2023 Octopus Day | Celebrating the 2nd Anniversary of Octopus Network

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Omnity Network

18 min readOct 16, 2023

October 8th, 2023, marked the 2nd anniversary of Octopus Network’s mainnet launch, a journey filled with achievements and and evolution. Despite the highs and lows of the crypto market, our community’s unwavering support and trust have been our foundation. We are incredibly grateful to everyone who has contributed to our journey thus far. As we continue to navigate the ever-changing crypto world, our commitment to our community and $OCT holders remains steadfast.

2023 Octopus Day Highlights

2023 Octopus Day started with fantastic news — Louis won the NDC House of Merit. What a gift for Octopus Day! He has pledged to prioritize the interests of $NEAR holders and is committed to advocating for the allocation of NDC resources to projects that enhance the intrinsic value of $NEAR.
The Octopus Day event was livestreamed on Twitter. Representatives from community and appchain projects sent their congratulations and shared updates on recent developments and future strategies.
To honor the 2 years of Octopus mainnet launch, we gave 2023 Octopus Day commemorative NFTs to validators and delegators currently staking on Octopus Network.
Active participants in the Community Call received surprising gifts on Octopus Day, including the automatic appchain rewards claim service, $OCT token airdrops, and OG interview privilege.
The OctoQuiz Giveaway winners were announced, each receiving 108 OCT tokens as a reward.

2023 Octopus Day Live

The 2nd Octopus Day event was livestreamed on Twitter on October 8th. Louis delivered a keynote speech, and representatives from community and appchain projects extended their congratulations and provided updates on recent developments and future strategies. You have the option to watch the full video or read the excerpts below.

Louis, Octopus Network

It has been a wonderful journey over the past two years, witnessing the growth of Octopus Network. However, despite this growth, Octopus Network is still very young in terms of maturity as it is only two years old. In the world of cryptocurrency, two years is a rather long period of time, and we have seen many changes during this time. Thus, the need to adapt and survive in a rapidly evolving environment remains constant.

We launched Octopus Network two years ago and have been fortunate to gain the trust of appchain projects. We have also experienced challenging market volatility. Personally, I have been involved in crypto for over 10 years, this is the third bear market I have encountered. While it may not be too different from previous bear markets, there is a notable difference this time. People no longer doubt the survival of Bitcoin or the failure of all cryptocurrencies. Currently, there are no rational individuals who believe that crypto or web3 will fail in the coming years. While we may have different opinions, it is clear that people believe in the future of crypto. Therefore, I believe we will overcome this challenging period and move towards a brighter future. What we can do is to keep building in this circle, and even try to move to a better position. Once again, being adaptive is key.

Octopus Network initially planned to build a multichain network around the NEAR Protocol. In Octopus 1.0, we support Substrate-based appchains. In Octopus 2.0, we are embracing Cosmos SDK-based appchains and working on NEAR IBC which will allow NEAR to connect with over 100 Cosmos chains. We believe there is huge potential synergy between these two ecosystems.

We have finished the development of NEAR IBC and completed the formal auditing. Now, we are working on integration tasks with the Secret Network and some other potential Cosmos chains.

While attending the Cosmosverse events in Turkey, which is equivalent to NEARcon for the Cosmos ecosystem, we spreaded the word about NEAR IBC, and we have received positive feedback from individuals who are excited about the new opportunities for composability.

We are also working on $NEAR restaking, which is inspired by an Ethereum ecosystem project called Eigen Layer. We believe restaking is a great initiative to improve security. This will involve not only $OCT holders but also $NEAR holders in this two-sided marketplace of share security.

The first appchain to utilize this new shared security will be Ottochain, and we have announced that we will allocate 4,000,000 $OCT as block rewards for Ottochain validators. We are doing this because Ottochain originates from the Octopus community and we want to support them. Additionally, we need to bootstrap this new shared security market. By providing incentives, we can attract more $NEAR holders to join this market and then provide a level of security that is competitive and attractive for onboarding new Cosmos SDK blockchains.

