Monthly Update [July]
All the important stuff in one monthly update
Hi guys!
Welcome to our first Monthly Update. We’ve been thinking about how best to keep the community updated about what’s happening here at MyBit. While our Weekly Updates have had a good response, we thought less frequent but better quality content is the way to go. We hope you agree.
From now on, we’ll be releasing a Monthly Update on the last Friday of every month. Each one will look at the three main areas of the MyBit project: Tech, Marketing and our Team. The aim is to get you up to speed in the shortest time possible — with one quality, monthly update.
So let’s get started.
On the technical front, our dev team — Jose, Kyle, Cristiano and Brani— have been busy updating our project architecture in preparation for v0.2. We recently started planning a move over from Redux to React Context. You can find the Pull Request with the project update here. Currently, we’re delaying the integration until v0.1 is ready, at which point we’ll then re-evaluate and determine whether it’s still worth migrating.
“We’ve been busy updating our project architecture in preparation for v0.2.”
This week, Ash has been busy updating the DApp with a new user interface, moving from IBM’s carbon design to a new framework. The new framework, Ant Design, allows for more flexibility, customization and easier integration with our front end. This update will be also be part of our v0.2 release.
Meanwhile, our development team have also been using IPFS to store non-essential data from our contracts. Things like the name of the asset, description and any images, which are inefficient (and expensive) to store. Our latest update makes it less expensive for the Asset Manager to list an asset. Think of it like a Zip file for the Ethereum Network.
After all, storing anything on Ethereum has a cost and so we need to be smart about what we store there. By only storing the essential data we can balance high security with lower costs for our users. It’s a win-win for all of us.
“After the launch of v0.1, everything is in place for full scale marketing to really take off.”
We’ve invited 40 new Alpha testers this week. In total we will have a group of around 60 people to test the first version of the Alpha including some big names from the industry. If you also want to test the Alpha, please sign up here.
Other than that, v0.1 of the DApp is nearing completion and the foundations are now in place for full scale marketing to really take off. In next months, we’ll be letting you in on some unique projects we’ve been working on (and are almost ready to release). You, as our community, will be the first to know — so watch this space.
Ian and our marketing team have been working hard to build relationships, generate PR and develop our thought leadership within the blockchain space. All of this is critical to MyBit’s long term success.
We started the month with the launch of our new brand film. It’s an inspirational video setting out our vision for the future — and how MyBit hopes to change the world. It’s had a great response so far and now has pride of place on our website landing page. If you’d like to see how we made it, check out our behind the scenes film here.
Ian was recently interviewed for a new podcast channel. They prepare all their content right now and will launch the channel soon, interviewing some of the big names from the industry. When this interview gets published, you’ll be the first to know. For now, it’s still under wraps.
This month also saw the launch of our Special Forces, a community initiative for members who are particularly effective at getting the word out for MyBit. This group is proving very important for the growth of the project. We’re opening it up to existing members of the community — so message Sneaky Penguin or DynamiteGlove on the Discord server if you want to get involved. Great job guys!
In terms of content, we kicked the month off with an in-depth tech blog from our Solidity developer, Kyle, comparing Ethereum and EOS. It’s a detailed look at how the two networks stack up and why we chose to build our DApp on Ethereum while backing it up on EOS. You can read it here.
Joost and James have also been working on MyBit’s thought leadership. We started with a look at Universal Basic Income, what it means for the future and why the MyBit team are working towards our own unique solution. Next, we took a deeper look at the role of the Asset Manager within the MyBit ecosystem and why it’s such an important (and lucrative) position. You can check out both through the links above.
Lastly our CTO, Jose, wrote a thought piece on building an automated, open source and decentralized application — and why decentralized apps must be automated rather than relying on human input. Get reading!
This month, as MyBit continues to grow, we added some new members to the team. Building a team with the right attributes and skills will be critical as the MyBit project really takes off. That’s why we’re putting in a lot of effort to build a team with the right foundations for sustainable growth.
Introducing Brani, Hugo and James...
First up was our new developer, Branislav. Since a young age Brani has enjoyed tinkering with computers, which made Computer Science an obvious career choice. He went on to study in Belgrade, honing his skills while working in Zurich, Amsterdam and Berlin. He loves fin-tech applications, especially blockchain and he’s a fervent supporter of open source technology. Needless to say, he’s going to be a perfect fit for MyBit.
Hugo, our new business developer, also joined the team this month. He’ll be supporting Ian and Joost with all of their new business activities: from finding new partners to organising events and growing the community. For MyBit, it’s essential the team has the right capacity in order to scale. Hugo’s role will give us a valuable advantage in this area.
James is our creative consultant and helps us mostly with copywriting and marketing strategy. Although some of our greatest blogs were posted under my name, it was actually James that wrote them. So we are very glad to have James helping out. Please join us in welcoming the guys!
For the rest of the team, it’s business as usual which means hard work, lots of fun and sometimes a fierce debate.
A final thought
And that brings us to the end of our first Monthly Update. As you can see, it’s been another action-packed month at MyBit. New tech, new faces and plenty of thought leadership pieces. Watch out for our August update, which will feature even more exciting announcements.
Our August AMA is now live…
Remember, we’ve launched our August Ask Me Anything on Reddit. Post your question and we’ll be answering on the first Tuesday of every month (or a maximum of 48 hours after). You can find us here.
As always, feel free to reach out to us on Discord, Telegram or Reddit with any other questions or thoughts.
Until next time!
The MyBit Team
