Development Update

With the NYC Blockchain Week behind us, now is the time to entirely focus on the mainnet release of the Particl Open Marketplace!

In a progress update posted on Discord on the 1st of May, we’ve mentioned that the team was pretty much done with the integration of the blind escrow and was running automated tests on the OMP Library integration.

If you would like to read the other parts of this Community Update, simply follow the links below:

Particl Open Marketplace Mainnet Release Timeline

Since Particl has updated its core to 0.18 just 13 days ago, we would like to let you know exactly where we currently stand, what’s the current projected mainnet release timeline, and what to look out for in the next few days!

Open Marketplace Mainnet Release Roadmap

  • (1) Finish blind escrow integration (Done)
  • (2) Finish the OMP Library integration tests (In progress)
  • (3) Tweak Particl Desktop to integrate the OMP Library (Pending) -> ETA: 1–2 days
  • (4) Publish final testnet build to the community before mainnet release (Pending) -> ETA: Approximately 1 week if all goes smoothly
  • (5) Mainnet release of the Open Marketplace (Pending)

Finish the Blind Escrow Integration (Done)

During the last few weeks, the team had the opportunity to integrate the blind escrow in full and make a series of critical tweaks to the OMP Library just before releasing the marketplace on mainnet. The OMP Library was written some time ago by Particl’s developer Kewde, but the team wanted to make some modifications to it and run proper testing, specifically related to the buy flow, before putting it onto mainnet.

The OMP Library is a major improvement to the backend of the Particl Open Marketplace, allowing for example escrows to process transactions automatically using Confidential Transactions or for listings to have more attributes.

We are happy to say that the integration of the blind escrow system into the marketplace is now complete.

Finish the OMP Library Integration Tests (In Progress)

The next step is to finalize the OMP Library integration by running the whole suite of automated tests the team has built over the last two years. These automated tests are designed to stress test any new feature and try to break them in any possible way.

When a test fails, it highlights precisely what the problems are that need to be updated, adjusted or changed. Once issues are fixed, the test is ran again until it finds another issue. Because of the unpredictability of the testing results, we would rather not give an estimate today but rather wait a few days until after these tests are complete.

We initially intended to finish those tests before flying out to the NYC Blockchain Week and then run the final testnet build while we were at the conferences. However, we fell short by a few days before Juha, Particl’s Lead Marketplace Developer, joined the team in New York City to present the Open Marketplace. This has unfortunately caused a few days of delay and is the reason why we are still finalizing the tests to this day. He has now safely made it back home and has resumed the last few tests before we put out what will be the final testnet build before the first mainnet release.

Note that running these tests is not a very challenging or difficult process. To the contrary, this is quite a redundant task, but it requires time. While a majority of the tests has been completed successfully, it is difficult to give a clear estimate of how long it will take to complete the remaining ones. We actually expect this process to be over pretty quickly now, and we will communicate a more definitive timeline as soon as these tests are done.

Why are These Tests so Important?

These automated tests are extremely important, and they are part of what makes Particl stand out from the crowd as a super secure network. Every feature we put out in the wild is tested against a variety of automated tests to ensure that it is as secure and stable as we can possibly make it.

The tests are especially important when it comes to core marketplace components. In fact, there’s a reason why everything has to be perfect when it gets moved onto mainnet, especially when it comes to the buy flow and escrow of the marketplace.

In fact, once the marketplace goes out on mainnet, we have to assume that there will always be acts of commerce, even if it’s not publicly visible. That puts a huge amount of limitations on what can be updated if we want to ensure the security of our users’ funds. Imagine rebuilding a motor in a race car…while it’s on the track racing.

Take the escrow system as an example. If the network pushes a big update on the seller side while there are some ongoing marketplace transactions with funds locked in escrow, then the escrow would encounter new (unexpected) code that could potentially cause critical bugs where funds could be lost. As you can imagine, a test network is much more forgiving of bugs than a mainnet environment!

Imagine rebuilding a motor in a race car while it’s on the track racing. — Joe Fisher

That doesn’t mean the Open Marketplace cannot have its components updated after it launches. It just means that coding new changes will be much more time consuming as we need to make sure new and old codes can recognize each other and are fully compatible. That alone, as you can expect, would require a lot of testing before unleashing on mainnet.

This is precisely why we have such a perfectionist approach to the mainnet release.

