Polis Project Weekly Updates (09/25 to 10/1)

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Polis Ecosystem

8 min readOct 2, 2019

Polis Core

We are delighted to announce the release of Polis Core v1.5.0. This version introduces security updates over the Proof-of-Stake protocol and the first release for the deterministic masternode switch.

You can download the release here: https://github.com/polispay/polis/releases/tag/v1.5.0

The update is MANDATORY, and the chain will fork on October 10. After the fork, the minimum amount of a single UTXO to stake will be 100 Polis.

ALL MASTERNODES NEED TO BE RESTARTED

Instructions:

For non-experienced users: You can use the CryptoShark script:

rm polis_update.sh* 
wget -q https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cryptosharks131/Polis/1.5.0/polis_update.sh 
bash polis_update.sh

For PolisNodes users: Wallets are not yet updated and will be updated in the coming days. Users will be notified by email and on social media. Once we notify you, users must update their local wallets and restart their masternodes.

For experienced users: This update introduces BLS signatures to the masternode signature verification, you will need to add another private key to the polis.conf on the VPS, the signature name is masternodeblsprivkey, and you can generate it using the bls generate command using the console

REMEMBER, NOBODY ON THE POLIS CORE OR SUPPORT TEAM WILL MESSAGE YOU DIRECTLY.

If you need personal support please contact the Polis Support Team, you can contact us on our social media accounts:

Polis Core: Website

The Polis Core team is finishing up the last details of the new polispay.org website. Part of the new website is the addition of a section where we will display merchants who accept Polis in their establishments.

If you are a merchant and have a business that accepts Polis as a method of payment, please send us a DM with the following information for us to put your business on the website:
- Logo
- Name
- Kind of business
- Country of origin
- Website link

If you are a merchant but you haven’t added Polis as a method of payment, we’ll soon publish a guide on how you can do it.

Polis Core: Masternode Tools

Once this feature is fully developed users will be able to run masternodes from Trezor cold storage. Running masternodes will be extremely safe since funds for the collateral will no longer be kept on a desktop wallet and they will be stored on the Trezor device, either Model One or Model T as they will safe-keep the private keys.

After the fork on October 10 users will be able to run masternodes from Trezor. This feature will work both on Model T and Model One, although users will need to upgrade the firmware of Model One to version 1.8.2.

Disclaimer: This feature is not yet available and will only be available after the fork on October 10.

PolisPay

We recently released a new update, version 7.3.0. The update focused on improving stability, and loading times for coins on the app. To achieve this, the team transferred all of our services to Blockbook (Trezor wallet back-end service), which allowed us to make the user experience much more stable, fluid, and fast.

The update was released with the following patch notes:

— Up to 70% faster loading times for your balance and transaction history queries.

— Instant coin creation for new wallets.

— Improvements in the Voucher UX and process reliability.

— Improved UI in some key areas.

— Bug fixes.

Any issue related to the vouchers featured should be reported to the support team.

Disclaimer: only download the app from the official Google Play Store, App Store, and the official Github repository

Download link:

https://github.com/grupokindynos/polispay-releases/releases/tag/v7.3.0

The next release will be focused on implementing Trezor support. The estimated release time for the next update is due in a week; stay tuned for further updates.

PolisPay: Vouchers

The Polis team is working very hard alongside voucher partner Bitcou GmbH on the expansion of our variety of vouchers, which will allow us to offer the best possible options and cater to a broader part of our users.

The team is working on the integration of new gift cards and vouchers, many of them are available but are awaiting implementation.

Users will be able to access a larger variety of vouchers soon, stay tuned for further updates on this expansion.

PolisPay cards

Regarding the PolisPay cards, there are some updates with the on-going process we would like to share:

— We are still waiting for the Cacao license

— Final documentation for establishing a company in Europe is awaiting paperwork. This will allow us to sign a contract with a card provider company for Europe.

— We are also having some difficulties with the importation of the Union Pay PolisPay cards, as the Mexican authorities have strict laws regarding this subject. We just finished importation related paperwork, we expect for the cards to arrive shortly. Once we have them we will begin the implementation process.

There’s a real possibility that we might be able to integrate the three main card providers: Visa, Mastercard, and Union Pay. Although it is possible we don’t want to take it for granted; we will update the situation.

We were overwhelmed by the amount of support and excitement from our community, so we wanted to take some time to answer some FAQ about the cards:

When will the card be released?

At the moment there is no exact release date, although the release is scheduled for the Q4. Stay tuned for further updates!

If I already had a PolisPay card, will I be able to use it?

If you had the PolisPay card issued by MasterCard, you wouldn’t be able to use your card as the providers have changed. Union Pay will provide new cards.

Will the beta testers from the past card remain the same, or will they change?

If you were a beta tester from the previous card, you would remain a beta tester for the new card.

I’m interested in being a beta tester. What can I do?

If you would like to apply for the new card, please fill out this form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfKIjBjFkEmvUEKRkAsuPgtY9aIexzYCZqvNb4NY2Ncn35xJw/viewform?usp=sf_link

If you have any other questions, feel free to contact us on our official social media network accounts.

