Band Protocol July 2020 Community Update
Dear Band Community,
During the month of July, we have been able to showcase the beginning of our work with numerous partners in stealth during the course of the year. In addition, we began working towards bringing BandChain Phase 1, which includes full oracle functionality, one step closer to public Mainnet with the launch of the first testnet alongside more than 50 validators who joined the network.
We are thrilled to share with you all the technical developments, integration progress, and new major partnerships that will bring the secure external real-world data from BandChain decentralized oracle network into the hands of numerous decentralized applications.
Tech Updates
With our extensive integration engineering team, we have continued to focus on working closely with many leading layer-1 blockchain platforms as well as the native decentralized applications that are built on top to integrate custom oracle scripts on BandChain. We’ve also released a new version of CosmoScan with upgraded features and GuanYu Testnet #1.
As usual, all the developments are open-source:
GuanYu Testnet #1
On July 15, we shared the guide on how to join the Phase 1 (GuanYu) Testnet #1 as a validator and learn more about the responsibilities going forward. The validators participating in the Guan Yu Testnet #1 and #2 will have the first-mover advantage to set up a Phase 1 Mainnet node, being the first to capture data request fee upon Mainnet release and opportunity for delegation from the Band Foundation.
The Band Protocol technical team has been working in hand with more than 50+ validators who joined the network to monitor and fix various issues in preparation for Mainnet. Altogether, there have been more than 400,000 blocks mined with over 20,000+ oracle requests that have been fulfilled by the validators.
CosmoScan
Upon release, CosmoScan has been a popular product for the Band community to interact with the BandChain decentralized oracle network. We have made sure to listen to the community for feedback and feature requests, dedicating more resources to make CosmoScan the top open-source block explorer.
This month, we’ve added full mobile support for CosmoScan and also incoming transactions to the account page so users can see $BAND token sending into an address.
Our team has also kickstarted research into the UX of CosmoScan for a complete revamp that will support more detailed analysis of BandChain oracle activities once Phase 1 is live. The full list of features can be found on our bi-weekly Twitter updates here:
BandChain Update
We are in the process of finalizing the security audit report for the BandChain oracle module, the full report of the chain audit will be published in the coming weeks. This month we have also upgraded to the most recent Cosmos-SDK release v0.39.1. For future reference, the pre-stargate stable version of Cosmos-SDK will be the version that the GuanYu testnet is launched with.
Incentive systems for oracle status have also been revamped to have inactive oracle validators flagged almost immediately to reduce the risks of insufficient data reports in oracle requests. This has been tested to be working well on the testnet and will continue to be optimized prior to the GuanYu public Mainnet launch.
Due to strong demand from developers and our partners, we are also ready to proceed towards the launch of a Proof-of-Authority Mainnet in early August to accelerate the availability of Band Protocol oracles for partners to utilize on a smart contract and frontend level. This will allow developers and partners to integrate their Mainnet with BandChain prior to the public launch of Phase 1.
Check out more details here:
Oracle Script Update
The runtime of the BandChain oracle scripts and data sources have been upgraded to support a wider range of utility libraries including cctx, the industry standard for getting cryptocurrency price information from exchanges.
Our team have also been working to implement data source runtimes in multiple execution environments including Docker, AWS lambda, and Google Cloud. This will add more resilience to the BandChain network as it will not rely solely on one runtime provider.
Finally, we have extracted oracle script Wasm runtime into its own independent library with the goal of creating a better developer experience in writing and testing oracle scripts. We are working towards having tools like Truffle available for the public to use soon.
Partnership Developments
During the course of July, we had the opportunity to showcase our work with major blockchain partners Waves & ICON as well as the various leading decentralized applications building on top of their platforms. Within the nine total partnership developments, we’ve been listed on Satang, the leading Thailand crypto asset exchange, and Crypto.com App, the Crypto-Fiat VISA Card Provider for over 3 million users.
Waves Platform Partnership
Band Protocol has strategically partnered with Waves Platform, an open blockchain protocol and development toolset for Web 3.0 applications and decentralized solutions in DeFi, gaming, identity, DAOs, voting, and more. Both teams have been working together to integrate Band Protocol’s decentralized and customizable oracles having completed bridge implementation and work with various Web 3.0 applications in the Waves ecosystem.
