Request Network project update (March 16th, 2018) — mainnet audits, bug bounties & a new hire

Request is a decentralized network that allows anyone to request a payment (a Request Invoice) for which the recipient can pay in a secure way. All the information is stored in a decentralized authentic ledger. This results in cheaper, easier, and more secure payments, and it allows for a wide range of automation possibilities.

The Request platform aims to formalize financial flows on the blockchain by setting the standard for payments, invoicing, accounting, and auditing in cryptocurrencies, so that crypto-enthusiasts can invoice, get paid, and get their salary in crypto.

For more information, visit our website or our blog.

In this week’s project update we zoom in on smart contract audits, bug bounties, our new team member, new whitepaper translations and the Request Fund.

External audits almost done — Bug bounty program upcoming

Security is a top priority at Request Network. The first audit of our smart contracts has been completed successfully this week by Clément Lesaege, CTO at Kleros and no major vulnerabilities were discovered. The second audit is currently conducted by Verichains and is due next week.

Once the second audit is done, we will launch a bug bounty program to reward people helping us find vulnerabilities in our smart contracts. Want to participate? Make sure to keep a close eye on this blog and our social media channels next week!

Developers, developers, developers! Romaric is joining the Request Foundation team as a Blockchain Software Engineer

We’re happy to introduce Romaric Juniet who is joining forces with the Request Foundation team. He will work as a Blockchain Software Engineer at Request Network. Holding a Master’s in Computer Science from INSA Lyon, Romaric worked for a startup in Singapore as a Full-Stack Engineer for the past few years. He is experienced working in an environment that demands high stability and a stringent security process. He already knows Etienne and Vincent from university and is joining the Foundation team full-time in Singapore.

As the Blockchain Software Engineer at the Request Network Foundation, Romaric will be responsible for designing the platform, developing smart contracts, implementing the JavaScript library, optimizing for performance and quality, and also educating the community about how to build on the Request Network platform.

New whitepaper translations

We’ve just added 10 new translations of our whitepaper to our website: Bulgarian, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovenian, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

The translations have been done by our community members. A huge thanks to everyone involved. Do you have a suggestion to improve any of these translations? Make sure to reach out to us by sending an e-mail to translations@request.network.

Currently, our community members are still working on translations to Croatian, Italian, Korean, Japanese, Norwegian and Russian. Don’t hesitate to contact us by sending an e-mail to translations@request.network if you’re interested in translating to any other language.

Request Fund

You can still send in your application for the Request Fund! We’re already talking to the current applicants and are looking forward to even more applications in the future. We have outlined the criteria and process for you below to explain in-depth how we select and reward applicants who qualify for the Request Fund.

One of the goals of the Request Network Foundation is to support the development of innovative dApps and invite developers to build on top of the Request Network platform. We believe that by incentivizing projects built on top of our platform, we can grow a strong and decentralized ecosystem that is sustainable. To reward those who spend their time and effort developing dApps on the Request Network platform, we have set up the Request Fund, containing a total of $30 million. The Request Fund distributes grants to qualifying projects.

To inspire new developers that didn’t read our initial announcement, here is a list of ideas we would be keen on funding. Note that any other great idea that is not on the list below could also qualify for the Fund:

• Mobile apps to create, detect, and pay requests
• Invoicing apps (Paypal-like)
• Point of Sale (Square-like)
• P2P payment apps (Venmo-like software)
• Crowdfunding apps (Patreon- or Kickstarter-like)
• Online payments e-commerce plugins (WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento,…)
• Payroll apps (Gusto-like)
• Supply chain traceability
• Accounting apps (Quickbooks-like)
• Smart financial auditing algorithms
• IoT platform integration (IBM Watson, AWS IoT, Azure IoT, etc…)
• Factoring apps
• Expenses (Expensify-like)
• Virtual Reality payment integrations
• Off-chain reputation systems
• Crypto-currencies VAT/Tax payments
• Insurtech

Additional criteria to qualify for the Request Fund:

• State of the project: To qualify for the Request Fund, an MVP needs to be built on the Request Network platform before submitting. Projects that are in their idea stage, without having an MVP, do not qualify for the Request Fund.
• Focus on building the ecosystem: We are currently in the builders phase and are focusing on giving out grants only to developers building on top of the Request Network platform. Apart from the Request Fund, one of our strategies is to educate potential end-users about the technology.
• Fund intention: The Foundation is not a financing solution for any project, but exists to accelerate the start of projects that use the Request Network platform. We do this by incentivizing teams that have started to develop real use-cases on the platform. These use-cases do need to have their own business models to operate, unreliant from the Request Fund.
• Legal: The Foundation will give grants to entities. Due to legal responsibilities, we must be able to identify the teams and organizations we are giving out grants to. If you need assistance with this, we can provide a smooth way to create an entity to operate under. We are not financing established corporations who are already actively innovating and want to explore. If you are an established big company, we are open to discuss building a proof of concept for the management of your financial flows. The goal of the Request Network Foundation is to support a growing ecosystem by incentivizing decentralized development.
• Team: To get funded, we require at least one team member to work full-time on the project.

The Request Fund distributes grants based on reaching specific project milestones agreed upon in advance. The Request Fund will have an estimated liquidity of five years. To make sure the Fund is used in an effective and responsible matter, we are very careful and precise in this process. Please feel free to ask any questions regarding the full process by sending an e-mail towards requestfund@request.network

Additional work we’re currently finishing

Apart from finishing the Mainnet release, here is an additional list of tasks we’re currently working on:

• The smart contract for ERC20 tokens is completed and library development is ongoing. It will be launched after fully being reviewed and audited.
• We are setting up the gateway on app.request.network to display the information of a signed request and allow a payer to broadcast it on the blockchain while paying it.
• We are developing a demo merchant site with a “Pay with ETH” request button that shows end-users the functionality of our online payment use-case.
• We are writing a “how to integrate a pay-with-request button“ guide, detailing the technical steps to integrate payment requests using the Request Network on your online platform.

What’s next after the release of the Request Network Mainnet?

We’re very glad to announce that the mainnet release of the Request Network, due at the end of this quarter, is about to be operational very soon.

Step by step, the Request Network platform takes shape and is getting ready to be used by the blockchain market.

The mainnet release of the Request Network is a very important milestone as it it enables the decentralized ecosystem of builders to launch their products on top of the platform. The Foundation team will simultaneously continue to develop new features which will strengthen the full ecosystem even further. The release of mainnet version is a pilot — The core platform on which many more functionalities will be developed over time by both the Foundation and the community builders.

After releasing the mainnet, we will enter an interesting phase for the Request Network: the “builders phase”. A wide range of use cases can be developed on top of our platform (see our whitepaper), which makes this phase of the project one of the most exciting up to date!

With the Request Network platform live, the Foundation works on creating dApps such as invoicing, accounting or even crowdfunding. This is a quick heads up to inform the community that we’re currently defining and elaborating on the different use cases. After a more in-depth market analysis and definition of the next steps, we will gladly share our thoughts on where our focus should be in terms of dApp development.

See you soon for the mainnet release! On March 30th, we’ll give the last update of the first quarter of 2018 and start our journey towards Request Stonehenge!