grants

Lume Web – LBRY Integration: This grant integrates the peer-to-peer LBRY protocol with the Sia network through the Lume Web portal, providing a persistent storage layer for LBRY content. It addresses LBRY’s core challenge of data loss when peers go offline by using Sia to ensure permanent availability.

Progress Reports from Ongoing Grants

S5: Rewrite in Rust: Implemented automatic filesystem sharding, snapshot export and merge functions, and secure multi-node sync tests with end-to-end encryption. Next steps include a stable release of the Rust crates and JavaScript/Dart bindings via UniFFI.
Cypherock X1: Successfully integrated Sia hardware support into the cySync desktop app, added wallet balance and transaction features, and completed the “Send” and “Receive” flows with on-device verification. A public release and joint announcement are next.
Decentralized Vault (formerly SecureSphere): Added QR login for browser extension, enabled Vault upload and download through Sia, and prepared for cross-platform beta release. Upcoming focus includes security audits and app store submissions.
S5 Gateway & TypeScript Client: Completed Milestone 5 (Advanced Media Processing), introducing thumbnail generation, progressive rendering, and XChaCha20-Poly1305 encryption. Next up: documentation, tutorials, and upstream integration for broader adoption.
Where – A Crowd-Powered Safety App: Completed Android APK build, integrated S5 for uploads, and deployed on Zen testnet.

Completed Grants and Updates

Sia Graph: Completed major site redesign with new endpoints, financial tracking, growth forecasts, and enhanced UI/UX for data visualization.
Lume Web – IPFS Portal: Finished dashboard and IPFS plugin updates for Zen testnet beta, adding upload and pinning UIs with the ability to access via known public gateways. Now collecting feedback for final adjustments.
Nydia Passkey Holder (UPDATE): Released version 1.0.0-beta.1, moving from alpha to public beta with enhanced passkey creation reliability and browser compatibility across Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.

Final Thoughts

As October draws to a close, Sia enters its final stretch toward the completion of the V2 network upgrade — the culmination of years of work to deliver a faster, simpler, and more secure decentralized storage protocol. With the upgrade now in its final phase, November’s focus will be on final testing of the network's readiness ahead of the December rollout.

That’s all folks!

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

Take care, and see you next month.

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