Request Network Project Update (June 8th, 2018) — AMA Special, Request Network now available for Shopify, Donaid Beta program to receive crypto donations & hiring

The Request Network Foundation promotes the adoption of blockchain by providing a protocol which allows everyone to develop their own financial applications based on the Request Network technology. The Foundation establishes a standard for blockchain transactions, shaping the future of payments (i.e. invoices, loans, payments, salary, donations) and their compliance for accounting, tax and audit integration.

In this blogpost we update you about:

• Request Network available for Shopify
• Donaid looking for Beta Testers
• Request Network AMA
• Join the Request Network team

Request Network Shopify plugin now available to install

Last week on Friday we were excited to see the release of Reqify, the first payments plugin for Shopify built on top of the Request Network protocol. This enables all ecommerce owners using Shopify to accept cryptocurrency payments with the click of a button.

Adam, the developer who also released the Request Network for WooCommerce plugin, built the Shopify plugin to include all ecommerce merchants that use Shopify as their prefered platform. The foundation is excited to see the community developing on top of the Request Network protocol.

We are very honoured to see Adam delivering these Payment plugins for popular ecommerce platforms. Make sure to join the community Hub on Slack to contribute to our decentralized workforce.

If you want to learn more about how to install Reqify on your ecommerce platform, visit www.reqify.io

Read the full release message by Adam on his Medium here.

Community spotlight: Donaid Beta program — testers needed

Alongside the release of Reqify, we are very interested to follow and showcase community projects built on top of the Request Network protocol. Meet Donaid, an all-in-one set of tools to accept and manage cryptocurrency donations.

As Donaid is moving into their beta testing phase which is scheduled to last for 8–10 weeks and consists of a private and public phase, the team is actively looking for beta testers that can supply the developers with high level feedback, alongside actively testing out their tools. Read all about the Donaid product and its beta testing program by visiting their website, or by following the Medium story below.

Sign up for the full Beta program here

Request Network Ask Me Anything

It’s Q&A time. We were glad to see a high level of community involvement in the AMA thread hosted on Reddit and have answered as many questions as possible below. We divided the questions into four themes, which are Development, Marketing & Communication, Organisation & Partnerships. As several questions were related, we have merged these into one overarching question and answer.

Development

What will be the usage of request token on auditing purposes?

REQ tokens, for audit or other applications are necessary to create requests. Later, they will be used for governance and potentially staking.

Can you please give us an update on fiat integration?

Fiat integration is vital for the success of the Request Network for medium to long term. What we focus on today is making sure the protocol has enough features and a solid developer experience to attract developers to build reliable financial tools on top of the Request Network. The foundation prioritizes its own development goals based on direct feedback coming from the developer community. We receive requests for features that are needed by developers, as their product depends on it.
Today, the main feedback coming from the developer community is to make it easier to use the library, implementation of encryption, cross currency support and adding more cryptocurrencies. Apart from these requests, scalability of the protocol itself and developing extensions such as escrow are also prioritized as it is crucial for adoption of the protocol by developers. The above are our current priorities in development, while we in parallel are researching several fiat integration options mentioned in an update last December.

• Oracle with Chainlink
• Tokenized currencies
• Integration by partnerships with banks
• Oracle and bank APIs
• Partnership with credit card companies or processors

In addition, there are other options like what we internally named “declarative requests”, in which the 2 parties declare having sent and received fiat payment, or an extension of this method with a third party. This solution would work for B2B invoicing.

What oracle solutions are you planning to use?

We will implement the first oracle ourselves and it will be a centralized one. After implementing the first oracle, we will decentralize the solution by using our own staking solution, Chainlink or another similar solution.

When will an API be made available for super easy integration for developers?

We prioritize decentralized solutions which do not add security flaws. In this case, a library do not require to have access to private keys while an API need it.

Did the Request team considered adding any additional utilities to the REQ token?

Yes. Currently REQ tokens are burned when using financial applications on Request Network, with a user friendly system that converts ETH into REQ if the end user doesn’t own any REQ tokens. The additional utilities considered for the REQ token are governance and staking. The governance utility will play a role in community voting for future utilities.

When will the https://app.request.network be updated with the BTC and ERC20 integration so that Adam can roll out the updated WooCommerce plugin with the same features?

