Hydra & LockTrip Ecosystem Update | December 2021
Today we are happy to share the December Ecosystem Update. So many things are going on and we can’t wait to present the progress to you.
Be prepared for a long read and maybe grab a cup of coffee (or tea)!
1. Delegated Staking & Superstaking
Last month, our team started working on the Delegated Staking & Superstaker features and completed the research phase.
This month we advanced with the development work and made good progress on both the actual protocol changes as well as the required interface additions to the staking application. We may be ready for the merge of this feature in late January or early February (to devnet).
Some of the features introduced to the staking client:
- Upgrading your client to a superstaker node
- Delegating your HYDRA to a superstaker of your choice
- Auto-split UTXOs for a quick optimization process
With these features, every node on the network can be upgraded to a superstaker-node. A superstaker-node can accept HYDRA from external wallets and stake them without having permission to do anything else with the funds. This way users can delegate their funds to others and no longer need to care about their own node setup.
What are the Benefits?
- Introducing offline staking capabilities
- Unlocking the staking feature for mobile wallets and potentially integrating with mainstream wallet providers
- Making it possible for individuals or businesses to offer a staking pool service on-chain and in a trustless manner (leaving only the reward-distribution to the pool provider, which carries negligible risk)
- Improving security by delegating to yourself. Since delegated funds can not be withdrawn by the superstaker, the staked funds can no longer be attacked, even if the private key of the staking wallet was to be exposed.
2. EVM Upgrade & Block Time Reduction
Last month we completed the testing of the EVM upgrade feature regarding smart contract functionality as well as compatibility.
This week we successfully merged the block time reduction feature with the devnet chain — which was in line with our expectations. Since then we have started our test procedures for the block time reduction. Early data suggests good performance, but further analysis is needed to draw conclusions.
Core focus points will be the search for potential instabilities, mini-forks as well as orphan blocks. We expect their frequency and occurance to be similar to the current mainnet.
With this feature, the average block time of the chain will drop from its current 128 seconds down to 32 seconds — thus improving by a factor of four.
The reduction of the block time will improve the entire experience and strengthen the impact of all applications that are being executed on-chain. Including but not limited to: Defi, DEX Swaps, Bridge Swaps, Token transfers, Hydra transfers, Staking, Games, as well as exchange deposit and withdrawal times.
3. Hydra DeFi & Decentralized Exchange (New Deployment!)
December was a very productive month for the Hydra DEX, with two releases being made. The first one was the much-anticipated analytics release published on December 22, which allows users to observe and track the performance of individual liquidity pools as well as the trading volumes for the entire DEX.
The milestone comes as a culmination of countless working hours and a combined effort of three separate teams. Although the interface itself is a relatively simple task, the supporting backend depends on an extensive infrastructure, which itself is fed by the blockchain.
The full announcement can be viewed below:
Overview across the DEX:
Trading history for a specific liquidity pool or token:
Performance history for a token:
… and much more!
The feedback from our community has been very positive and we have gathered a small number of bug reports, which we expect to fix in the first half of January.
Hydra DEX APIs (Launched!)
This week we also made the release of the Hydra DEX APIs along with a detailed documentation.
This release marks the next step in our DeFi roadmap and sets the foundation for various tools and features to be developed. You will find the full announcement below:
The APIs were designed according to the highest industry standards and provide all relevant data regarding DEX activity. They can be used by third parties without permission.
Supported endpoints include:
- Summary Endpoint
- Block Data
- Bundle Data
- LP Token Burns
- Factories Data
- Day Data
- LP Token Mints
- Pair Data
- Pair Day Dada
- Swaps Overview
- Token Information
- Token Day Data
- Transaction Data
- Liquidity Data
4. Cross-chain Bridge
The Hydra cross-chain bridge will allow for the free movement of capital between Hydra and Ethereum. This is a critical component to the ecosystem, as it gives Hydra the opportunity to capture capital from external chains and grow the TVL (total value locked) of its DEX.
Last month we shared with you a sneak-peek into the Bridge interface. This month we want to share a list of actual cross-chain swaps which were made as part of our test procedures and how they display on the Bridge interface.
You will notice that the swaps are possible in both directions and that not only ETH, but also the USDT token was used for testing purposes. The same mechanism can be applied to any token.
✅ We are happy to announce that the Bridge is now ready and two security audits will be initiated next week.
Once the audits are complete, the Hydra-Ethereum Bridge will start off with the following assets supported:
🔸 DAI
🔸 BTC
🔸 ETH
🔸 UNI
🔸 SUSHI
🔸 BNT
🔸 LINK
🔸 ENJ
🔸 AAVE
🔸 MATIC
🔸 BAT
5. Prototype Projects
This section focuses on the developments made in the area of moonshot-projects, which can be classified as “high risk — high reward”. The risk in this context comes from the fact that the projects in this category aim to fundamentally change how things are done. On the other hand, if successful, each of these projects has the potential to levitate Hydra to the next level.
