Radium Update #39 — Core Protocol Upgrade SmartChain Vote Proposal

In this update, we would like to lay out the first SmartChain vote which will decide the future of the Radium blockchain. The vote on the proposals discussed below will be conducted between Monday 13th of November and Monday 27th of November. We will be posting a how-to for people that are unfamiliar with the SmartChain software.

Proposal #1: A New Codebase

Our first suggestion is to fork the Radium blockchain away from a Bitcoin-based codebase, and towards a more ideal codebase: Stratis.

We feel that rebasing Radium to the Stratis protocol will transform development from supporting an old Bitcoin codebase, to supporting and flourishing under a new paradigm of smart contracts and an easily maintainable C# core protocol. Once a fork to the Stratis protocol is complete, development will move at a much more rapid pace. The core Radium protocol will be easily maintainable at parity with Stratis/Breeze, as well as easily extensible and auditable by the expanding community of C# .NET developers. New features which do not require integration into the core network can be developed using smart contracts.

The fork would take place in three stages: testnet, parity, and replacement.

During the testnet phase, we will work to fork the Stratis protocol to the point of functioning and actively participating on the Radium testnet.

During the parity phase, we will work to further modify the new Stratis-based Radium client to being capable of functioning and actively participating on the Radium main network. Additionally, we will work to strengthen the stability and user interfaces within the new client to ensure as smooth of a transition as possible.

During the replacement phase, usage of the new Radium client should overtake that of the old Radium client. From that point, we will seek to implement features such as the SmartChain and other passed SmartChain proposals directly into the new Radium client as either hard forks (where needed) or smart contracts. At the conclusion of this stage, rapid core and community development can begin.

What does proposal #1 mean for you?

As a business: Hard forks implementing new features and solidifying the dominance of the new Radium core client will not take place until we are 100% confident in the stability and performance of the new client. It would be recommended to continue using the existing Radium client until the conclusion of the replacement phase.

As a standard user: It would be recommended to continue using the existing Radium client until the conclusion of the replacement phase. When the replacement phase does conclude, upgrading should be a simple process that will be outlined at that time.

As a power user/developer: We would love for you to contribute to the testing and development of the new Radium client! We welcome developers of all walks of life and all blockchain loyalties to contribute.

Proposal #2: A Funding Method

From the beginning of the project, we have not explored meaningful methods to fund the unorganized entity that is Radium Core. Funding has been, until now, restricted to personal contributions from the developers and the community.

We would like to continue to go down a path that does not involve an ICO. For that reason, we would like to propose a block reward subsidy to fund an official Radium Core non-profit foundation. This subsidy would be implemented as a hard fork at the conclusion of the replacement phase, in which the community could elect what size of a block reward subsidy goes towards the foundation. At that time, we will lay out transparent management and bylaws of the foundation to ensure actions are taken in the best interest of the community. Major proposals requiring funding will require the active participation of the Radium community through a SmartChain vote.

What does proposal #2 mean for you?

For all users: If this hard fork progresses at the conclusion of the replacement phase, it will be your responsibility to voice your participation status. You will be responsible for updating accordingly, as well as voting on topics such as management, bylaws, and block reward subsidies.

Proposal #3: Increasing Stake Maturity Requirements

Since the beginning of the Radium blockchain, the requirements for a transaction to be mature for staking have been 6 hours. Having such a low maturity requirement has resulted in an unintended consequence: users trading Radium tokens on third party exchanges are able to transfer staking holdings into and out of exchanges quickly with minimal impact on staking downtime. By increasing the maturity requirement to something such as 24 hours or 36 hours, market fluctuations will need to be much more extreme for staking users to forfeit staking rewards to participate in the market. This decreases downside pressure, resulting in a more stable exchange rate.

Demonstration of these dynamics are visible in the markets of coins with masternodes, such as Dash and PIVX. Market volatility is greatly reduced due to the high maturity requirements of operating a masternode, incentivising users to keep their coins staking for longer.

— The Radium Team