Implementation is done, but there still has to be done some integration testing before releasing ERC20 on app.request.network. ERC20 comes with the integration of the new library API, for which we have to refactor a lot of the current code for. As the payment gateway is now used by more than 50 merchants, we have to ensure everything is working smoothly, and be extra cautious with additional tests. BTC support will come right after.

What’s the plan for cross-currency conversion? Is it a possibility to implement it or is it delayed until further notice?

Cross Currency was initially planned for Q4 2018 and it is still on track. The priority right now is to make Request Network easily usable by developers and non-technical people.

Is Request dependent on the development of Kyber Network to implement cross-currency swaps?

Request Network can work with any DEX but we like how Kyber Network is progressing and value the quality of their team. So while we’re not dependent on the development of one team, we currently have everything we need to go on with the Kyber team when it comes to cross-currency swaps.

Will it be possible for an ICO to host their project and collect funds via the crowdfunding app?

Absolutely. We agree that raising funds for ICOs is not very intuitive today. It can be confusing at best, and dangerous at worst. This is one of the applications we think our crowdfunding tool can have a big impact on the security and simplicity of conducting and participating in an ICO.

Is the crowdfunding app more like Kickstarter or Patreon?

The crowdfunding app is more like Kickstarter, without the 10% fees.

Implementing ERC20 token should be “easy” now. Is there any reason you are not implementing more and do you have any conditions to do so?

Adding more ERC20 requires development and tests, albeit small. Especially as many ERC20 have the same developer interface but different token mechanisms. We’re planning to write documentation, helping outside developers to suggest the ERC20s they need.

Anything to share about governance?

We are actively tracking which main governance systems are being built on blockchain technology. We will implement governance as soon as a good system launches that is both secure and quick to implement updates on.

Have you spoken with the teams of any other crypto platforms (e.g. Wanchain, Icon, Zilliqa, EOS, Cardano, et cetera) besides Ethereum re: integrating the Req protocol? Scaling discussions, interoperability, etc.

We’ve talked with Zilliqa and are very interested to develop our smart contracts on every other platform that allows smart contracts in the medium term. While we mainly focus on Ethereum development, we are non-exclusive and will be building on top of other platform if this makes sense from a scalability and/or interoperability point of view.

When will you be confident enough to take the invoice app out of beta? Not a timeline but what needs to be done? More auditing? Any features that are required?

App.request.network is technically ready, but we need to improve UX/UI and do multiple test phases before we believe it is user friendly enough to be adopted and used by a broader audience.

Is the bitcoin payment you implemented an oracle?
For every platform outside of Ethereum we can either validate the Requests off-chain through a network of nodes, or on-chain using an oracle. We are currently validating Requests through a network of nodes for Bitcoin off-chain, and will move to the on-chain oracle solution when necessary.

Is there any community building its own oracle to be implemented in request so far?

We are currently not aware of a community building their own oracle to be implemented in Request but would love to hear from them if there is any progress made, as we are happy to collaborate.

Right now the Request Payments app only works with Metamask and Ledger, will you be adding other wallets? Like Trezor?

Yes we do definitely want to support multiple other wallets apart from Metamask and Ledger, so the Request Payments app is as accessible as possible for anyone that wants to use it.

Will proof of stake for Request tokens be a possibility or has it ever been considered by the team? (if and when Casper is released)

We work on scaling solutions and most of them imply staking. There is no decision yet on which scaling solution we will eventually end up using, but staking is definitely a possible outcome.

I noticed there is nothing on recurring payments on the new roadmap, is this still planned?

Yes, we are going to build recurring payments.

For scaling solutions, are you considering moving to a blockchain with higher capacity?

We are not waiting for ethereum’s scalability, so we are actively working on scaling our solution. Implementing Request on other blockchains than Ethereum is a real possibility, for scalability and to be blockchain agnostic.

What would it mean for request network, in the worst case if Ethereum fails/gets hacked/burns to the ground?

In the worst case scenario of Ethereum failing, we will build our technology further using a different blockchain (probably our own) that supports the use of Smart Contracts.

