Developer’s Update December 14, 2017
Etherparty is a blockchain technology company that develops smart contract applications powered by the FUEL token. We are developing a platform that allows users to create smart contracts on any compatible blockchain, without having any programming knowledge. The Etherparty beta is live. If you would like to participate, please visit our website to sign up.
Q&A
Q: “Your last github update was 15 days ago. Why?”
A: Our development work on Etherparty is in private repositories. We hope to open source more useful tools, as we’ve done with our popular Ethereum block explorer, in the future.
Q: “How is Etherparty going to deal with its competitors in 2018?”
A: We have innovative ideas in the pipeline that go beyond contract creation, and we think our platform and ecosystem will drive people towards Etherparty. Our approach to the interface will be constantly evolving to make sure that as smart contracts get more complex, Etherparty stays user-friendly.
Q: “What will happen to etherparty and its name/brand if the team decides to change to another blockchain instead of Ethereum”
A: We are already working with the Rootstock team, and will continue with the Etherparty branding as we become more blockchain agnostic. Although, Antshares turned into NEO just fine, so anything is possible!
Q: “What new features are you, as developers, most excited about?”
A: (Jeff, Full-stack/Solidity Developer): I like that you can follow the same contract creation process to deploy to multiple networks. There’s a lot of partisans in the crypto space, but moves like this towards blockchain agnosticism help total adoption of the space, and encourage a healthy ‘best tool for the job’ mentality.
A: (Patrick, Blockchain Developer): I’m very excited for anyone to start deploying smart contracts. The barrier to entry is incredibly high, and making this possible for anyone interested in the blockchain space will definitely increase the rate of adoption. I’m excited to see what people will do with our contracts!
A: (Brian, Lead Architect): I’m excited about the Rootstock integration and being able to deploy to multiple blockchains, and how we can in the future expand on this to the many newer blockchains that are coming out. I am also very excited to see how users react to our new notification system that will constantly update the end-user as the contracts go from creation, to compilation, to deployment.
Beta Invites
A total of 1,214 new invites were sent out for the second wave of the Etherparty beta. Including our initial batch, we now have 2,667 people creating, compiling, deploying, and interacting with smart contracts! We have more invites to send yet, but first, we would like to address some more feedback we’ve received from users.
Beta Feedback
Q: “I was a bit unfamiliar the terminology around contract/token creation, which made creating contracts difficult. In addition, with token creation/crowd funding, I was unsure of what a “decimal” 1–18 was. With both these issues, it could be useful to have hover or popup information boxes.”
A: We agree. The new contract creation flow incorporates helpful explainer tags with the entry fields to simplify the contract creation process, and make it less about “blockchain” and more about “your use case.”
Q: “I think in general the UI is really good. I like how everything is very interactive and responsive… sometimes. I was unsure with the numbers: if I needed to add a % sign, or if it would be automatically included. “
A: Absolutely. Trivial field entry requirements (that might be difficult to know given the huge app landscape right now) get in the way of what you came here to do — save you or your business time and money.
Q: “Section “buy fuel” in the platform, not only on the website, would have been great, with possibility for bank transfers and card payments, along with cryptos”
A: The Buy Fuel button will be coming with our mainnet release. The functionality already exists, but has been removed from the beta, as it is just on the Ropsten testnet for now.
Q: Easy to use, intuitive, and descriptive: I would add more descriptions and examples of how to use it in specific situations.”
A: Agreed — we are actively working on tailoring contracts to specific use cases to give users a more concrete idea of how it could work for their needs.
Q: “Is there a live version where I can create my Tokens? I have tested the beta, and would like to launch my crowdfund. I already have a few sites… listed as project stocks, but would like to move these into an ETH contract, as my investors prefer to work with ETH rather than BTC. Let me know…”
A: The live release is coming end of Q1 2018.
Q: Do you have any businesses that are beta testing, and telling you what their needs of the platform are”
A: We are working directly with several companies to inform our contract building decisions in areas, such as supply chain management. Additional relationships are already in the pipeline, and we welcome any person or business to contact us if this area concerns them as well.
Q: “What features do you think will be most useful for businesses using the platform and how are those coming along?”
A: The enterprise API that will allow developers to create and deploy smart contracts programmatically, without the web UI, is the most exciting right now. It’s coming along very well as an extension of the standard Etherparty REST API. We hope to have more info to share on this after our Q1 mainnet release.
Development Update
In our current beta, the contracts function as single page forms to be filled out. This is simple and easy-to-understand, but not very dynamic. We’re working on a system that accomplishes both.
As an example, we’ll use the ICO Campaign funnel.
Give your campaign a name, which will identify your Token and Crowdfund contracts within Etherparty.
We are developing multiple base templates to suit the needs of specific, niche crowdfund operators, as well as more popular, well-rounded contracts, with an emphasis on easy-to-understand language and obscuring some of the more technical details from the end user. Your selection here informs what options are available to you for both your token and your crowdfund, as you continue to build out your contracts.
After selecting your base template, select which network to deploy the contract on. Our beta currently supports Ethereum, but the main net release of Etherparty will work with Ethereum and Rootstock out of the box, with additional blockchains to be considered at later dates.
With the base setup stage complete, we will work on creating our token, then allocating a total amount of tokens, and finally distributing the tokens via a crowdfund.
The example here shows a very common allocation scheme, with the majority going to the crowdfunding campaign to be distributed, and the rest split among incentivization, marketing, and the team.
Community Outreach
The possibility for smart contracts is endless. But to realize it, we need your help! If anyone has any personal or business needs for smart contracts that we haven’t touched on, or any feedback on what we’ve talked about, let us know! We’d love to hear from you.
Disclaimer
Please be advised that the purchasing of FUEL tokens are solely for the purpose of receiving services, participating in the Etherparty Ecosystem, and supporting the development, testing, deployment and operation of the Etherparty Ecosystem as set forth in the Etherparty Smart Contracts Inc. (Etherparty) Crowdsale Terms and Conditions (the Terms and Conditions). You have acknowledged to and agreed with Etherparty that you are aware of the commercial risks associated with Etherparty, the purchase of FUEL tokens and the Etherparty Ecosystem, and you have acknowledged to and agreed with Etherparty that you are not purchasing FUEL tokens for any other purposes other than use and consumption on the Etherparty Ecosystem, including, but not limited to, any investment, speculative or financial purpose.