5.1 LockTrip NFT Travel Matrix
The LockTrip NFT Travel Matrix aims to fundamentally alter how the global travel industry works and become the new standard for hotels and online travel agents. The online travel industry is estimated to reach $1 trillion in the coming years.
We have made good progress regarding the architectural design of the Travel NFT matrix. This includes:
- Finalizing on the smart contract standards (completed last month)
- Concept design including the technical allocation of various parameters on the NFT as well as supporting smart contracts (completed this month)
- Research on required functionality for the NFT marketplace (completed this month)
- Development of competing solutions for topics such as room-specific options including flexibility of cancellation or meal inclusions (ongoing, in communication with industry parties)
→ Collaboration with stakeholders of the industry is an ongoing process and will continue to accompany the project throughout its phases
5.2 Social Media DAO (Launched!)
This project aims to concentrate the community force behind Hydra chain and amplify it through the power of social media platforms. If successful, the Hydra community will be able to self-govern all marketing activities around Hydra and leverage on financial capital, economic inventives and the power of algorithms designed to scale.
In December we launched the first version of the social media DAO, along with a trial campaign for the purpose of testing, bug reporting as well as feedback gathering.
The top 10 performers of the trial campaign are listed below, whom we want to congratulate to their first rewards!
All rewards above $10 will be distributed in the first half of Januar. The remaining ones will be saved until additional balances are accumulated through future rounds.
In the meantime we took the opportunity to gather and implement feedback from participants. New rounds with bigger prize pools will be launched in early January. Be prepared!
Next Feature:
In addition to the above, we have started working on a data analytics dashboard, which will allow us to better measure the impact of each event round. Once ready, we will share important performance metrics with our community!
5.3 Single-Sided Liquidity | Hydra DEX
If successful, this project would mark one of the most important milestones not only for Hydra, but the entire DeFi sector. Right now the DeFi standard consists of dual-sided systems where liquidity providers are required to own both assets of the pool — thus forcing them to take on risks they don’t feel comfortable with; eventually being exposed to something called “impermanent loss”.
To tackle this problem, we are working on single-sided liquidity provision coupled with eliminating the impermanent loss problem.
Last month we had finalized the research phase of this project and confirmed a high-level technical roadmap with our DEX team.
Last week our team started with the active development work. The project includes multiple smart contracts, which will interact with each other (and with the existing DEX smart contracts) according to a certain set of rules.
The first and most important task on the roadmap is to build the architecture with all of the interdependencies. This will be the main focus point for January and lay the groundwork for the actual coding.
6. Hydra Mobile Wallet
On November 15 we launched the Hydra Mobile Wallet App.
Since then we have received good feedback and a small amount of bug reports. For example, the tokens amounts available inside the wallet did not show correctly for certain decives.
The next wallet version is scheduled for release in the first half of January.
🚀 In the meantime we are happy to report that the number of downloads surpassed 650 in December, up from 400 last month!
7. NFT Marketplace
Last month we announced that our team started with the research work for a dedicated NFT marketplace on the Hydra chain.
Since then we have started to put together a dedicated team, which will focus specifically on this task. We expect this process to be complete by mid January, after which we will commance with the architectural design.
8. Hydra Explorer Redesign & UX Improvements (NEW!)
This item is a completely new entry to our monthly updates and represents the first major upgrade to the explorer since the launch of Hydra mainnet.
Most of our community members are familiar with the Explorer. Below is a screenshot of its current design and appearance:
Although it has served very well over the past year and became a central and reliable tool for the ecosystem, you will quickly notice that its design is outdated.
We are now undertaking the next step of upgrading the visual elements to a more modern look and applying the Hydra brand design in order to make it uniform across all products and tools.
Below is an early mock-up of how it will look like:
Perhaps even more important than the modern look are the user experience improvements we are planning to make. We know that the UTXO model of the Hydra chain makes it more difficult to understand transactions, especially when there are multiple wallets involved.
Simplifying this will be one of the key improvements. More details will be shared in the next ecosystem update.
9. Token Projects
What is happening on the token projects side?
GoMeat Strengthens Burn Economy
GoMeat announced that in accordance with its whitepaper, the burn rate on marketplace orders will be raised from 3% to 4%. This represents a 33% increase in burning speed.
To date, a total of 5,645 GOMT accumulated for burning, with the burn execution scheduled for early January.
LockTrip closes Record Quarter!
Despite the growing Covid-restrictions (especially in Europe) and a reduced global travel activity, LockTrip achieved a record quarter in terms of booking volumes, with room-nights ending at a similar rate compared to Q3.
A detailed quarterly report will be published in January.
New Project Coming to Hydra Chain (Surprise!)
🔥 We are thrilled to announce that a new project will soon be launching on Hydra chain! 🔥
Although the details will be shared in an official announcement, we would like to outline some key aspects below:
🔹 The project will launch via an ICO on the Hydra chain
🔹 The product to be developed is of strategic importance to the ecosystem and will complement HYDRA in a unique way
🔹 The business will be scalable in nature
10. Liquidity Fund & Seed Program
10.1 Liquidity Mining Fund
💎 The liquidity mining fund has reached a total size of ~$10M since the program was introduced in November.
