Did you miss our last AMA/FAQ livestream on Youtube? Don’t worry, this update should keep you up to speed with all the latest developments and news surrounding the project!
Community Questions
Last week’s livestream had to be delayed for a week, so the community had quite a few questions for Paul. Note that some of these answers have been updated with the most recent news and developments that happened since the livestream.
When can a new Particl Desktop be expected?
A new update (1.2.2) for Particl Desktop is almost ready and should be released any day from now. Currently at the pre-release stage, it is going to be a big release with several bug fixes (i.e. cold staking widget), stability improvements as well as a lot of new additions. Most importantly, this new release sets the stage for a more intuitive and user-friendly approach we want to adopt as we near towards the release of our mainnet Particl Marketplace.
We strongly believe that a solid underlying technology, that of which we are absolutely confident in, is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to creating a product used by millions of people online. Usability and aesthetics also go a long way to attract a wider range of users, especially when building an online marketplace where looks and feel plays a very big part.
Is there any update about exchanges listing?
We are, as always, very commited to exchanges who contact us with interests to get the PART coin listed. Providing liquidity for the Particl economy is very important, especially as we get closer to the release of our mainnet Particl Marketplace. The more liquidity there is for vendors and buyers, the smoother and more seamless the experience will be.
We’ve been, however, changing our strategy as to how we approach exchanges. Due to our legal compliance commitment, we’ve stopped contacting smaller exchanges, rather focusing our efforts towards larger exchanges who have been proactive with securing proper legal compliance. As such, we are now only reaching out to exchanges who do the proper legal work when it comes to paperwork, due diligence and working with regulatory bodies. That does not, however, stop any exchange from adding PART to their platform or approaching the team about doing so.
What would be the impact of the PART coin dropping further in price?
While a more valuable PART coin allows us to do more, the survival of the project does not depend on the price of the PART coin. In fact, salaries are secured for at least until April of next year, and may even stretch for longer if the PART coin was to rise in value.
The Particl Foundation website is the best resource for most questions surrounding financials.
No matter what the price of the PART coin is, it will never affect how much work we put into developing the Particl project.
Indeed, during the month of June, while the PART coin was at its historic lowest value, Darpal Rating, a rating agency conducting a monthly leaderboard of the best Github pages in the blockchain industry, ranked Particl 6th in total, first in both decentralized marketplaces and privacy coins. Not only is this a great achievement, but Github isn’t even where most of the development process happens, the bulk of it being done on Jira.
These consistent good results when audited by Darpal Rating only confirms the relentlessness of the development force behind Particl.
We are also planning on running a primary round in and around Q1 2019. This funding round will allow us to raise even more capital and allow us to take Particl to the next level by being much more aggressive with how we spend and invest funds. We need, however, to implement the first version (post-beta) of Particl Marketplace before attempting to raise any capital. This is how startups usually do it; securing just enough funds to produce an MVP at first, then raising more funds once they present the MVP to VC investors.
The primary round will be an important milestone for the Particl project as it will signal a shift from a purely developmental phase to a more balanced one where marketing, user acquisition, partnerships and other similar ventures will be more prevalent than they currently are.
Any update on Particl’s Ledger Wallet integration?
There is no update to give since our last livestream. Our end of the Ledger integration process is completed and we have submitted a pull request to Ledger so that the PART coin can be officially integrated into their interface. We encourage the entire Particl community to reach out to Ledger and ask them to integrate PART into Ledger as that can sometimes speed up the process by showing organic community support.
Note that, while it is currently possible to use PART on Ledger Wallet, it is recommended for advanced users only. The integration currently only works with public transactions; CT and RingCT integrations will come at a later time.
There is, however, a good news! We have started working on another hardware integration: Trezor.
Is the team currently looking into integrating Kovri (i2p)?
We are currently not looking into Kovri, especially as it is not production-ready at the moment and isn’t expected to be for quite some time. What we’re looking into, however, is the new Bitcoin-Core BIP from llaanwj that would allow for bigger networking addresses (addrv2). This would make I2P routing feasible, but would still require a controller (similar to TorControl) to generate addresses on the fly. We are also interested in alternative garlic routing protocols and our codebase is developed with this precisely in mind.
Is it looking at Bulletproofs?
As for Bulletproofs, they already are one of our roadmap’s item and are something we absolutely want to tackle. We’ve started looking into it, but the proper research & development on how to implement it on the Particl blockchain hasn’t started yet as it wasn’t our focus for the previous months. We plan, however, to do a team meeting soon focused in part on the integration of Bulletproofs onto Particl. As that protocol will allow Particl privacy transactions to shrink by about 80% in size, it is high in our list of priorities when it comes to making Particl a scalable platform, so expect that protocol to be merged onto our blockchain at some point in the future.