Open-source initiative

The Polis Core team has realized the necessity of making the entire Polis ecosystem open-sourced, we embrace and celebrate principles of open exchange, collaborative participation, transparency, and community-oriented development.

We believe that by making the entire Polis environment open-source and accessible, we will be able to build upon each other’s ideas and discoveries, solve problems together, promote collaboration, and thus become more secure and stable.

That is why the Polis Core team is starting the process of redoing some services and making it publicly available. In the foreseeable future, we hope to have the PolisPay open for everybody so the community can also contribute to it. The plan of work would change, but the development channel on Discord would still be used for updating the community on PolisPay related modifications.

The Polis Core team has begun the process of making the entire Polis ecosystem open-sourced by making available: our rates services, our hot wallet connections and our connection with the database. You can go check them out on the following links:

Rates services (Obol):

https://github.com/grupokindynos/obol

Connection with hot wallets (Plutus):

https://github.com/grupokindynos/plutus

Connection with the database (Hestia):

https://github.com/grupokindynos/hestia

Governance: PolisPay vouchers expansion

Community members and team part responsible for the integration of vouchers and gift cards into the Polispay App, Bitcou GmbH from Germany, just created a new proposal on the governance.

You can read the full proposal here:

https://forum.polispay.org/t/polispay-giftcard-voucher-expansion/505

A channel on Discord, #bitcou-vouchers, was created by Bitcou GmbH with the intention of discussing and solving any questions regarding the governance proposal.

The Bitcou GmbH team created a short survey regarding market expansion, we appreciate taking the time to answer it.

You can check it out here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfxw5FgXNSY8zaYHG4loVYdFGW1vFfEz3jIpEv_paS1g6wOdQ/viewform

Until now 108 users have filled out the survey, these are the most recent results (October 1st). The top 5 answers from each question are the following:

What are the most important countries for voucher integration?

USA: 65 votes (60.2%).
Canada: 53 votes (49.1%).
United Kingdom: 29 votes (26.9%).
Russia: 28 votes (25.9%) .
India: 19 votes (17.6%).

What are the most important categories or product groups?

Debit card voucher (Visa, MasterCard): 80 votes (74.1%).
Ecommerce (Amazon, iTunes, IKEA): 78 votes (72.2%)
Travel (Hotels.com, Best Western, Airbnb): 59 votes (54.6%)
Gaming (Playstation Network, Xbox, Steam): 39 votes (36.1%)
Mobile recharge (Movistar, Vodafone, Telecom): 25 votes (23.1%)

What are the most important companies or providers?

Amazon Canada: 63 votes (58.3%)
iTunes US: 37 votes (34.3%)
Hoff Russia: 21 votes (19.4%)
MakeMyTrip India: 11 votes (10.2%)
Zalando Italy: 6 votes (5.6%)

Governance: Polis promotion campaign

Russian-speaking community members, who currently lead and support the Russian-speaking Polis community, just created a new proposal on the governance.

The proposal consists of the development of a Polis promotion campaign, with a focus on the Russian-speaking market segment, in which they see a huge potential.

You can read the full proposal here:

https://forum.polispay.org/t/promotion-polis-campaign/509

A channel on Discord, #promotion-campaign-polis, was created by the proposal owners with the intention of discussing and solving any questions regarding the governance proposal.

Governance: POS Tools

The Polis acceptance POS tools for merchants and all users are near completion, with the release of PolisPay v7.3.0 and Polis Core 1.5.0, the tools are nearing completion and will be released shortly.

— Tools are ready for Trezor support

— The rating mechanism is upgraded to the latest OBOL rate API

— The main website to host the plugins and instructions and accounts for the POS is finished, and users will be able to begin registering shortly: https://www.polispayserver.com

— Information about how to get started on taking POLIS for payment will appear soon on the website

— The pay server engine is ready

— The test store is up and running on a plugin for Woocommerce for Wordpress; the plugin will be available to anyone shortly for use on their Woocommerce store. You can go check it out on https://polis.party/store

— Development of plugins for other e-commerce platforms, such as Shopify, OpenCart, and Magento

— Progress on the integration with the PolisPay Shift API is being made

— The back-end is prepared for Trezor support

— Registration for the POS tools already went live

— Work on the terminals is finished

Community Engagement

Standout community member, Hans, recently did a series of videos highlighting the real-world use case of Polis by paying for ordinary things; lunch, gas and even a watch on Amazon. This is just a small glimpse of what is ahead.

You can go check out the videos here:

Lunch:

https://vimeo.com/358417907/621a7a8653

Gas:

https://vimeo.com/358440951/c1df4026cb

Watch on Amazon:

https://vimeo.com/358875603

Community Management and Outreach

We want to remind you that you can follow us on the following Social Media Networks:

Weekly Polis will now be posted every Wednesday each week in Medium, Discord, and Bitcointalk. Links to each will be shared across all social media.

We’re deeply grateful for all your support from our community and our partner’s communities, and we want to thank you for reading. Together we are strong, and we will strive just as we’ve done before to give you all the best!