You can track its growth trajectory directonly on the chain:
https://explorer.hydrachain.org/address/HSgusTFKSRphA9nmqeFrWESGCkDiQY9tb6/balance
The fund will be used during the first few years of operation to elevate the Hydra DEX into the top league and boost the TVL (Total Value Locked) considerably.
10.2 Seed Council Program
The inclusion criteria for participating in the Hydra DAO council are currently being worked on and will be announced by mid-January.
Details for the limited edition seed NFTs will be shared on the same date.
11. LockTrip Marketplace
Now that we have covered the Hydra ecosystem as a whole, we will proceed with the LockTrip.com marketplace in greater detail.
11.1 Integration with Webjet OTAs
Both of our teams are communicating and maintaining a relatively good pace of work. Unfortunately, we can not share much detail on this item, due to the non-disclosure preference of our partner which our team is committed to.
➡️ The integration is about integrating the LOC Economy into the following two marketplaces:
Australia OTA: www.webjet.com.au
New Zealand OTA: www.webjet.co.nz
More details can be obtained from the below announcement:
11.2 Expanding with 2 Wholesale Suppliers
Last month we completed the certification process with the new suppliers and have since commenced the integration work. Our developers estimate 70% of the integration work to be complete by now, up from 50% last month.
We have a policy of not mentioning brands, but we can confidently say that signing these two was harder than usual as those are among the biggest companies in the travel industry.
11.3 Customer Support Scaling
As a result of the increased booking demand, the need for a bigger customer support team emerged. In order to respond to these needs, we recently expanded the support coverage from 12/7 towards 24/7.
This month we added one more support staff, for a new total of six agents in our customer support team. Our goal is to scale to 8 support staff in the short term.
11.4 Room Content, Taxes and Fees
This month we have started a new development sprint to improve the room content quality on our marketplace. Items that fall into this category:
- Higher quality room pictures
- More information on the room details and what customers can expect
- Exploring a feature that would allow for the taxes and fees to be displayed separately (where applicable)
11.5 Launch of Redesigned Homepage
In December we also deployed the redesigned marketplace homepage. In the screenshot below you will see the new interface, along with the flights section being removed (as elaborated in our earlier updates).
We expect this to improve the user experience of our users- That being said, the work put into the flights section is not lost. We may re-introduce this section at a later stage (with a higher quality and value proposition).
In addition to plain visual improvements, there is also a wider selection of reviews available. These are being sourced from trusted third party sites such as Google and Trustpilot.
The Guides section of them homepage was lifted for a higher visibility and dominance, with featured images enriching the space.
As a next step we will be making the featured image mandatory for landing pages (for higher conversion rates) and apply new filters that will only display high-quality guides on the homepage.
11.6 New Email Templates
In December we have initiated a complete re-design of email templates. The focus lies on a modern, clean and information-centric design.
Below you will find an example for the “Account Activation” template.
The code is clearly visible and a link is attached for convinience as well. The same is true for the “Reset Password” template:
Perhaps the most important one is the “Booking Confirmed” template, which carries all the important information about the upcoming stay and plays a critical role in the perceived experience.
Note how the automatically generated voucher is included (requesting it manually is no longer required).
Note: We are still refining the templates and improving the text. Nevertheless we wanted to share some sneak-peeks so that you can get a feeling of where things are going.
The template below comes as a notification that the payment was received and the booking is pending confirmation.
Finally, we are also attaching a view into the cancellation request template. The button embedded into the mail links directly to the cancellation status, which saves the customer few more clicks.
11.7 New Mobile App Version
Next week we will be pushing a new mobile app version with the following improvements:
- Search speed optimisation (previously deployed on browser)
- Implementation of Distance, Discount and Rating sort (previously deployed on browser)
- Fixed crashing behaviour when trying to cancel a booking
Happy New Year!
With that, we want to thank our entire community as well as the growing number of projects (small & big), developers and third parties for supporting us throughout 2021!
Having come this far in only one year after mainnet launch fills us with confidence, joy and motivation. We will continue pushing in 2022 and our goals will be nothing short of surpassing everything achieved so far.
We wish you all a happy new year and a good time with your loved ones! 🥂
We want to thank our entire community for their continuous support and feedback — and we can’t wait to see what the future holds!
👉 Join the Hydra Community
HYDRA is a proof-of-stake blockchain optimized for real-world businesses. It tackles some of the most profound and challenging issues with existing blockchain economies and introduces a truly shared economy with fair treatment to all network participants. Some of the more notable features:
🔥 100% Burn of all Transaction Fees
💎 50% Royalty on Gas for Smart Contract Creators → More Info
📌 Fixed Coin Transaction Fees of $0.20 → More Info
📌 Fixed Token Transaction Fees of $0.50 → More Info
💰 20% Minimum APR Staking Income → Staking Calculator
📈 Up to 540 TPS Elastic Capacity
🔏 EVM Compatible Smart Contract Platform
⚙️ Wallet-Level Scalability → More Info
🗳 Unique Decentralized Governance Protocol
