First of all, we would like to thank all of you for the amazing support in the last 1.5 years. We launched Pantos because we are thankful to be part of this amazing journey. When Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin Whitepaper in October 2008, no one would have anticipated where the industry it sparked would be 11 years later. Now, at the end of 2019, the industry still feels fresh and full of amazing ideas. We see a lot of competing protocols, now even on an unprecedented scale with projects like Libra and government cryptocurrencies. However, the question of how to unite all those protocols still remains unanswered.
We at the Pantos project are more dedicated than ever to offering a unifying solution for the fragmented blockchain and cryptocurrency space. Since the Pantos Technology ICO, we laid the scientific foundation needed to get a clear picture of what lies ahead. A project like Pantos, which is working on solving complex research questions in a space that has not yet matured, can only eventually reach its goal when we are open to posing new questions.
Unlike other projects in this space, we openly communicate our findings, our challenges and our still unsolved questions in scientific research papers, which we publish on a quarterly basis. We also realised two research prototypes, because in addition to scientific papers we also want to create proofs-of-concept for our findings already. Today, we published research paper number seven and also took this opportunity to rework and refine the roadmap of the Pantos project.
We are now in a stage where we are shifting from a purely research and Proof-of-Concept-focussed mode to a more product-focussed development. Our goal is to implement our findings in a working, tested prototype and eventually in a final product.
The roadmap ahead is the following:
- Proof of Concept: Generic prototype (Testimonium)
In early September 2019, we reached a significant milestone by releasing a generic prototype called ‘Testimonium’. With this, we offered a generic application of a SPV-based cross-blockchain transaction verification. In other words: The prototype published in September is a blockchain relay that enables clients (e.g. Smart contracts) on one blockchain to verify the inclusion of transactions on another blockchain in a completely decentralised manner. You can find out more about the Testimonium prototype in the last Pantos blog post.
- Release of improved, further developed prototype
In the just-released Pantos Whitepaper 7, we enhance the prototype with an incentive structure. The goal is to encourage off-chain clients to participate. We show in the Whitepaper that our concept is six times cheaper than similar blockchain relayers. The prototype can now act as the basis for the development of a Cross-Blockchain Token Transfer as envisioned by TAST.
- Testing and reevaluation of prototype
After we successfully integrated the incentive structure described in Whitepaper 7, we will run tests of the developed prototype (e.g. from a security perspective) to see if any further improvements are necessary.
- Further research, testing and evaluation
We will constantly reevaluate and test our current findings by looking at new scientific findings, developments within the blockchain space and by critically questioning our own approach.
- Public testing of improved prototype
Part of the process will be to implement necessary adjustments from a functionality perspective, which will mean reevaluation, testing and further improvement of the prototype. This will include a public testing phase with a late-stage prototype.
- Launch of technology and product
After we released a final, fully tested prototype, we will go to the last step: the release and launch of the technology together with a product, which will enable cross-blockchain value and data transfer.
Thank you for your support and on to an exciting and successful 2020!
Paul Klanschek & the Pantos team
