Ecosystem Update
December 2020
Quick Take
- ERC-20 BLOCK is now live on Ethereum.
- XLite slated for early 2021 public release.
- Block DX all time volume exceeds $1,000,000.
- Hydra slated for Q1 2021 release, documentation and website in the works.
- New Blocknet Roadmap to be released next week.
ERC-20 BLOCK is Now Live on Ethereum
It’s here! Our ERC-20 version of the native BLOCK coin, known as aBLOCK, is now live on Ethereum. The aBLOCK token brings immense utility to both the Ethereum and Blocknet ecosystems, and we could not be more excited about this important milestone.
One Giant Leap for Liquidity
The ERC-20 BLOCK bridge provides Blocknet with direct access to the large capital reserves that exist on the Ethereum network. Ethereum based decentralized exchanges have seen huge increases in volume in 2020, with Uniswap recently surpassing $50b in all time volume. Thanks to aBLOCK, Ethereum users are now able to easily purchase aBLOCK via Ethereum based decentralized exchanges such as Uniswap (view aBLOCK on Uniswap here).
Although it’s only been 2 weeks since the launch of aBLOCK, more than $28,000 USD has already been deposited into liquidity provider contracts on Uniswap.
The pooling of liquidity for BLOCK across different markets and ecosystems, like Ethereum, offers immense opportunities and signifies the maturation of the Blocknet ecosystem. As ERC-20 support is rolled out for our XBridge protocol in 2021, the trading volume for aBLOCK can transition from Ethereum based decentralized exchanges to Block DX.
Farming Incentives
We are in the process of building a DeFi “farming portal” for aBLOCK which will provide farming incentives, in the form of aBLOCK, to those who provide liquidity to aBLOCK on Uniswap. Liquidity providers will be able to stake their Uniswap liquidity provider (LP) tokens with the farming portal in exchange for aBLOCK rewards. These farming incentives will act to compensate the liquidity providers for their forgone staking rewards (since it’s not possible to stake aBLOCK on the Blocknet network) and further encourages the provision of liquidity for aBLOCK.
Enhanced Interoperability
aBLOCK enhances interoperability between Blocknet and Ethereum and brings Blocknet’s utility to Ethereum by providing a convenient payment vehicle for Hydra, our decentralized replacement for Infura.
Blocknet users also now have direct access to all the decentralized applications, exchanges, wallets and DeFi protocols operating on the Ethereum blockchain. This will provide Blocknet users broader access to financial applications, without the need for trusted intermediaries.
Under the Hood
The aBLOCK token is a “wrapped” 1:1 version of the native BLOCK coin. It’s the same coin you know and love, but with a wrapper around it, which allows it to exist on the Ethereum blockchain.
Under the hood, the bridge to Ethereum utilizes Fusion’s decentralized Distributed Control Rights Management (DCRM), which keeps the coins securely locked until an equal amount of aBLOCK is burnt/unwrapped. The Fusion code and infrastructure were also designed to be permissionless, so that anyone from the community can leverage the bridge to create aBLOCK.
For more information on aBLOCK, and detailed steps on how to buy or create it, click here.
XLite 1.0 Release Slated for Early 2021.
XLite, our DEX compatible multi-wallet, will be advancing from public beta to a production release in Q1 2021! Our developers and community have been extensively testing and debugging XLite over the past several months and are now sufficiently satisfied with its stability and performance to move forward with a production release.
The XLite release will also coincide with a new build of Block DX exchange, which will automate the process of connecting XLite to Block DX for trading.
The public release of XLite, along with an automated XLite setup wizard for Block DX, will improve the user experience by an order of magnitude when compared to trading with full node wallets. We could not be more excited about these upcoming major releases.
Be the first to know about the public XLite release by signing up to our e-mail notification service here.
Hydra Documentation in the Works
After launching XLite 1.0 in early 2021, we will be gearing up to launch Hydra, our decentralized replacement for Infura. Marketing has already started with a new twitter account and work on a new website and user documentation has also begun.
For the uninitiated, Hydra is the name for the Blocknet’s URL drop-in replacement for Infura. Hydra is built on the XRouter Protocol and provides service node operators with a metered API implementation that enables them to charge for API calls.
XRouter is the communication layer of the Blocknet Protocol that enables dApps to consume services and verify data on any blockchain, without the need to host blockchains locally. XRouter harnesses the Blocknet’s interchain overlay network (i.e. service nodes) and SPV proofs, to empower developers to build lightweight dApps that are decentralized from the ground up, and can be composed of services and contracts on many chains.
The payment gateway allows users to send a request with a payment to service nodes in return for a project ID and API that allows them to make a certain number of requests to the API based on how much they paid. The project ID and API key is then used to track the calls. This is similar to how centralized blockchain infrastructure-as-a-service providers like Infura work today.
Block DX All Time Volume Exceeds $1,000,000
Trading volume on our peer-to-peer decentralized exchange, Block DX, is continuing to grow organically and has now surpassed $1,000,000!
New Roadmap
We will be announcing a very exciting new Blocknet Roadmap in early January 2021, which will include improvements for Block DX, such as the eagerly anticipated ERC-20 support, partial orders and much more. We will also be providing details of our plans to build a new all-in-one web 3.0 version of Block DX to usher in the mass adoption of Blocknet.
Looking Forward
It has been a fantastic 2020, with Blocknet achieving many important milestones and our Discord and Telegram communities continuing to grow. Many of our community members have been involved in QA testing, some have written articles and technical docs, and others have contributed code. With so many important upcoming developments in the pipeline, we could not be more excited about the future of Blocknet and its impact on the DeFi Ecosystem.
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If you would like to contribute to the project, have something to add, or would like to report a problem, please let us know in our Discord or Telegram.
Onwards and upwards,
– The Blocknet Contributors
About Blocknet
The Blocknet is a decentralized network and protocol suite for seamless cross-blockchain interoperability.