Are you planning to create an official tracker with stats like volume and burning rate? something like https://tracker.kyber.network/

Yes, we’re planning something similar to track the requests, which is currently listed as the Request Explorer on the roadmap. For token burn tracking please see http://reqtokenburn.com built by one of our community builders.

One of the reason I like REQ is because it attempts to simplify sending/receiving cryptocurrency to other parties. Will it be possible at some point to send/request payments to an email address/id instead of an eth address?

Yes, using ENS or an additional layer on top of the protocol.

How is the work on ZK proofs going? Are you working with other teams on this?

As this something that can be worked on directly by the Request Network team or is it something that Request can jump on once it’s available for Ethereum? Since I know Vitalik is in a bunker somewhere working on ZkSnarks

ZkSnarks is not going to be ready (and in term of cost) fast enough and it will not hide enough data for us to use it. We want the privacy to be stronger and are working on encryption. The implementation we will use is highly linked to the scaling solution we choose (Plasma, Tendermint or other)

Marketing & Communication

Do you see the poor liquidity of REQ token as a problem and is someone still working to get the token listed on major exchanges?

We are always networking with several exchanges and can confirm that progress is being made, but listing timelines are completely to the exchanges discretion. We also cannot comment on which exchanges we are focusing on, as that’s covered under NDAs.

Do you have any plans for marketing to Asia? I feel this is crucial to the growth and adoption of any crypto project.

We do not have any specific plans to focus the Foundation marketing efforts on Asia more than we are targeting other continents. Product marketing for apps built on top of the Request Network protocol can focus on asian countries specifically if that is where the main target audience for that product lives. From a foundation perspective, we do not feel marketing to asia is more crucial for the growth of technology adoption, from either developers or end-users, than any other continent.

Any plans to give an educational lecture or interview on the vision of Request Network and triple entry accounting? People would love this.

From a communication perspective, we are currently brainstorming for ways to create additional technical and/or in-depth content and/or public appearances. We will take your idea into consideration for sure!

Would you consider producing a video (or something of that nature) to communicate your grand vision for the project?

Yes. Video content is a good way to educate and inform the broader audience about who the Request Network foundation is, what our mission & vision is and what the benefits of the protocol technology are, which can be different for each app use case.

Can the roadmap be prioritised or maybe have a progress bar? Currently there are 10 things being worked on, which is fine, but its hard to know if they are actually being completed or have just been listed.

The new roadmap will be enhanced on the short term with a percentage progression status, to give a slightly better insight of how far a goal is developed until moving towards completion. The visual implementation will be better with the release of a new website.

On the roadmap is it possible to add dates or approximate deadlines for each goal? You could add deadlines for the goals that are under “In progress” and maybe approximate dates for when you’ll begin working on the goals that are under “Up Next” .

We have specifically chosen to not have any due dates/deadlines for development goals on the new roadmap. The new roadmaps goal is to give an insight into all development progression that is carried out by the Foundation, rather than focusing on when a product will hit the market. We will implement percentage progression to give more clarity on how close a goal is to completion.

Can you comment on the parts of the roadmap that are new?

We are working on creating roadmap status pages on docs.request.network to specify what each goal on the current roadmap means. Once the new website is in place, that information will shift to the roadmap on the website itself. The protocol parts on the roadmap that are new are:

• Scaling solution: To improve the limit on the number of created request per second, and make these creation much much cheaper, we’re doing research and prototyping on scaling solutions. This includes options like tendermint and plasma. The subject is complex and it will take time to reach a final solution
• Data encryption: Researching and implementing a solution to hide the data but also the amounts and addresses. This subject is also complex.
• Data sustainability: Setting up IPFS nodes alongside a monitoring system to ensure request data are always available
• Data Format Specifications: Release standards for request data formats
• Extensibility and advanced payment conditions extension: Build a system that allows the protocol to be extended. This includes extensions built by the internal team but also by anybody, while maintaining security and integrity of the protocol. The first extension will be “advanced payment conditions”, to set conditions on the amounts and times to pay a request for example. Later, escrows, extensions for ICOs and continuous payments are candidates.
• Request explorer: Online dashboard to explore the protocol, the requests, amounts, currencies, etc.
• Cross-currency: Ability to pay a request in a different currency than asked by the recipient
• Supporting more currencies: Broad subject, that will start with documenting how to add currencies, so that developers from the community can add the currencies they need. It also includes research on fiat integration

Will there be an update of the website and the roadmap soon?

