OST Project Update — May 2019

On 28 March, 2019 we launched OST Platform. This post provides an update on our ongoing efforts to further enhance the platform and drive traction.

OST Platform is the first full-featured “no-code” blockchain platform — a set of unified dashboards, APIs, SDKs, wallets, and protocols that any business can use to easily deploy their own brand currency without requiring any in-house blockchain development.

OST Platform enables you to embed value into any user action — be it an upvote, a like, a content contribution, a 5 star review, a store visit, or a repeat purchase.

We call this “programmable money” and it’s a really big deal. In the current Internet, payments (and money changing hands) comes only at the very end of the user journey. Now, with programmable money, value transfers can happen at any point throughout the user journey, triggered by action. This opens up new models for user engagement, content creation, revenue sharing, and monetization .

One of the most obvious first uses for this is with rewards and loyalty. Business are already using OST Platform to innovate towards the future of brand loyalty. Loyalty 1.0 was inflexible, closed, black-box points schemes. With OST Platform, visionary companies are creating loyalty 2.0, powered by brand currency that’s open, interoperable, and easily programmable.

OST Platform is live, on Ethereum mainnet. Anyone can login and try it for free at ost.com. Developer resources are available at dev.ost.com. You can setup a brand token in minutes in sandbox mode by staking OST-Test, integrate with your app or website, test your integration, deploy wallets within your iOS and Android apps, and then go live on production to end users staked by real OST-tokens.

Since launching OST Platform, the OST team has been 100% focused on driving traction. This includes working on client onboardings and adding additional platform features based on user feedback.

Here are just some of the many initiatives currently in-works to further develop and demonstrate traction for OST Platform:

• LGBT Token / Hornet launch on OST Platform. We were originally hoping to launch LGBT Token to Hornet beta users in May, however that launch was delayed a few weeks in order to add some additional features prior to release. Integration has otherwise been proceeding smoothly. — We anticipate a launch to Hornet beta users very soon.
• Large Omni-Channel Retailer. We’re working with a large, fast-growing, retailer to launch an innovative new brand loyalty scheme powered by OST Platform, involving both offline and online components. — On track for Q3 2019. This is just one example of what large companies are planning with OST Platform.
• Very Large Sharing Economy Company. We’re working with a very large company in the sharing economy space on a city-specific pilot along with other companies in the same city, to test hypotheses around Brand Token interoperability. This is another type of representative OST deployment in planning and development stage.
• Developers, Startups, and SMB’s. In addition to working with large clients along the lines of the projects above, 100+ smaller teams are already experimenting with OST Platform. One hurdle to deploying on production is that OST Platform 1.0 requires developers to integrate the OST Wallet SDK into an existing iOS or and Android application before launching on production/mainnet. This requires having an existing app and a 3–4 person dev team working for about 4 weeks on integration and testing. We’re currently working on a number of initiatives to make testing, integrating, and deployment significantly easier for small business. I describe some of them further below.
• OST Wallet React Native SDK. React Native bridges the gap between the UI of iOS and Android components using Javascript and React. Releasing the OST Wallet SDK in React Native will help smaller teams who don’t have dedicated iOS and Android developers— Q2 2019.
• OST Live Demo App V1. This downloadable demo app for iOS and Android will be a complete implementation of the OST Wallet UX on Ethereum that anyone can use to immediately run live demo transactions on sandbox for their own Brand Token economy. This will help teams experience OST Brand Tokens through an actual BT wallet before starting their integration project. The Live Demo App will include all the core features of the OST Wallet SDK. — Q2 2019.
• OST Wallet UX in the OST Wallet SDK. The OST Wallet UX Guidelines provides UX/UI recommendations and best practices for integrating Brand Tokens into mobile apps. This new release adds those elements into the SDK so that development teams do not need to code the UX/UI from scratch. — Q3 2019.
• OST Example Apps. In addition to the Demo App we’re also working on a number of example apps that will demonstrate use of Brand Tokens and the power of embedding value into online actions. The goal here is to provide live examples, on mainnet, that anyone can immediately use to earn and spend Brand Tokens. — Ongoing.
• Stablecoins. Enables OST Platform customers to opt to stake stablecoins to back their Brand Tokens (as an alternative to staking the default OST token, if desired). The first such stablecoin we’ll launch is USDC. — Q2 2019. (Note: The OST Token continues to be used in all cases for rewarding validators and sealers.)
• OST Pricer in Multiple Currencies. OST Platform currently includes a “Pricer” function which enables companies to set values in $USD and then have the amount of Brand Token automatically adjust based on the conversion rate of BT : OST : USD. For instance, a company can set that every time a user spends $5, give them $1 worth of Brand Tokens as a reward. The new release will enable companies to set prices in other currencies such as GPD, EURO, KRW and SGD. — Q2 2019.
• Special Token Rules for ‘Reward Tokens.’ This release includes the ability for special rules to be set for reward tokens minted through OST Platform, such as expiry of the reward tokens if the end-user has not spent the token within a time period, and requiring the users to spend the token on a qualified in-app purchase before redeeming it for any goods outside the Brand Token economy — Q3 2019.

That’s just a taste of what team OST is currently work on.

We live for feedback, so please play around with OST Platform and send us your feedback. You can provide us with feedback and suggestions at help.ost.com or tweet at me @betashop or just shoot us an email at support@ost.com.

Thanks!