Next month, we will be joining NEARcon, where I will be giving a speech. We need support from the entire NEAR ecosystem to boost the security level that Octopus Network provides. This is critical as a competitive factor for our offering. We need to be competitive in this market, as we are not the only option for appchain security sharing. However, with the support from $NEAR holders and the NEAR ecosystem, we can be the best, most affordable, flexible, and accessible shared security solution for appchains. On the other side, Octopus 2.0 is not just about Octopus Network; it is even more important for the NEAR Protocol. It will internalize additional revenue streams for both NEAR holders and OCT holders, increasing the intrinsic value of both assets.

Additionaly, I want to emphasize that the support for Octopus 1.0 network will remain the same. All existing appchains are our most important partners. If you have any requirements or new plans for your own business, please reach out to me or the Octopus core team. We will continue to be supportive as usual.

Octopus 2.0 is not the end game; there will be no end game for Octopus Network. From an evolutionary point of view, the concept of end game implies waiting for death. We track every important progress in the Web3 domain and always try to find opportunities to create new value and accrue value to the $OCT token. That’s what we will keep doing, and all the things happening here, like modular blockchain Layer2 and ZKP, are under our watchful eyes. We are trying to find new opportunities to make Octopus Network even more valuable and important. Everything we do is for our community and $OCT holders.

Yujing, Octopus Nation

Octopus Nation is a grassroots community for Octopus Network, made up of passionate believers and early adopters from different countries. Our main goal is to promote Octopus Network.

The idea of a community coming together to support a particular ecosystem stems from our strong conviction that the future lies within the use cases we are exploring. With this central belief, Octopus Nation has gathered more than 10 individuals from over 10 countries to push the boundaries of our community.

Since June, we have organized several online and social media activities each month, and we have seen the commitment of Octopus Nation members towards the network. Currently, we have over 45 active community members, and we are planning to open our doors again for more interested individuals to join us. Stay tuned for announcements on our social media channels.

We firmly believe that the success of Octopus Network will have a positive impact on Octopus Nation as the core community. This allows us to continue building a vibrant and supportive community. Looking ahead, as an independent grassroots community, decisions will be made collectively by the community members. Let me share some of our main future goals:

Full establishment of Ottochain: This will showcase the capabilities of Octopus network and attract more members in the coming months and years.
Establishment of an on-chain government body: this will be built on Ottochain itself and connected to the Octopus Network as well as the NEAR ecosystem.
Advocacy for Octopus Network, NEAR, and partner ecosystems: We aim to support not only Octopus Network but also other partner ecosystems.
Pushing appchains in the ecosystem: Octopus Nation aims to be a strong force in promoting appchains.

Going forward, we hope to introduce the community to not only core Octopus Network projects but also appchains and activities supported by Octopus Nation. Additionally, we will continue sharing updates on other projects within our associated ecosystem. Thank you for your attention. Please follow us on social media and join our regular activities, including weekly calls, to be part of the Octopus Nation movement.

Dr. Damilola, Ottochain

Ottochain is a community-based appchain within the Octopus Network, where the community makes decisions and pushes boundaries for the benefit of Ottochain and the Octopus Network.

The Ottochain project has been making progress and attracting attention. It utilizes the Cosmos SDK and it is also EVM compatible, allowing users to interact with the blockchain using their existing MetaMask wallets. The $Near staking and security mechanism are used to provide security for Ottochain.

During the testnet phase, Ottochain has received support from the Octopus Network and Octopus Nation. The core team members of Ottochain are all part of the Octopus Nation community. There are currently 60 different smart contracts being audited on the Ottochain testnet, and six live DApps functioning on the testnet, including Smart Deployer, which facilitates the easy deployment of tokens on Ottochain.

Moving forward, Ottochain plans to engage with the community and carry out marketing activities based on established partnerships. We aim to build a diverse community with various skill sets and are planning to launch the airdrop campaign soon.