For more information about Bulletproofs, don’t hesitate to read its whitepaper here: https://eprint.iacr.org/2017/1066.pdf
Any plan on porting the Particl Copay mobile wallet on iOS?
Yes, this is something we would like to do in the future. As with everything else, it’s mostly a question of priorities. Right now, the focus is on the marketplace (governance and new features) and RingCT (mainnet implementation and hardfork). It is, however, possible to use Particl Copay on MacOS (desktop version).
We also have a new top-tier developer joining our ranks starting August 1st. The entire team is very excited about him and we will present him in time to the community. This developer will lead the Particl Desktop team, but it is also possible that his work overlaps into Particl Copay so that more features can be added to it.
Will there be another mobile wallet with the full suite of features included in Particl Desktop such as the marketplace?
Yes. We are well aware that, nowadays, a lot of the shopping on the internet is done with smartphones. We also know that some of our target users, especially those in the “unbanked world”, do not own computers but rather smartphones instead. For these reasons, we strongly believe we absolutely need a mobile version for the marketplace and will put the resources in place for this further down the road. It’s noteworthy to mention that our current work being done on the multi-wallet feature is an important milestone in making both a secure decentralized web interface and mobile application possible.
As we are heavily focused on security and privacy, it will be important to set up a dedicated team with experienced mobile engineers. For this reason, this mobile application project will definitely have to be done after the primary round where we will have more funds to dedicate to this initiative. But rest assured, we know we need this and will make it happen!
Such a project is a good example of what we meant earlier in this article when we said that raising more funds will allow us to take Particl to the next level.
When will the chat function be integrated into Particl Desktop?
Particl’s messaging system, SMSG, is already live on mainnet since the genesis block but indeed hasn’t been integrated into Particl Desktop yet. Paul says the messaging system is really something needed for vendors and buyers to be able to communicate together so that the market transactions happen more smoothly. The team is currently working on several items at once, and while SMSG is currently not in the current developers’ workload, it might be added to it soon.
Will there be a marketing push for RingCT?
Yes, expect us to start communicating more about the coming RingCT Bitcoin-based hardfork. We need to claim it our own and want to lead up to its release similarly to how we did it with cold staking. Porting the RingCT privacy protocol from the Cryptonote codebase to the Bitcoin codebase (or any other codebase other than Cryptonote) is a great achievement, and it needs to be properly advertised as such.
What’s the ETA for the mainnet implementation of RingCT?
Integrating RingCT onto our mainnet will require a planned hardfork, and we’re currently working on all the preparations required to make it happen. As a hardfork causes stress on the network and requires quite a lot of preparation for it to happen as smoothly as possible, and as the marketplace governance system also requires a hardfork, it will be simpler and more time/resource efficient to combine the two items into one single planned hardfork. This is the likely strategy the team will pursue.
With that being said, it could mean that, even though our RingCT implementation may be ready for implementation, it could be waiting in the wings so that it can be included at the same time as the governance system.
Do you have an update on the WSA Particl code audit?
WeSecureApp (WSA) is a cybersecurity firm specializing in security consulting, auditing and testing services. We’ve hired them to perform a full Particl code audit and have received their initial, summarized report. They’ve tested Particl for the whole suite of industry standard test cases as well as building 10 custom test cases specifically built for Particl. We are proud to announce that no major vulnerability or flaw was found in the Particl protocol and that only some minor issues have been identified and are being addressed! We have yet to receive the fully detailed report.
Are Particl Marketplace Alpha transactions currently public?
Yes, transactions are currently public. We are still working on and developing our private-by-design MAD escrow smart-contract, and it is a work-in-progress which will be implemented in several steps. Particl Marketplace’s escrow system is going to be designed as a private-by-default solution, meaning that ultimately it will not process transactions publicly when we release our first post-beta version. Note that Particl Marketplace currently operates on testnet exclusively and that its transactions are fictional and for testing purposes only.
When will the Particl Foundation make public its Q2 financial report?
The report should be posted soon on the Particl Foundation website. Keep an eye out here: http://particl.foundation/financial-reports
Updates & Tidbits
Paul also had a few comments and information for the community not covered by the questions asked by the community.
Github
One of the best ways to keep updated with the development side of the Particl project is to go to the source. In fact, our Github page contains a lot of information and is quite active with daily updates. One of the most interesting way to see what’s coming is to have a look at the pull requests made for each of our repositories.