With Band Protocol added officially into the Waves technical documentation — developers, enterprises, and many other ecosystem players on Waves can permissionlessly utilize Band Protocol to connect to any external data source or API using BandChain’s customizable oracle script that is built for flexibility, modularity, and scalability.
ICON Network Partnership
ICON Network, one of the largest decentralized blockchain networks, has strategically partnered and chosen Band Protocol to provide secure and verified data oracles for its rapidly growing decentralized application ecosystem. Both teams have been working together to integrate Band Protocol’s decentralized oracles that have been fine-tuned for the needs of numerous leading DApps in the ICON ecosystem. These include DeFi, prediction market, sports/esports betting, and RNG/VRF applications.
With the bridge implementation completed on ICON Network, Band Protocol has been officially added into the ICON Developer Portal, providing the tools for developers to create and utilize custom data oracle scripts to securely build decentralized applications in a scalable manner. ICON developers starting from today will have complete access to the BandChain decentralized oracle network and can begin utilizing various price feeds or build a custom oracle script of their own specification.
Neutrino Stablecoin Partnership
The leading decentralized finance application built on Waves technology, Neutrino (USDN), has chosen Band Protocol to provide a robust and secure price feed for collateral assets such as WAVES/USD. Neutrino is an algorithmic stablecoin that allows users to use WAVES tokens as collateral to mint USDN, a stablecoin pegged to 1 USD. The stablecoin protocol will use multiple trusted, high-quality data sources capable of providing price updates on-demand through Band Protocol.
Neutrino has chosen Band Protocol as the decentralized oracle to provide the spot market price of collateral (WAVES) value in real-time and on-demand without paying an excessive amount of fees for price updates. This will ensure that Neutrino smart contracts do not query data that could be potentially delayed and susceptible to price fluctuations or manipulation — protecting the $15 million total value locked up as collateral and staking.
Gravity Hub Partnership
Gravity, a blockchain-agnostic cross-chain data oracles protocol, will be utilizing Band Protocol’s oracles to create a symbiotic network to unite all existing blockchains and decentralized applications. Band Protocol will be facilitating a bridge for all participating blockchains on Gravity between all types of data, ranging from on-chain events used in cross-chain operations such as token transfer to external data sources or APIs that power specific decentralized applications.
Gravity’s nodes will be able to obtain oracle data from the BandChain decentralized oracle network and relay them to any other blockchain or decentralized application connected to Gravity. For any specific piece of data available on BandChain, it will be possible to prove, from another blockchain, that an oracle query result or specific transaction has taken place on BandChain.
Balanced Partnership
Decentralized financial platform for stablecoin and synthetic assets, Balanced, has chosen Band Protocol to provide secure and scalable price feeds for collateral asset ICX/USD and numerous synthetic assets such as BTC, gold, oil and more upon product expansion. Balanced allows users to deposit their ICX as collateral and borrow tokens pegged to the value of real-world assets.
As the first DeFi platform on ICON, the Balanced team has evaluated several oracle options for secure data feeds for the pricing of Balanced pegged assets and collateral. Band Protocol has been chosen to accommodate their extensive data needs in real-world assets from various sources without being restricted with scalability and customizability.
Bet Protocol Integration & Partnership
BetProtocol, one of the leading betting protocols providing technology for over 12+ operators, has strategically partnered and integrated with Band Protocol to provide reliable oracles for sports and Esports data. With over 50,000 registered users, BetProtocol currently supports over 12+ operators including Bistox Games, Hodlbet and TKN.COM — the second most popular Ethereum betting application.
Band Protocol has been chosen to be the launch partner to power BetProtocol’s upcoming and awaited release of Esports betting, creating custom oracle scripts on BandChain that are connected to trusted and selected premium API providers in a reliable, decentralized and scalable manner.
Satang Partnership & Listing
Satang, the leading regulated and first digital asset exchange in Thailand, will be listing the first fiat-pair for BAND on 9th July 2020 at 7:00 PM GMT+7. BAND token holders will be able to leverage Satang App, a digital wallet connected to the Satang Pro digital exchange and financial banks to facilitate the access and management of cryptoassets.