Danny, Myriad

Let’s start with a brief reminder of what Myriad Social stands for. It has become clear this year that the concept of social media needs to change its perspective. When Myriad Social was created, we had the idea to address one crucial issue: social media users lacked sovereignty. Our data, what we see, and how it is used were all dictated by huge entities that could change the rules without our say. We didn’t have a valid alternative. So, following the saying, “If you don’t like it, make your own,” we created Myriad Social.

Our goal is to give others the possibility to create their own social platform. Myriad Social focuses on freedom of speech, respecting your individuality, and avoiding content overload. We built it for you, your community, and your business, so you can create, communicate, and transact in a way that suits you.

You can already deploy an instance of Myriad Social by visiting our GitHub if you have some Linux skills. Guides are also available to help you deploy your own instance. We are working to make this process even easier, so that everyone can enjoy their own social platform, regardless of the operating system. Another aspect we are proud of is Myriad Social’s ability to permanently archive content from Twitter and Reddit, not just embed it. We also have plans to import content from more sources in the future.

Now that we have covered the basics of being a social network, we want to attract more users to the web three world. We want them to discover the benefits of web three and how it can support their sovereignty. One important aspect to highlight is the freedom of speech and censorship resistance that Myriad Social offers. There is no overarching entity that can suddenly change the rules or ban users without clear reasons. Our aim is to create a community that can manage itself with its own rules, free from the ever-changing presence of a central entity.

Using Myriad Social is easy. We don’t rely on content recommendation algorithms. Instead, we encourage users to create timelines, which are like channels or folders. You can populate your timeline with content native to Myriad Social, or import content from Twitter, Reddit, or other sources like YouTube. The catch is that others can subscribe to your timeline and share it. We have replaced algorithms with timelines and you can even monetize them.

We have already achieved some milestones, such as surpassing 37,000 users, but we are always happy to welcome more users. We have also made progress in making things easier and more visually appealing, with marketing efforts and a partnership with Brave browser.

Looking ahead to next year, our focus will be on the community and onboarding more users to the web three world. We plan to revamp our UI/UX, including mobile, and simplify instance deployments for everyone. We are also collaborating closely with the Octopus community and exploring the possibility of onboarding whole communities at once. Stay tuned for more announcements.

Kim, Atocha

Today, in addition to celebrating the anniversary of Octopus Network, I would like to share a few highlights of what Atocha protocol is currently working on. We have collaborated on several treasure hunt events, such as Patos by NXT in Malaysia and the first-ever NFT festival in Malaysia called Jam Fest, which had over 500 participants. We have also participated in NEARcon and organized treasure hunts for the participants, along with other satellite events.

Along the way, we have gained valuable experience and identified several challenges that we need to address before achieving a good market fit. There are three main challenges we want to highlight. First, it is difficult to onboard users when it comes to puzzle game tasks on the appchain. We are considering changing the model to overcome this challenge. Second, we are finding it challenging to tie the utility of our tokens with the existing mechanism. We aim to improve our economics in this regard. Lastly, we have encountered difficulties in getting people to create and interact on our platform due to the user experience. There is confusion about whether we are solely a game platform or a platform that brings creators and players together. To address these challenges, we plan to focus on the preservation and conservation of everyday culture through gamification in the coming year.

We believe that we are relevant to heritage culture, as treasure hunting is often associated with precious heritage items like gold coins and gems. We want to integrate tangible and intangible cultural products, such as architectural buildings, artifacts, hidden skills, and lifestyle elements, into our games. Our goal is to offer this experience and knowledge to a broader audience. We are working on three modifications: a transformative treasure hunt model, ticketing and asset sales for our game, and an innovative profit-sharing mechanism through NFT ownership. More details will be shared in due time.

We are looking to collaborate with creators who can help us create valuable treasures and conservation entities such as Heritage Trusts, governmental bodies, research institutions, and tourism boards. We have already collaborated with our local tourism board in Malaysia for treasure hunts during events. We believe there is a lot of potential for mutual collaboration and learning with these entities. We also seek partnerships with relevant businesses to leverage exposure from the game and build brand awareness.

