Current Media — An Update: Q1 2018 🙌

8 min readApr 16, 2018

There has been an incredible amount of closed-door activity since we closed our private sale that has enabled us to share some exceptional updates in product development updates which place us ahead of our schedule nearly across the board. We’ve been heads down working tirelessly on the product, protocol, hiring, marketing, partnerships, and the upcoming token distribution. Now, what you’ve all been waiting for, the updates.

Product Updates 👨🏻‍💻📲

Current Protocol (Ahead of Schedule)

Our developers have made major headway writing and pressure-testing the protocol to ensure transparent recording of user plays, along with determining a user’s contribution to the network, and attribute the appropriate amount of tokens to that user.

After third-party stability and security auditing, the protocol and wallet will be seamlessly added to the Current ecosystem, allowing anyone to earn while streaming. Users will then be able to immediately redeem their tokens to subsidize or replace the costs of their premium subscriptions on Current, Spotify, YouTube Red, or Apple Music.

We’re extremely excited to release V1 of the protocol by the end of Q2, a full quarter ahead of our original timeline. As things progress, we’ll be writing a full, in-depth technical post.

Upcoming Android Release (Ahead of Schedule)

The Android version of the Current App is well underway and will be made available in the Google Play store by the end of Q2, also (a full quarter ahead from our original timeline!) This dramatically increases our ability to reach new users across the world. Check out the demo video below.

Apple Music Integration for iOS 11.3 (Ahead of Schedule & Live)

We listened to our users and upon request, added an Apple Music integration that will allow users (without a subscription) to preview tracks, and users with premium subscriptions to stream full tracks. We’re planning on adding additional functionality, in Q2. Additional functionality may also include the ability to add your entire media library. Download the update here!

iOS App Overhaul

The Current iOS app has been getting a major overhaul. In the next iteration, the iOS app will have an entirely new look and feel.

The new discover screen provide easier access to popular and suggested content based on preferences.

At the top of the new discover screen, you’ll see that we brought search to the forefront, making it easier to find the content you’re looking for. Functionality is also much improved, allowing you to search all the integrations at once instead of swapping from one to the other.

Everything you watch, listen to, save and create is perfectly organized and easily accessible in your library.

Marketing & Partnership Updates 📈

Current will be featured in a Major Television Network Documentary

Early in Q1, we were approached by a major television network that was preparing to film a documentary on blockchain founders and their companies. Filming began at our launch party in Miami on January 20th, and then resumed at our US headquarters for a week in late February. The release date has yet to be announced, but expected to be sometime in the next few months. Stay tuned!

User Acquisition Ramp Up + Influencer Partnerships Coming

Now that we’re in Q2, we’ll start running new campaigns to bring more users into the platform. We’ll also be working with a variety of influencers who are very excited on what Current is building. More news on that soon.

New Video & Film, and Podcast Integrations

We have been working diligently on several major Integrations for video, film, and podcasts. It’s our goal to soon allow you to start earning from many of your favorite video services. Our deal for podcasts is already closed and coming soon! We are now negotiating agreements that would allow us to greatly expand Current’s video offerings throughout the world.

Total Amount of People Who Signed Up For Current — Q1 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

Total Email Subscriber List ( Inclusive of Referrals & Sign ups ): 925,831

Sum of Telegram groups members: 132,100

Main Telegram Chat (One of the first to hit 100k group max): 93,884

Announcement Telegram Channel: 33,295

Bounty Telegram Chat: 3,659

Chinese Telegram Chat: 1,916

Facebook: 23,221

Twitter: 8,202

Operational Updates 👋

New Teammates & Contractors

We’ve been actively interviewing and hiring new members of the team in operations, development, product, and marketing. We have interviewed countless people in search of the best and brightest to become part of our team. Here are some of our most recent additions!

Andy Pai, Head of Operations and Finance (Contractor)

Before Current, Andy was the Co-founder & CEO of finbox.io — a profitable Y-Combinator backed investment analytics company. Before founding finbox.io, Andy lead analysis as an investment banking Associate at Duff & Phelps on board advisory engagements totaling billions in deal value.

Ryan Fisch, Lead Blockchain Engineer

Ryan has spent nearly the last two decades as a developer working across supply chain, logistics, advertising, investment and financial services, real estate, and media. He spent his early years as MS Full Stack, transitioning into cloud, distributed systems, microservices and most recently Blockchain. Ryan specializes in Java, Javascript, C#, vb.net, Ruby, Python, Node.js, and Solidity. He is also a certified Scrum Master and AWS solutions architect.

Brian Dentino, Senior Full Stack Developer

Previously founder, CTO and wearer of many hats at finbox.io — a profitable Y-Combinator backed investment analytics company. Before founding finbox.io, Brian was a Software Engineer at GE Healthcare. Brian holds Bachelor of Science degrees in both Physics and Computer Science from Notre Dame, and a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from the University of Illinois.

Jason Skicewicz, Senior Backend Developer Consultant

Previously the CTO of Bucketfeet, Jason has extensive experience as a core developer, systems architect, and project/product manager. He’s worked on building companies in many different domain areas including online dating, mobile applications, photo sharing, social networks, learning management systems, and even analog modems early in my career. He specializes in Python, Objective-C, C, C++, Javascript, Django, Database systems (RDBMS), NoSQL Databases (MongoDB), Amazon Web Services (AWS), Communication systems and networks, Digital signal processing and System administration.

Anabelle Martinez, Executive Assistant & Office Administrator

Anabelle started her career at Snapsheet; she then moved on to become the Executive Assistant to the CEO of Spothero before landing her position at Current. Anabelle assists our CEO and Head of Finance & Operations. Anabelle is also the owner of Maestri Tutoring a successful tutoring center in the Chicago.

Dave Hoover, Blockchain Engineering Advisor

With a background in Psychology, Dave’s been an engineer ever since he became interested in how technologists become competent and keep up with the constant change in the ecosystems. Dave was previously the co-founder of Dev Bootcamp, Head of Engineering at Raise, and an Ethereum Developer for ConsenSys and Augur. A minority owner of Obtiva, Mad Mimi, and Dev Bootcamp, all of which were acquired.

Join Our Team — If you are interested in joining or know someone who could be a good fit — please apply here.

Meet The Team With Our New FAQ Videos

International Localization of Current Media Content 🌍

For our multilingual and international communities, we have translated our website and materials in the following languages!

Russian, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Italian, Japanese

In the coming months, we’ll be opening up additional, language-specific communities in Telegram to ensure more and more people have access to announcements and can have their questions answered by our team. We’ll be announcing each of them as they come online.

Token Distribution 🌟

We are very excited to announce our protocol will be live on the platform way ahead of schedule (Formerly Q3, now Q2). We are in talks with some of the brightest minds in the industry and have been advised to hold off on token distribution until the protocol is implemented within Current. The good news is that we were already planning on doing distribution during Q2 (late April) and still plan on proceeding sometime during Q2. This is a prudent action to best ensure a healthy future for the Current ecosystem.

We have had tens of thousands confirmed users sign up for our Airdrop campaigns. In anticipation of the protocol launch and the subsequent token distribution in Q2, we will be releasing a portal in the coming weeks for all registered airdrop participants to claim their tokens.

Select Recent Media Mentions Recap 🎥

Dan on CNBC commenting on the bitcoin market & introducing Current

A Note From Dan 😀

We look forward to keeping our updates frequent and consistent. Thank you again for your patience and are thrilled to report that we are excelling in our ability to swiftly shift our teams pace of delivering ahead of schedule. Thank you all again! We wouldn’t be here without you.

Dan Novaes|CEO — Current Media|Dan@current.us