This integration support extends to Satang Shop, an e-commerce management application where vendors will be able to receive payments from customers who pay with BAND in exchange for utilities, public transportation, online shopping, and more.
Crypto.Com Listing
Crypto.com, the leading debit and credit VISA card provider for cryptoassets, will list Band Protocol (BAND) on the Crypto.com App on 31st July 2020 at 2:00 PM GMT+7. This will enable the Crypto.com userbase of 3,000,000+ to purchase BAND using credit card or bank transfers — expanding the awareness, accessibility and utility of the token to the global crypto audience.
All Crypto.com users will be able to purchase the BAND token with fiat currencies and also spend BAND at over 60,000,000+ merchants worldwide who accept VISA through the MCO VISA Card.
Woodstock Operates BandChain Validator Node
Specialized multi-asset investment fund focused on high growth distributed ledger technology (DLT) and blockchain project, Woodstock, is joining as a validator node on BandChain’s decentralized oracle network. The fund supports a portfolio of leading projects including Elrond Network, Marlin Protocol, Holo, Casper Labs, and also Band Protocol as a private investor and strategic partner to expand global footprint.
Community Outreach
During July, the Band Protocol team has been working alongside our wallet partners to support staking campaigns and kickstart the ‘Understanding Band Oracle’ series for our technical audience. The series has received positive feedback and we encourage you to suggest new content idea or topics for our team to cover — we’d love to put an article together for you!
Cross-Chain Hackathon Winner Spotlights
In April, Band Protocol joined forces with Cosmos & Agoric teams to host a virtual hackathon on Gitcoin with the goals of revolutionizing blockchain interoperability through the new inter-blockchain communication (IBC) protocol.
The hackathon concluded successfully as one of the largest blockchain hackathons of the year with over 312 participating hackers and 42 projects built in just three weeks’ time. Check out what the Band Protocol winners built below:
Understanding Band Oracle Technical Series
Band Protocol is building a decentralized cross-chain data oracle that enables our users to create highly secure, reliable and trustworthy decentralized applications. As such, we wanted to make sure that our users and wider community had access to a detailed overview on our decentralized oracle network architecture.
We cover the oracle process from start to finish, beginning with data sources & oracle scripts to requesting data on BandChain and the lite client verification process.
Check out the three-part series below:
Band Protocol Bi-Weekly Updates
For community visibility and transparency, we’ve started a bi-weekly $BAND tech release where we cover the highlights and notable updates from a comprehensive list of features in the Github changelog.
Atomic Wallet Staking Campaign
To celebrate the Atomic Wallet integration with Band Protocol, both teams hosted a $500 staking contest for the BAND token holders! Check out the winners and participants below:
Math Wallet Staking Campaign
To celebrate the Math Wallet integration with Band Protocol, both teams hosted a $500 staking contest for the MATH and BAND token holders! Check out the winners and participants below:
Looking Into August
With the BandChain Phase 1 Proof-of-Authority Mainnet coming up, we will be dedicating resources and efforts to ensure a smooth release for our partners to transition from devnet to Mainnet. We’re excited to showcase the diverse set of partners that will finally be able to utilize BandChain oracle data on the Mainnet!
In addition, we’ll continue to work with our 50+ participating validators on the GuanYu testnet to stress-test, fix issues and monitor the network to ensure everything as secure as possible for the public launch of BandChain Phase 1.
Stay tuned for a huge month in August for Band Protocol!
About Band Protocol
Band Protocol is a cross-chain data oracle platform that aggregates and connects real-world data and APIs to smart contracts. Blockchains are great at immutable storage and deterministic, verifiable computations — however, they cannot securely access data available outside the blockchain networks. Band Protocol enables smart contract applications such as DeFi, prediction markets, and games to be built on-chain without relying on the single point of failure of a centralized oracle. Band Protocol is backed by a strong network of stakeholders including Sequoia Capital, one of the top venture capital firms in the world, and the leading cryptocurrency exchange, Binance.
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