Integrate the OMP Library into Particl Desktop (Pending)

Once the tests are done, Particl Desktop will need to be tweaked to integrate the last few changes. This step of the process is actually much easier and quick to complete than it sounds. As some aspects of the OMP Library change how the backend works, Particl Desktop has to be tweaked so that the integration works flawlessly. Don’t worry, this should take only 1 or 2 days at most for the integration to be worked in as there hasn’t been any modification made to Particl Desktop since our last testnet except for the few changes to the buy flow caused by the integration of the OMP Library.

Last Testnet Build Before Mainnet (Pending)

As soon as the Particl Desktop tweaks are done, we will be packaging, for the community, what will be the final testnet build before the first mainnet release of the Particl Open Marketplace!

Because the marketplace has already been thoroughly tested during the last few months, we do not expect any major issue to be identified. What will be the important thing to test here will be the buy flow and the blind escrow, but as they will already have went through a ton of automated tests prior to being released on testnet, it is likely that no issue arises.

Nevertheless, we want as many testers as possible to test this final testnet client before the first-ever mainnet build. This is the reason why we will be running a short bug hunting contest where we’ll be giving away a total of $500 worth of PART to the best bug hunters out there! We will reveal all of the details once we publish the testnet build.

We estimate that, if all goes smoothly, this testnet build will run for a duration of approximately 1 week. Keep in mind this isn’t a deadline or a hard date, but an estimation of how long we’d like to keep it running if no major issue arises.

Then, once that is all said and done, the time to get the Open Marketplace live on mainnet will be upon us!

Mainnet Release of the Open Marketplace (Pending)

This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for — the mainnet release of the Open Marketplace. This milestone event will see the marketplace make its way onto mainnet and be able to be used to buy and sell real products and services, with real funds. This big moment will follow right after we complete the last testnet run of the Open Marketplace before it goes on mainnet for the first time.

So When is it Coming Out on Mainnet, Exactly?

At this very moment, we still cannot commit to a fixed date due to the fact that the tests are still running. The automated tests are expected to be completed within a pretty short time frame of a few days, though. Then, once it’s done, 1 to 2 days will need to be allocated to tweak Particl Desktop and then the last testnet will be released to the public for a period of approximately 1 week, if all goes smoothly. We definitely want and will communicate a more precise timeline for the mainnet release as soon as we complete the OMP Library integration tests. However, this development update should still be able to give you a rough estimate of the timeline we’re currently looking into.

In the meantime, we are following up on our leads and connections we’ve made at the Magical Crypto Conference and Consensus in order to maximize the exposure of the mainnet release of the Particl Open Marketplace and adjust our strategy in light of the new contacts we’ve made.

After nearly two years of intensive development, we are nearly there! All features intended to be part of the first mainnet version of the marketplace have been integrated and are going through their final automated testing rounds. Although we are not able to give a definitive date for the mainnet release today, we will be communicating one very shortly.

Hang tight because from here on out, things will get very interesting!

News Flash: Particl Bulletproofs Audit by Quarkslab

On a non-marketplace related note, we are pleased to announce that Quarkslab has started auditing our Bitcoin-based Bulletproofs integration. Quarkslab is a world-renowned security firm having audited codes and projects like OpenSSL, VeraCrypt, OpenVPN, and, interestingly enough, Monero’s Bulletproofs implementation.

Once the audit is done, we’ll look into the report, address any potential issue it identifies, and start planning ahead for a hardfork of Particl’s RingCT with Bulletproofs on mainnet.

We will keep you informed as details come in!

Welcome — Quarkslab
Every security issue is different, every solution must bewww.quarkslab.com

What’s Coming up?

With all the intended features for the first mainnet version of the marketplace being integrated, part of the development team has now started working on the next features that will be integrated into the marketplace. Note that none of these new features will be included in the first mainnet version of the Open Marketplace. As the build is pretty stable right now, we do not want to integrate new functions that could delay the mainnet release.

Quantity Management

A must-have for vendors running a business out of their sales. Quantity Management is like a lite version of the full Inventory Management system we plan on integrating later during the Beta phase of development. It allows vendors to set quantities for their listings and lets people bid multiple times on the same listings if the vendors set their quantity accordingly.

Future Features

The Particl team also has other features it would like to focus on first after the mainnet release of the Open Marketplace. We still want to go through a few other development meeting sessions before communicating what other features other than Quantity Management will be worked on first. We will let you know all of the information after the mainnet release of the Open Marketplace!

This concludes the Development Update part of this Community Update. If you would like to continue and read the other parts of the update, please follow these links:

The Particl Team