With the week coming to an end, the time has come for another weekly development progress report!
This week, we revealed the new, massive roadmap that will guide the development team through the next few months. And we are happy to report that there is already one item that is expected to be completed before the end of the weekend; displaying the mnemonics of market-related wallets and identities. This feature, which a few community members requested, is accompanied back-end improvements related to user identities, setting the stage for a broader use of identities in the future (i.e., reputation system).
Other than that, there are a couple of items currently under work. Let's check them out!
Particl Desktop Development Report
The development related to Particl Desktop is generally similar to last week.
- Update Particl Desktop and particl-market (marketplace codebase) to use Particl Core 0.21. This is a recurring task that needs to be taken care of for all major releases of Particl Core, but 0.21 introduces some specific changes that require particular attention in relation to the marketplace.
- Allow users to obtain the mnemonic of the marketplace-related wallets for backup purposes. This is a roadmap item and is expected to be completed before the end of the weekend. Note that this item turned out to be a bit more complex than initially anticipated. As a result, some back-end changes were required to the profile and identity system, which will come in handy later down the road.
- A number of features related to better vendor inventory import/update, which includes the provision of a product code (allowing for updates to items via CSV amongst other things), the ability to update pricing via the batch publish window, and the ability to import images through the CSV file directly (with the possibility to specify the category and target market directly from the CSV coming soon as well).
- Usage of markdown in product descriptions on the marketplace to allow for better, more customizable formatting.
- Enable the sale of digital items with no physical shipping address requirement (i.e., download links, NFTs, user codes, etc.).
Particl Core Development Report
This week on Particl Core, an update to the SMSG code has been made, allowing for the funding of more SMSG messages per transaction. This intends to streamline the process of publishing large numbers of listings at once on the marketplace. You can check the commit here.
Also related to publishing large numbers of listings at once, an update has been made here to Particl Core to fix an issue that prevented sellers, in some cases, to list a large number of listings at once (26+). These updates are all part of the team's post-v3 release assessment and efforts to fix immediate problems. If you encounter an issue with Particl V3, please report it on Particl Desktop's issue page located here.
Additionally, more work and testing have gone towards the Particl Core 0.22 release. As mentioned last week, this release is a major one and introduces changes to critical pieces of the code. For this reason, thorough testing is required. Nevertheless, we are excited to report that you can now test the new 0.22 release for yourself here. You will need to follow these instructions.
tecnovertNotably related to testing new core versions, the testing of Torv3 addresses, the new Tor address format, has started. We have also started the process of slowly updating key nodes (0.21) to the new tor address format to ensure a smooth transition. To connect to this node, first start the Tor Browser, then start Particl with this specific command: ./particl-qt -proxy=127.0.0.1:9150 -listen=onion -onlynet=tor -debug=tor -connect=f4mmfkk33twzd6g7ee5mijblilygys7m6x7xaknxl7a4fsjvadwuvuqd.onion.
Also, a new version of the Trezor binaries for Particl has been released today. However, because Particl is not yet officially supported by Trezor, you will be required to manually install the custom firmware onto your device. To do it, follow the instructions available here and here.
tecnovertFinally, you can track all the changes made to Particl Core this week by following the list of commits here. Suffice to say, it's been a pretty busy week!
What's Coming Next?
Things have been pretty busy at Particl lately, and it's expected to stay that way for some time. Last week, we released the long-anticipated Particl V3 on mainnet. This week, we released the new development roadmap. And next week, we expect to release the new website for the Particl project.
New Website
Far from a simple refresh, the new website has been built from scratch and improves on all aspects of the current one. It puts the spotlight on Particl's products, much like the roadmap does, and better tells the story of the project. What is Particl? What does it offer? How will it make your life better? And what's the ultimate purpose behind the project? The current website somehow doesn't do a good enough job at answering all these questions concisely; that's what the new website fixes!
The new website is expected to help greatly converting new people into Particl users. It is the focal point of any future marketing and outreach campaign and is the first step towards increasing the project's brand awareness.
BasicSwap Open Beta
The next major launch event should be, if all goes well, the opening up of the BasicSwap beta to the public.
BasicSwap is a cross-chain and private decentralized exchange powered by atomic swaps and the SMSG network. It lets you swap different coins, including PART, BTC, XMR, LTC, and others, without any intermediary.
We will start publishing more information about BasicSwap in the short term.
Particl Core, Particl Desktop, and Particl Marketplace
Following the long development cycle of Particl V3, we now intend on pushing more constant releases. While some of the larger items of the new roadmap will take some time to deliver, we've been careful to sprinkle a few short-to-medium items in it to ensure a more dynamic release process.
Marketing and Outreach Plans
There have been a lot of questions regarding what the marketing plan of the team is. While we have already set a few initiatives in motion, we plan to gradually scale up marketing, PR, and outreach efforts over the coming weeks and months as the Particl ecosystem grows and becomes more accessible. But, that is not to say we will sit idly by.
Indeed, we have a couple of initiatives set to go live and we will publish a blog post shortly to explain, in more detail, the marketing and outreach plan in the short-to-mid term.
The project, and the exciting journey we're embarking in with the new roadmap, wouldn't be possible without your support, passion, and contributions. We are infinitely grateful to have you all around and thank you from the bottom of our heart!
We wish you a great weekend; see you next week!
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