SiaClassic: New Year, New Path
Happy 2019 from all of us at SiaClassic! We are thankful for the journey you’ve been on with us, and we are so ready for the year ahead. As we take some time to reflect on 2018 — going over all of the ups and downs and changes we’ve experienced as a team — it’s caused us to also contemplate our 2019 and prepare for all of the excited developments the year undoubtedly has in store for our project.
As many of you know, we began the SiaClassic Organization as a way to counteract the mining algorithm change, but more importantly as a way to fight for and to continue what we all believe is a worthwhile and much-needed project within the crypto world.
We decided to undertake maintaining SiaClassic as a nonprofit foundation with the intent of keeping our community first and to ensure the openness of our protocol. As we turn to the year ahead, we want to recommit ourselves and our team to the aforementioned vision by sharing some exciting changes that we will be rolling out over the course of the next few weeks, including some general updates and progress on our roadmap.
So, we have a lot to announce. First, we want to thank Jason Gantt for his invaluable time and unwavering commitment to this project. As such, we announce with heavy hearts that our fearless leader will be stepping down as Executive Director.
The community knows and understands that a large part of why SiaClassic exists is simple due to a few standing up for what they believe. Miners and mining have been an integral part of our existence as an organization. Jason has for lack of a better term been the champion of miners and mining by offering his time and energy in guiding this project. Jason has tirelessly fought for miners and maintained the belief that SiaClassic should at its core advocate decentralized transparency in blockchain technology. Jason has stood firmly alongside all of SiaClassic’s miners from day one, and will continue to do so as he steps back from day-to-day operations and remains on the Board of Directors to continue to offer his insight and guidance as we move the next phase of our journey.
While Sia forked and the SiaClassic Foundation was formed for a particular purpose, we recognise the need to grow and develop alongside the ambitious goals we have set for ourselves within our roadmap. These goals are not merely guidelines for our project but make up the specific steps we plan to take to push this protocol towards ubiquity. As such, we have begun searching for the perfect person to guide SiaClassic moving forward. We expect it will be a long process, as we are intent on hiring the person who understands our goals and vision and will effectively carry SiaClassic into the future.
To enable a smooth transition, Scott Ellis, our stalwart Chairman of the Board, will act as the Interim Executive Director. Scott, who prefers to remain behind-the-scenes, has been integral to our development thus far. Scott’s business acumen will greatly serve the SiaClassic Foundation. In 1999, he founded The E Group, a technology staffing company that has been a top vendor for power/utility companies in the Southeast United States with 300 employees. He’s also an owner and board member of Erwin Brothers Entertainment, Inc, a production company that has recently inked a first-look deal with Lionsgate Motion Picture Group.
Scott, as Interim Executive Director, will focus on working with and seeking business and corporate partnerships for SiaClassic to advance the protocol as an enterprise solution. He will ensure that the team works effectively, the organization is run diligently, and our industry experts can focus on building a fantastic product. He believes in finding the best talent, ensuring they have the resources they require, pointing them in the right direction, and then getting out of their way.
We will also be promoting Calley Nye to the position of Product Manager. Throughout her time with SiaClassic, she has been the voice of the community behind every decision and integral to the various projects currently in development. As a former developer, and given her experience with various other blockchain projects, we think the product will be best served with her at the helm. Scott will continue to work closely with her while we navigate the challenges ahead.
We’ve covered all we have to share with you when it comes to SiaClassic housekeeping, but it wouldn’t be a new year update without providing a rundown on all of our current projects in the pipeline as well as new developments that are taking shape as we kick off the new year!
Implementing our Dev Fee
As we’ve stated previously, we are working on implementing a 10% dev fee to fund development and grants for the Sia ecosystem. We completed the set up quite a while ago, however we have taken our time to thoroughly test it to ensure we don’t experience any bugs like the one Nebulous did on the October 31st fork. We are currently communicating with exchanges to ensure that there are no interruptions or hiccups. Moreover, will be making the code available on GitLab as soon as we have concluded the independent 3rd-party audit. More information about the auditor and their determinations will be forthcoming.
SiaClassic Wallet
We pushed out a beta rebranded wallet early on that, if we’re honest, fell way short of complete in our eyes. It was a necessary experience however because it really showed us the wallet’s flaws and where we needed to recalibrate our focus for the new wallet. Our new wallet will solve many of the issues we found in the beta round, like working on a new port so you can run all the Sia wallets at the same time.
Blockchain Explorer
We have forked the Siahub explorer, and are working on a new style for it. We are still very much in the middle of this effort, but it should be complete soon and we will share it with our community when it’s ready.
New Website
The current website was made rather quickly and we believe we can do a far better job as far as the design and content goes. We will aim to roll this out around the same time as the new wallet and explorer.
Knowledgebase
A point that we’ve all agreed on since we came together to breathe new life into Sia is that we need to make it really easy for all users to get the information they need regarding mining, storage, renting, and about our organization in general and its mission. Our knowledgebase will aim to answer all of these questions, and will act as a reference and guiding light for users to continually come back to as our platform grows.
As Calley likes to remind us, the community is integral to any blockchain project. As such, we’d like to involve more of you in the process. Please apply to the community advisory council if you’d like to work with Calley and Scott to help us reach our goals.
Again, we are so thankful for the patience, time, feedback, and dedication each and every community member has extended out to the SiaClassic project and team, and we cannot wait to push forward on all of our efforts to achieve our mission for SiaClassic.
This foundation is made possible because of a community of people passionate about this project, miners who protect the network, and developers who devote their time and energy to it.
Are you one of those people? If so, please join us.
