Release of OpenST Protocol v0.9.4

Introducing OpenST TokenHolder Contracts, TokenRules Contracts, Token Rules, and OpenST.js libraries

OST blockchain infrastructure empowers new economies for mainstream businesses and emerging DApps. OST leads development of the OpenST Protocol, a framework for tokenizing businesses.

Today we released OpenST Protocol v0.9.4 — a major milestone release in our Blockchain Infrastructure workstream. OpenST 0.9.4 provides a developer framework for user-friendly wallets, mass-market key management, and for designing on-chain token rules. OST will make use of many of the features in 0.9.4 in our Developer Tools workstream to deliver exceptional user experiences to our partners as they rollout their Branded Token economies powered by OST. The OST 2017–2021 project roadmap across all workstreams is also refreshed below to provide project context, with the only changes from prior version being to reflect our achieving the recent milestones.

OpenST Protocol v0.9.4 is the 5th major OpenST Protocol release:

• OpenST Protocol 0.9.0 released in Q4 2017 presented a proof for staking crypto assets on Ethereum towards minting Branded Tokens on public sidechains.
• OpenST Protocol 0.9.1, released in Q4 2017, enabled software developers to build applications on OpenST and to further the Protocol.
• OpenST Protocol 0.9.2, released in Q1 2018, enabled token transfers between BT holders and provided REST APIs for OpenST.
• OpenST Protocol 0.9.3, released in Q3 2018, decentralized the Gateway between Ethereum and OpenST auxiliary chains, enabling any actor to move ownership across the gateway, transforming value tokens on Ethereum into utility tokens on the utility chains and back.

OpenST Protocol release v0.9.4 introduces TokenHolder Contracts, TokenRules Contracts, and Token Rules.

TokenHolder Contracts enable mass-market apps to enable their end-users to own and transfer tokens without requiring end-users to directly manage their private crypto keys. This will enable user-friendly wallets and token transfer experiences to be deployed for mainstream apps running on OpenST.

Ephemeral keys are introduced to sign transactions from within applications without requiring the user to manually sign every action. Ephemeral keys are temporary session-based keys that can be authorized by the user. The diagram below shows a user activating an ephemeral private key from within an app. For instance, the end-user could activate an ephemeral key upon login and 2FA verification.

With his ephemeral key, the user can request the TokenHolder Contract to call on a rule on his behalf. An example app-specific rule could be to transfer tokens whenever the user wants to upvote or clap for another user’s post.

The TokenHolder contract also allows the user to login across multiple devices. This facilitates redundancy (e.g. when a device is lost or compromised) and enables recovery mechanisms.

The addition of the TokenRules contract in OpenST v0.9.4 represents the decentralization of rule design and allows apps to design on-chain rules that map to their business logic. An example of an on-chain token rule could be that users cannot immediately cash-out free tokens received via airdrop from the company, rather the rule could be that those airdrop tokens must be used within the economy at least once before users could cash them out.

OpenST.js & openst-js-examples

OpenST Protocol v0.9.4 also includes OpenST.js, a library that helps developers integrate the functionality of the OpenST contracts in their (D)Apps.

To support integration of OpenST.js by developers, we have also provided openst-js-examples, an example usage of OpenST.js where we walk developers through registering rules, adding users, adding wallets to users, revoking ephemeral keys and other functionality in the context of a token economy. In order to make the best use of openst.js, we recommend working through the example to familiarize yourself with the functionality and usage of the library.

openst-js-examples is an end-to-end guided experience through OpenST.js where the execution of each step produces a response, which then feeds into the subsequent steps.

The economy setup includes deploying a Token, the rules associated with the transactions in the economy, and the TokenRules contract which enables the business rules defined in the Rule contracts.

We invite developers to dive into OpenST Protocol v0.9.4 on Github.

Learn More About OpenST v0.9.4. Friday 5 October, 2018 on OST LIVE

On Friday 5 October, 2018 several leaders of the OST technology team will discuss OpenST v0.9.4 on OST LIVE, starting at 11am NYC / 5pm Berlin / 11pm Hong Kong.

Our next release, v0.9.5, will include several usability and performance enhancements to prepare for OST KIT and OpenST Protocol widespread use on Mainnet.

Steady Progress Towards OST Roadmap to Scale Blockchain Economies to Billions of Users

The OST roadmap is informed with regular input from our partners and from the hundreds of developer teams who take part in our alpha challenges.

I’m pleased to report that with the release of OpenST 0.9.4 and with our achieving Mainnet alpha 1 of OST KIT in early September, we are on-plan (or ahead-of-plan) with most items on our long-term roadmap.

The OST technology stack and roadmap aim to solve 5 major challenges for mainstream blockchain adoption:

1. Scalability: Enabling blockchain transactions at Internet grade volumes and speeds.
2. Usability: To exceed the high expectations of business and consumer users.
3. Integration: With existing applications and services (and regulations).
4. Trust: Ensuring economic finality of transactions without central authorities.
5. Liquidity: Between tokens, across blockchains, and with the currencies people use to pay for their primary needs.

As presented in the OST 2017–2021 roadmap, our work is organized across three major work-streams:

1. Infrastructure
2. Developer Tools
3. Liquidity Exchange

OpenST Infrastructure enables scalable token economies. OST leads development on the OpenST Protocol, a framework for building highly scalable blockchain token economies. All OpenST Protocol releases are provided via open-source license for anyone to use and to build and improve on.

In September 2018, OST introduced the OpenST Mosaic Protocol for running meta-blockchains to scale Ethereum applications to billions of users. Mosaic is a specification for finalizing tens of thousands of transactions per second asynchronously on Ethereum at significantly lower gas prices.

We have been presenting OpenST Mosaic recently at major industry conferences. The detailed OpenST Mosaic specification paper is currently in peer review and will be widely distributed ASAP.

OST Developer Tools include APIs, SDKs and dashboards for easily integrating and managing OpenST Branded Token [“BT”] economies. Our developer tools live under the “OST KIT” brand and include features such as token economy setup, a price oracle, KYC / AML, identity, token rules, and wallets, all supported by our developer resource center. Our goal with OST KIT is to make integrating a blockchain economy as simple as inserting a couple lines of code into any app.

The OST Branded Token Exchange will enable liquidity solutions between tokens, across blockchains, and with fiat currencies — so that people can easily convert a BT into something they can pay their rent with. This is critical functionality for our partners as BT’s exist on auxiliary blockchains and can only naturally be redeemed for the staked OST that supports them. The BTEX work-stream will enable simple liquidity solutions and consumer convenience for swapping BT’s for a wide range of currencies.

About OST

OST blockchain infrastructure empowers new economies for mainstream businesses and emerging DApps. OST leads development of the OpenST Protocol, a framework for tokenizing businesses. In September 2018 OST introduced the OpenST Mosaic Protocol for running meta-blockchains to scale Ethereum applications to billions of users. OST KIT is a full-stack suite of developer tools, APIs and SDKs for managing blockchain economies. OST Partners reach more than 200 million end-users. OST has offices in Berlin, New York, Hong Kong, and Pune. OST is backed by leading institutional equity investors including Tencent, Greycroft, Vectr Ventures, 500 Startups.