Yes, we are working on a new website for the Request Network Foundation to be more in line with the current status of the project.

The visual representation of the new roadmap will be updated as part of a full website rehaul for the Request Network Foundation. This will increase readability and usability of the roadmap, making it visually more attractive to track progress.

What’s your vision and plan for Request Network going mainstream and achieving adoption on a global scale?

Peaking into the future a little bit, we envision to further scale (we already went from 6 to 11 team members within a year) into a large organisation for the Request Network, a setup which we are already actively recruiting for. Having dedicated squads set up to create, develop and sustain each use case autonomously and independant to the Foundation protocol team. These products will all be built using the Request Network protocol just like any other community member developed product uses the protocol today. The main goal of these products is to gain adoption, which simultaneously contributes to protocol network usage.

There seems to be a lot of confusion about the foundation creating a product that you are suppose to be marketing in a specific way and that you owe this to the community. I think it would be good to reiterate what the goals for the foundation are and the way in which you want to operate (as decentralized as possible, creating an ecosystem, etc correct?). Can you clear this up and state what the role of the foundation will be for marketing individual apps and the protocol?

Good question and happy to supply some additional information around this. As we are currently heavily scaling as an organisation, we are also more clearly dividing the marketing roles focused on both the protocol and apps, which is considered as the Request Network.

The Request Network Foundation focuses on the protocol part of the Request Network. The audience we focus on for protocol adoption are developers/builders. We supply the technology and resources (for example education, support, finance) necessary to build financial tools on top of the protocol. We aim our marketing and communication efforts mostly on creating valuable content, hosting and supporting a builder community and attracting developers to be part of this community to grow the ecosystem.

As you might have noticed by looking at the most recent job offers, we are simultaneously expanding the way apps are being developed. Moving from one department focusing on all the apps, towards multiple teams focusing on developing and bringing to market specific applications. These apps will have their own marketing efforts, focused on adoption of the product in its self-defined market.

Organisation

Do you frequently visit what is posted on the sub? How do you react to the criticism?

We do regularly visit Reddit and learn a lot from listening to useful feedback and information supplied by the entire community. The constructive comments voiced by our community keeps us sharp and stimulates us to work even harder.

I was expecting a debrief post consensus 2018 since two team members were presents. Could you give us a quick feedback?

3 team members actually! Consensus was very interesting, and helped us gauge interest in Request — especially in regards to financial companies looking to bring their systems onto the blockchain. It was also a chance for us to engage with the crypto community in the US, like the AirSwap and Blockfolio teams, and helped solidify our relationships within the blockchain community (lots of meetings!).

Can you please elaborate a bit more about the 30M request hub funding? How many got the funding? How many still pending for funding? And which projects are or if there is any deadline for them?

A few projects (less than 10) have signed up with an NDA and/or a contract and are in the final phase. Around 40 are pending, i.e. we’re in discussion.

We believe that it is good for the sustainability of funded projects that their onboarding process takes some time. Given the fact that mainnet launch happened roughly 2 months ago, some projects need some accompaniment and we’re taking time to help and challenge them.

Most of the projects are promising and we are excited to see most of them launch within months. It will definitely drive the adoption up. They start to receive funding after a first milestone is reached.

We will give more details on individual projects and funding within 6 weeks.

Do you plan to monetise the accounting and the auditing applications?

Yes, but not from the start. The accounting and auditing applications we are working on will be free forever for the users that subscribe during the first 6 months.

The number of Circulating Supply in Coinmarketcap increased, can you give us an update on the circulating supply?

There have been pre-explained and ordinary transactions so far. We will share transparent information about unexpected and extraordinary movements if it happens in the future.

Are you still open for applicants regarding your fund initiative?

Yes, the fund is still open for any relevant projects. Applications from people willing to shape the future of the financial industry are encouraged. The quality of projects is increasing with time, so make sure to take up the challenge and apply.

How are you looking for new hires? Is it anything beyond putting small references on your medium? Have you tried throwing around some job offers on spot in Singapore?

