We are glad to share with you the latest development report about our work and progress over the past 6 months. This period marked an important step for us to move forward on the way to our major goal of inter-connected blockchain networks.
Two Successful EXRT Distributions
Fourth distribution (January) happened fast and without issues. It finished within few hours after the first transaction was sent. Fifth distribution (April) was our fastest distribution to date. Below you can see an outline of how speed of distribution process changed over the project’s timeline.
Reminder:
EXRT distribution form closes on the 2nd of July at 20:00 UTC
Make sure to register here: https://exrnchain.com/exrt/application/
EXRT Sense Testnet
First public testnet of EXRT Network was long-awaited successful release for everyone, we called this network ‘Sense’. We have been working hard to develop a network that was simple to use and at the same time provided a full demonstration of the EXRT Network speed and provide a glimpse into what is possible for the future.
Sense testnet registration opened in late January of this year and in early February the first set of testers and observers were granted access to the network. Since then there have been additional batches of testers and observers added totaling over 300 testers and observers combined. As we continue to progress with the project we will continue to add additional testers to the network
Take a look at the summary of EXRT Sense Testnet:
Access to EXRT Sense Network for an approved tester means access to:
- Documentation (how to interact with network, deploy contracts etc.)
- Faucet to claim test EXRT
- Explorer:
- Wallet (fork of MyEtherWallet adapted for EXRT):
Note that explorer and wallet UI’s will be changed to the Mainnet release.
We are also glad to say that we created Telegram group for our testers to report issues they find and make improvement suggestions.
We’d like to remind you once again about our testnet stages, as some can get confused on exact functionality:
Testnet is a usable prototype of EXRT Network consensus, where end users can try sending transactions, creating/interacting with contracts, launching DApps. Users report issues that they have while using the system.
Alphanet is a stage with another private testnet (based on the one we have public) that will have alpha protocol of EXRNchain (crosschain ability) connected to it. Once we launch it, it will be our main backbone for testing crosschain and audition of issues.
Betanet is basically addition of our alphanet accomplishments to the public testnet, so it’s beta version of EXRNchain that will be connected to public testnets of other assets for the purpose of testing the crosschain.
What this means is that testnet is the initial environment to test transactions, different smart contracts, testing initial transaction speed, identifying where there are opportunities for improvement, developing a test plan while focusing on the basics so we can build from there until alphanet and betanet are deployed. Users are using “test” wallets on the network, not their actual wallets since all transactions are happening on a “test network”.
EXRT Testnet is not is a full version of EXRNpay, EXRNswaps or EXRNex. Those are products that will run on a fully completed EXRT Mainnet version of this network. Those products are being developed in parallel, however the EXRT network is a critical part of this project.
Overall, EXRT Sense Network has been very stable, it is a big success and our major finished step on the way to the interconncted crosschain future.
Bilateral Crosschain 0.2
A few changes were made to our initial double-sided bilateral crosschain (0.1) that we shared in out last update.
The structure remains the same, most changes are focused on making system even more secure and eliminating as many attack scenarios as possible.
We have found 12 possible threats and issues within the previous system and fully fixed them. We also created security mechanics to prevent ‘double-spent’ mistakes during crosschain swaps.
Above you can see updated example of bilateral trade, where we have added 2 security checks at the outgoing route from backend and from TAI.
The backend and TAI will be running at each validating node/machine, so this checks are added to ensure there is no possibility of spoofing,
cheating and performing MITM attacks by any validating node. Checks will be performed inside the backend system itself and by 3rd party validator backend simultaneously.
TAI [Trustless Asset Identification]
Our co-founder Zhuan Wen is the Lead Developer working on TAI technology which will be used in EXRNchain.
It allows to identify and separate coins/tokes/assets between each other. As for EXRNchain&TAI functionality of identification, there are now already over 50 networks that TAI can separate, identify and validate ownership of.
TAI functionality goes far beyond the minimum needed for EXRNchain, it brings coin IDs to the public ledger which by itself has many use cases. What’s important is that TAI will be used in EXRNchain crosschain route, so it benefits the whole crosschain ecosystem we are building and if any separate TAI-based project emerges, it will be closely connected to EXRN\EXRT ecosystem and you will get to know about it one of the first.
Exchanges & Partnerships
The EXRNchain team’s current primary focus is to develop a powerful but user-friendly and efficient product experience. One of the challenges in the cryptocurrency space today is that many exchanges are filled with inflated volumes and require significant capital for projects to be listed hence we be very selective on which exchanges we list on to make sure its the right fit for our project. We are continuously searching for quality exchanges that can offer both EXRN and EXRT listings that make sense for both this project and the exchange. Additionally, we are actively looking at opportunities for strategic partnership and additional investment opportunities as the project continues to grow.
Team ‘Questions & Answers’ Session
During November 2018 we had a ‘questions & answers’ session in our official Telegram group, where many important questions from our community were asked. Here is a summary of that Q&A: https://medium.com/@EXRNToken/exrnchain-team-q-a-report-1489a9d524b5
Some important highlights:
Q: When EXRT tokens switches to EXRT mainnet coins, will we be able to stake with this? And if yes, is this something an average investor with limited IT skills will be able to do?
A: EXRT (after swap to mainnet) will have two types of staking:
a) validating — securing EXRT & EXRN networks (block rewards)
b) regular staking (EXRNchain fees will be distributed fairly between all stakers)Option B should be easy for any newbie in blockchains. It will most likely work by just holding tokens in your wallet.
Q: Does seller have to support EXRNpay in order for buyer to use it? Or the seller may have any wallet and the buyer will simply pay in desired cryptocurrency using EXRNpay ?
A: If we are talking basic EXRNpay usage — yes.
Seller has to have EXRNpay app that will have his wallets connected and will allow him to request payment from you (showing the QR code to scan to pay).If seller doesn’t have the EXRNpay, it is still possible to have great experience using EXRNswaps. Example: seller accepts BTC only, but you have ETH — you do a crosschain swap using the app [ETH → BTC] and then pay with BTC directly to him. It’s a bit longer, but still portable and simple way :)
Moving ahead…
Now that we have passed the very important goal of a successful testnet we will be progressing ahead to the alphanet stage where we are going to build a private testnet environment with the alpha protocol of EXRNchain which will allow the first ‘real-conditions’ crosschain swaps to happen.
We are also planning plenty of interesting and exciting announcements and insights that will be shared with you when the right time comes. Thank you for support through-out this hard time in the cryptocurrency world.
What are our next steps?
- Sixth EXRT distribution
- Alphanet (bilateral connection, TAI, backend, bidding system further development)
- Hiring
- Expand range of available exchanges for EXRN and EXRT
