Octopus DAO July 2023
On July 8th, the 12th community call was held. Over the past month, the Octopus ecosystem has witnessed steady growth and progress, including the development of key features for Octopus 2.0, engagement with valuable and potential partnerships, promotion of Octopus 2.0, and the community initiative — Octopus Nation and Ottochain.
There have also been some changes to the roles of core members. Aaron, head of community, is transitioning to an advisory role due to health reasons. He will still take care of the majority of his job responsibilities but will be less active in publicly representing Octopus Network at online or offline events. Meanwhile, Sheldon is transitioning from tech advisor to ecosystem development lead. His new role involves representing Octopus in public to establish more Cosmos relationships and partnerships.
Core Team Updates
Development team (Vivi filled in for Julian to update)
Octopus Network 2.0 & Apps
1、Updated Appchain Oyster with the cosmos-sdk v0.47 and ibc-go v7
2、Updated Apps with the new API for getting the delegator rewards
Octopus Network 2.0 NEAR Restaking
Implementing the LPoS Market contract
Octopus Network 2.0 Adaptive IBC
1、Implementing the VP for integrating Tendermint light client in IC
2、Updated IBC modules (ibc-rs, ibc-proto-rs, etc.) with the cosmos-sdk v0.47 and ibc-go v7
3、Implementing the NEAR light client ICS-12;Octopus Network 2.0 IBC
Aaron, Head of Community
We have a total of 73,906 followers across all social platforms as of 1st July, 2023. It’s been on decline since February, but I think the decline is slowing down. So that’s a pretty good sign. So over this month the main progress, we have more than 30 posts on Twitter by our team members.
We also have made progress on Octopus Nation and Ottochain. Octopus Nation is a community program aimed at cultivating a strong sense of belonging, engagement and satisfaction among Octopus Network community members while Ottochain is a community public appchain serve as a sample of what a standard Cosmos chains with NEAR Restaking appchain will look like. They recently just confirmed their core team members in the last committee meeting and they will proceed to work on the website for both Octopus Nation and Ottochain. We also have Ottochain logo contest as well as meme creation contest. The 3000 NFT collection, we have an option now to launch at NEAR. But we have to validate because the cost is quite high. It’s about 30% charge to issue this particular collection. So we’re waiting for another month before we decide.
In terms of appchain updates. We have Deepmine and Frac, still working through the program. Now they’re estimated to be about two months away, including UniqueOne on their launch.
The Otto video is in the final stage. We added a few new segments into the video. And we will proceed to have the voiceover once that is done.
And I have an announcement to make. It’s regarding my change of role in the Octopus project. So I will be changing my role from Head of Community effective end of this month to advisor role. The main reason for my decision is personal. I was hospitalized last month, which made me think about my life from both personal and professional aspects. Although I want to keep working with Octopus, I would like to have a smaller role that focuses on the aspects I enjoy the most. More importantly, I am still in the process of recovery, so I do not want to be unfair to Octopus by committing to functions that could cause additional stress and hinder my recovery. Therefore, I made the decision.
I believe that the impact of this change will actually be minimal. As an advisor, I will still take care of the majority of my job scope with the exception that I won’t be representing Octopus Network on online or offline events. So that’s the main change. But other than that, I will still continue to help the team in terms of community engagement. So I believe the change overall has a very minimal impact on Octopus Network. In fact, I think there’s some positive impact in terms of budget and also the availability of tokens overall. Although I may not be as visible publicly, I will still be heavily involved.
I look forward to continuing to work with Louis, Julian, Vivi, and the rest of the team, especially Dami and the social media team, as well as on the Ottochain project. Ottochain is absolutely important. Octopus Nation and Ottochain are community initiatives, but many members working on Ottochain are new to blockchain, so I will continue to be involved to provide guidance. If you have any questions with regard to my change of role, please feel free to ask me in telegram.
Vivi , Head of Media
Media team continued to support the Octopus team and ecosystem in all the major events with media PR and storytelling, including:
Octopus Global Influence
On June 15th, I was invited to speak at an AMA hosted by NEAR Protocol, where I had the opportunity to provide the NEAR community with a comprehensive explanation of Octopus 2.0. We covered various aspects, including $NEAR restaking, adaptive IBC, and how Octopus 2.0 will benefit all stakeholders and the NEAR protocol as a whole.
But that’s not all! We’ve been working hard behind the scenes to create an exciting video series that will bring Octopus 2.0, $NEAR restaking, and adaptive IBC to life in a vivid and engaging manner. The series is currently in the post-production phase and will be released later this month. So stay tuned for a visual journey through the world of Octopus 2.0.
Also, our core engineer, River Yang, recently provided the NEAR Chinese developer community with a detailed technical explanation of NEAR-IBC. We helped with organizing and promoting this open course, allowing NEAR Chinese developers to gain a deeper understanding of how NEAR-IBC works.
Transparency and security are of utmost importance to us. That’s why we have engaged the renowned auditing firm BlockSec to conduct a thorough audit of the NEAR-IBC project. In collaboration with BlockSec, we co-organized a Twitter Space and invited industry experts to dive deep into the pitfalls and best practices of smart contract auditing.
Moreover, our founder, Louis, was invited to deliver a thought-provoking speech at a Chinese community initiated by Xiaofeng, a prominent figure in the Chinese blockchain industry and the chairman of Wanxiang Blockchain and Hashkey Group. Drawing from his extensive 10 years of crypto investing experience and 5 years of Web3 startup experience, Louis shared his profound insights on Web3.0.