A few months ago, we were 6 team members. We are now 11 members and we keep recruiting. 5 job offers have recently been published among professional and social networks and we’ve received over 600 applications in 10 days. Around 30 applicants have been retained so far and we plan to have interviews with them within 4 weeks.

Are you as optimistic about the project as you were initially? Are spirits high among the team?

We all agree that the optimism and spirit within the team is very high. The fact that we are currently scaling the organisation brings a lot of energy and enthusiasm. We work very hard on a daily basis to further improve the network, regardless of market conditions.

What are the most important lessons learned by the team or per individual from the past period? Which mistakes do you regret the most?

We’ve learnt that we should not have announced partnerships as the roadmap expected them to be but that we should communicate when it makes the most sense and when we and the partners feel good about communicating. Adoption is more important than communication.

There are other partners we will communicate about in the future when it makes sense and we will keep in mind that we’re focused on adoption rather than roadmap expectations.

We’ve improved on the way we communicate and have improved on the way we set priorities for complex development situations. Both of these improvements will make the foundation stronger.

On your Product Manager position I saw that you are looking to develop a Point of Sale and a supply chain and Traceability Dapp. Why now?

We feel that these are some of the most impactful applications for our technology. This also means that these are areas where the partnership team is spending significant time making inroads.

Has any of you ever been to the Efteling and in case you have what’s your favorite ride?

YES! Enjoy our favourite ride.

Following your jobs description : “Singapore for six months, one of the major European capitals afterwards.” Are you planning to move or opening an office in EU before the end of the year? If so, in which city?

Yes, we do plan on moving towards Europe before the end of 2018. Our focus is currently on four capital cities in Europe, but we haven’t made the final decision yet.

How have your visions of the network changed since the last AMA and what are you most excited about going forward?

While our vision hasn’t changed much since the last AMA, the team itself did in size — we grew from a core team of 6 people to 11 foundation members within a year. We are actively recruiting and are super excited about the upcoming year, as finished products are launched to their markets and the protocol expands.

Partnerships

Are there any new partnerships in the works? Are some non-crypto & non-french entities?

Yes, there are new non-crypto & non-French partnerships in the works. We can’t release any details yet.

Has there been communicated with certain governments? The France minister of finance, and the Belgian minister of digital agenda are very interested in blockchain.

Yes, we have been in touch with a few governments (in Europe and the US) to help better understand their pain points, and how our technology could be impactful. We can’t comment on specifics.

On the old roadmap there was a mention of meetings with MMF, UN, other world organizations and govs. Is that still planned?

Governmental organizations are a vertical that has a lot of potential to be improved with blockchain. It is still one of our primary focuses.

Is there any sort of cooperation between you and OmiseGo?

There is currently no cooperation between us and OmiseGo.

Are there any specific details you can share about what has come out of the PwC partnership?

Yes, we are still working with PwC France to define the future of auditing and accounting. This is an ongoing process, and we will keep the community updated as new solutions are developed and implemented.

Is there anything you can say on your talks with PwC France the week before Consensus? I am concerned about your PwC partnership, and want to remain secure knowing that it’s solid and that both teams are working on exciting things together.

Rest assured, the relationship is very solid. We speak with them frequently, and we are going to continue to work together to develop the future of accounting and smart auditing.

Can you explain exactly what happened with Wikimedia France?

Everything we will say about the situation is communicated in the Clarification post on Reddit. We focus and move onward.

Is there any intention to network with YCombinator’s e-commerce focused companies in order to both spread the usage of Request, as well as provide visibility to these other startups?
We are using our networks to gain traction and adoption and are trying to synchronize our progress with potential partners

Do you still talk with YCombinator and what was their reaction to the changed roadmap?

We can get in touch with any different partner within the YC network based on our needs. The YC program never ends, they continue to give advice and make introductions as long as we need — -and so does the informal networking of YC-funded companies.

The improvements we have made on the roadmap make more sense for the quality of the releases we are putting out.

Join the Request Network foundation

We are scaling the organisation. We are still actively looking for all talented people that want to bring their unique skill set to the team. Make sure to let us know what your dream job would be at the Request Network Foundation by mailing your resume & motivational letter to join@request.network or find all open positions on our Careers page.