In summary, these are the current focus areas for our work. We are committed to not giving up and staying true to the principles of blockchain technology. We aim to innovate along the way, constantly searching for ways to create more value and utility for the chain. This effort is time-consuming and requires thorough testing. We appreciate the patience and support from the community and Octopus Network. We look forward to achieving even more in the coming year.

Pandu, Debio

We embarked on this decentralized journey for Bioinformatics and Biomedicine with one mission: to revolutionize medical and healthcare data through technology. Apart from what is mentioned in the white paper, we have also developed additional features, such as a menstrual calendar for women who want to track their menstruation without relying on centralized applications. We have also created a second opinion marketplace. Our innovation is constantly evolving, and it is important to note that all our innovations prioritize privacy, with no KYC requirements. We encourage you to try Debio.

Despite the challenging bear market, we have persevered while many other projects have fallen by the wayside. We are grateful for the overwhelming support we have received. As of now, we have around 15,000 wallet addresses created within the year, which is quite impressive for a startup. However, we need more activity on the network. Nevertheless, it is encouraging to see that people are interested in using Debio.

Recent events, such as the data breach at 23andme, highlight the importance of our mission within the Bio Network. Such incidents raise concerns, especially when connected with KYC. At Debio, every user is in control of their own data. We ensure that the data you own within the biometric system is securely controlled by you, without any KYC requirements. Your data remains your own. Our model is built on the principle that privacy should never be compromised.

As pioneers in this field, we acknowledge that there may be some onboarding challenges. We are continuously working to address them and pave the way for a safer, decentralized future.

Arthur, Fusotao

Today, I want to discuss Fusotao’s past and its future. We have all faced challenges over the past two years. Many projects have failed during this period, and some may even doubt if we can still adapt. However, it’s important to remember that help is always present, even in the darkest times. Fusotao initially aimed to be a trustless exchange platform, and we have achieved that goal. However, we realized that it wasn’t enough.

About three months ago, we changed our strategy to focus on bringing real traffic and liquidity to the platform. The entire crypto world, including Taiwanese projects, is facing a liquidity shortage without liquid exchanges. But how can we approach this challenge?

Our first attempt was to collaborate with Abyssworld and integrate Fusotao blockchain into their game. Although we didn’t make a big announcement, Abyssworld is a relatively new project, so we provided technical support behind the scenes.

We believe that one single project won’t change anything, but if multiple projects join, it can have a significant impact. In fact, this strategy has attracted the attention of many traditional companies who may lack experience in web3 projects. We will help them integrate their businesses into the blockchain.

The next project to collaborate with Fusotao will be the traditional e-commerce platform. It already has about 1000 real users who will be introduced to the blockchain world through Fusotao. We aim to keep them engaged and active on the platform. Additionally, tag holders will receive a significant airdrop of tokens from the new project.

Again, we haven’t been very public about our progress, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been working. We are simply waiting for the right time. Nobody can fight against the big environment; we must follow it. If the web3 industry has no tomorrow, neither do we.

Q&A

Q1: What is the relationship between Octopus 2.0 and Ottochain?

Louis: Yeah, I do expect this question to come up, and it can be a bit confusing. The relationship between Octopus Network and Ottochain is as follows: Ottochain is an upcoming app chain, and its owner is Octopus Nation. Octopus Nation is an independent team, separate from the core team. Legally and officially, we are not the same team. Therefore, Ottochain is not significantly different from other appchains like Debio, Myriad, or Fusotao.

Since the product itself originated from the Octopus community, we will provide more support in terms of token incentives. Given the significant overlap between the communities, supporting appchain in terms of token incentives should be less controversial. The decision is to allocate 4,000,000 $OCT to Ottochain validators, not the Ottochain community as a whole, but specifically to the validators.

Therefore, $NEAR holders and $OCT holders need to participate in this shared security game to receive incentives as part of this plan. It’s similar to an airdrop, but better. Airdrops often lead to some people finding ways to accumulate a large number of tokens and then selling them. In the case of Ottochain, rewards will be evenly distributed over a two-year period after the launch, and people will need to stake tokens to receive rewards. This staking process is also a major economic activity that people can engage in within the Octopus 2.0 network. This approach provides security without diluting tokens to incentivize validators.