For example, the Particl Desktop pull request tab shows a few interesting pull requests being made for Particl Desktop. Among these requests, we can find information about multi-wallets, project governance (community proposals), and more.
New Status Report Published
For those looking for a more simple and to-the-point way to keep up-to-date with the Particl development news, the Status Report on our website (particl.io) is the perfect point of reference. It was last updated a week and gives a lot of details about what is going to be included in the Beta version of Particl Marketplace, as well as what the team is currently focusing on development-wise!
Project Governance (Community Proposals)
As you can see in both the GIF above and in the Status Report, we’re currently actively working on putting together the “project governance” tools which will allow anyone to submit their own proposals up for a community poll. Community submitted proposals do not represent any form of finality; proposals may still be denied even though they were voted in favor of, and vice versa. Official proposals, on the other hand, are proposals submitted by the Particl Foundation itself. These types of proposals will represent finality, meaning whatever result it gets will be adopted and acted upon.
For more screenshots of the project governance user interface, click here, and for more information about the development of this Particl Desktop feature, click here.
Community Fund
In light of the development being made on the project governance tools, there has never been a better time to put your proposals up for discussion on our Kialo thread! In fact, the Particl community currently owns a shared fund of around 33,000 PART. These PART can exclusively be used by the Particl Community, not the Particl Foundation, meaning that votes on proposals will need to be held on the blockchain before any of those funds can be moved or utilized. Get the community to know your idea well before officially putting it up for a vote on Particl Desktop by creating a discussion topic on our Kialo thread.
First Anniversary
We celebrated Particl’s 17th of July 2018 first anniversary! In fact, Particl’s genesis block was staked on the 17th of Jul 17, 2017, at 9:00:00 AM, and we took the opportunity to thank our supporters and recap on the progress made in just a short year. The best is yet to come!
NJIT’s Academic Paper
We currently are reviewing NJIT’s academic paper based on their research and work on Particl’s RingCT Bitcoin-based implementation. We will be giving them the green light once we are satisfied with it so that they can publish it within academic circles. We will let them publish the paper on their end sometime before we make it public on ours.
Particl in Johannesburg
Members of the Particl team will have a booth at this year’s blockchain event in Johannesburg, South Africa. The conference is a one-day event with a focus on Blockchain Technology and is in part sponsored by the Particl Foundation. Stop by the Particl booth to talk with team members and get Particl swag!
For more information about the schedule and to get tickets, follow this link: https://particl.news/particl-on-location-at-johannesburg-blockchain-conference-july-27th-2018-7e19fa083b08
Discord
We will gradually be moving to Discord officially, which means it will become the preferred or “default” chat platform for most of the team and chat support. We will keep the Rutherford bot up so that users on platforms other than Discord can still interact with the rest of the community, but these other platforms will not be focused on as much as before.
We believe Discord to be a good platform on which to build our community on. Its flexibility will allow us to integrate it seamlessly with the coming Discourse forum and will give us the ability to improve the overall community experience with bots and better moderation/anti-spam capabilities.
Music Channel
One cool example of what bots can bring to our chat is the recently added #music channel. Anyone with “DJ” permissions on Discord can now play and manage music that anyone in the #music voice channel can listen to. Tag Cryptoguard on Discord if you wish to be added as a DJ so that you can share your favorite music with other Particl community members!
Particl on Discourse
We are currently getting a forum ready and are in the final stages of setting it up. We have encountered some minor issues which have delayed its launch but it should probably be resolved for next week.
Launching the forum will change a few things around. For one, we will shut down the Fancorps platform and move the Partaker Hub over to the forum. This move is due to the fact that we have found a few bugs and exploits with the platform which allows people to duplicate withdrawals. We’ve also been suffering a few stability issues with the platform which we entirely believe will be fixed with the forum. We’re currently looking into potentially building our own custom Partaker Hub plugin for Discourse. We will keep you updated about this and will make proper announcements regarding everything forum related.
One other major use case of our forum will be for user support. Whether it be for vendor, buyer or user support, we need to have a central point of reference to get the support users are going to require, especially as we release a product (Particl Marketplace) that will target a vast array of user types. We strongly believe the forum will help to create a more structured discussion flow and the fact that the information stays permanently archived online for anyone to dig is going to help a lot on-boarding new users into the platform.
New Merch Available for Free on Particl Marketplace
We will soon make available new Particl merch and goodies for free on Particl Marketplace. One of these goodies we want to make available are the pins generously offered to us by ICOsensei. Keep an eye out for any announcement regarding marketplace giveaways!
—