Furthermore, the second term of the Chinese Cosmos developer training program, hosted by Cosmos HK Accelerator, began early last month. It’s incredible to witness the passion and dedication of Chinese developers as they learn and build within the Cosmos ecosystem. This training program will conclude with a mini-hackathon on July 15th. During the DemoDay, six classes will showcase the appchain MVPs they co-developed during their training. Additionally, we will co-host a Cosmos meetup in Shenzhen on July 22nd! The purpose of this meetup is to connect early-stage Cosmos projects with crypto funds to accelerate their growth and promote the development of the Cosmos ecosystem in China. So whether you’re building a Cosmos project, an investor, or simply a Cosmos enthusiast, feel free to reach out to our team member, Jasmine, to get a ticket for this exciting event.
Community call
Last but not least, the media team also helps with Community Call from organizing, hosting, reporting to promoting it. All the participants will receive an NFT, designed by our team’s Leo as well.
Sheldon, Ecosystem Development Lead
I would like to share a brief update on my current situation. This year, I had a change in my advisory title. I’m not sure I’ve stated this before on Community Call. I would like to renounce my advisory title and resume the title of Ecosystem Development Lead. There are a lot of events and different things to do, and I have been talking to various members of the Cosmos community in this region. I believe that there is still much to do, and I’m happy to still have Aaron’s support and to be active in the region.
It’s a coincidence in timing that just before Aaron’s change, I also felt it was necessary to resume a less advisory title and become more active and proactive publicly. I have been attending some events in Malaysia, and next on the list is Indonesia. There’s quite a lot to do, with NEAR Apec and Token 2049 coming up, and Octopus needs to be present there. I will make sure that we are active in places where other developers, potential partners, and IBC connections who may find value in our work will be.
I’m very happy to share the details of ICS 12 and how the light client has been refined. Specifically, there’s been a lot of interest in the Near light client, and I think there’s lots of interest for Octopus. I believe I’m needed, and I’m very happy to contribute and bring value. I want to be transparent that I wear multiple hats and have a few different roles, but I see my role in Octopus as my main job. I’m excited to continue to support and represent Octopus while we grow and establish more IBC relationships and interesting partnerships.
Louis, Founder
The first thing I need to address is the change in Aaron’s role. Aaron is one of the most important figures in the core team and the Octopus community, and he will continue to be so even though he has transitioned from a full-time team member role to a more advisory role. Octopus community was founded by him, and he will continue to play a central role in overseeing activities from the Octopus Nation and other partnerships. I know this is not the time to look back on his contributions to the Octopus community. I believe that he will continue to make meaningful contributions, so there is no need to worry. We will undoubtedly continue to feel his enthusiasm and dedication.
As mentioned in our monthly report, we are executing the Octopus 2.0 plan and making progress towards our milestone. Now I want to highlight our expectations for the upcoming months and how the Octopus community can participate.
The first major milestone will be NEAR-IBC, which is currently undergoing auditing and intensive testing. We have been in talks with a well-known Cosmos ecosystem project, but it’s not yet time to mention its name. The team has expressed a strong intention to be the first Cosmos chain to connect with NEAR-IBC. We will collaborate with them to conduct testing together and hopefully establish connections between other notable Cosmos chains or substrate-based blockchains and NEAR, offering many opportunities for composable protocols and assets.
Another major milestone will be the Near restaking. It is expected to go live on mainnet in October. Ottochain will be the first Cosmos SDK-based app chain to go live on $Near restaking. The Octopus community will provide incentives for the validators. So, Ottochain restaking validators will receive OCT tokens as rewards. Although the figure hasn’t been decided yet, the incentive level is expected to be substantial, especially for early participants. Therefore, please keep an eye on our future announcements, prepare your $Near tokens and $OCT tokens, and take advantage of the first opportunities to share security with the Ottochain.
Also, I have noticed that the shared security of Cosmos Hub is going well, and several Cosmos chains are trying to launch as consumer chains. This is great news for us. Even if we offer a comparable service to Cosmos Hub, we are not competitors. It’s time for all Cosmos chains to realize that shared security is a better solution than running as a solo PoS chain, which is the most expensive way to set up blockchain security. Once many Cosmos chains realize this, they will investigate the various options available for shared security. I believe that the LPOS offering from Octopus has some unique advantages. While shared security from Cosmos Hub will bring more ecosystem legitimacy to Cosmos appchains, Octopus’ offering will be more accessible, flexible, and cost-effective than other offerings. As the cake grows bigger, we will definitely get a bigger slice. Please do keep an eye on our progress and join the shared security game early.
Community Call #13 — August 8, 2023
Octopus Network will transfer decision-making power to the Octopus DAO in a planned and structured manner through on-chain governance.
Validators and delegators who have not joined the Community Call private channel, please join as soon as possible so that you do not miss the opportunity to jointly build and govern the Octopus DAO.
Do not miss the next Community Call, August 8th–12:00 GMT +8
To join:
- Open the link: https://discord.gg/BEQrN4Ya7C
- Enter the Discord channel and follow the prompts to verify your identity with your NEAR wallet.
Follow Octopus Network!
- Website: https://oct.network/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/oct_network
- Discord: https://discord.gg/6GTJBkZA9Q
- Octopus DAO: https://forum.oct.network/
- Medium: https://medium.com/oct-network
- Telegram: https://t.me/octopusnetwork
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCkMYDmXdgjCBTBggSEAy0ZQ
- Github: https://github.com/octopus-network
- Docs: https://docs.oct.network/