On the Octopus Network side, it will help bootstrap a shared security market. It’s important to note once again that Octopus core and Octopus nation are different teams.

Q2: Do you already have a minimum amount of restaking and delegation in your 2.0 mainnet?

Louis: While it’s not yet finalized, the general idea is to have two types of restaking activities: validation and delegation. For validation, the requirement will be set relatively high. Currently, I have in mind a number around 10,000 $NEAR or possibly even higher. However, for delegations, we encourage as many people as possible to participate and enjoy the token incentives from the Octopus appchain. Therefore, the minimum delegation amount will be a few hundred $NEAR. This means that even if you hold a small amount of $NEAR tokens, you can still engage with the economic benefits and receive incentives.

Louis Won the NDC House of Merit Seat

Louis has been successfully elected as a representative of the House of Merit in the NEAR Digital Collective (NDC) on October 8th. He expressed his commitment to prioritizing the interests of $NEAR holders and leveraging his existing experience and knowledge to collaborate extensively with NEAR community contributors. He aims to allocate NDC resources to teams and projects that can significantly increase the intrinsic value of $NEAR.

The Restaking Base contract, developed by the Octopus team, will be launched on the NEAR mainnet this year. It aims to help NEAR generate more income without increasing expenses. This approach is considered the best way to quickly increase revenue and improve the fundamentals of the NEAR protocol. The NDC seat will help Louis in promoting and advocating for $NEAR Restaking to the entire community, facilitating its implementation as soon as possible.

More importantly, Louis will make great efforts to help shape NEAR and transform it into a leading force in the Web3 space moving forward.

2023 Octopus Day Commemorative NFT

To celebrate our 2nd Anniversary and express our sincere gratitude to all validators and delegators, we have presented them with a special commemorative NFT stamp! We want to extend a huge thank you for your unwavering support for Octopus Network, even during the difficult times. We believe that brighter days are ahead.

Community Call Participation Award

The Octopus Network Community Call, which started in July 2022 as the first step towards community governance, has been successfully held 14 times since its inception. The active involvement of community members has played a significant role in making this happen. We have also distributed 11 batches of attendance badges in the form of POAP NFTs.

As a token of our gratitude for your active participation, we have distributed fantastic rewards to those who are eligible on Octopus’ 2nd birthday.

🎁 Reward One: Automatic Appchain Staking Rewards

Validators and Delegators who hold any Community Call POAP NFT will be eligible for automatic claim service for Octopus Network Appchain staking rewards. Starting from October 1, 2023, until April 30, 2024.

Eligible Users: Validators and Delegators of Octopus Network
Claim Frequency: Automatic every 2 weeks
Service Provider: “XSB.NEAR,” a valued community member of Octopus Network

🎁 Reward Two: 1,000 $OCT for Top Supporters

Validators and Delegators holding six or more Community Call POAP NFTs will each receive a generous reward of 1,000 $OCT. In total, 30 individuals will be rewarded. Your participation, support, and valuable advice have made Octopus Network what it is today.

🎁 Reward Three: OG Members Interview

Do you want to be interviewed by the Octopus core team and gain more reputation in the Octopus community? Well, here’s your chance! We are offering interviews and the opportunity to have a special article published about you.

Selection Criteria: Interested individuals will be chosen based on their Poap NFT holdings, with priority given to those with the highest holdings. OGs who are interested can sign up by contacting @MixRestaking.

OctoQuiz Giveaway

To celebrate the 2nd anniversary of Octopus Network’s launch, we conducted the OctQuiz Giveaway event from October 1st to 7th. This interesting quiz challenge was designed to enhance community members’ understanding of the Octopus Network and its journey so far. Six lucky winners, who answered all 10 Octoquiz questions correctly, have each received a reward of 108 $OCT on October 8th!