Next Feature Activation is coming!
Signum is a sustainable, decentralized blockchain solution, an alternative to wasteful Proof of Work and centralized Proof of Stake systems. First developed in 2014, Signum has been at the forefront of blockchain technology with the first implementation of smart contracts. Since 2019, the Signum Network has been preparing the Signum blockchain for the next decade.
Next feature activation
The upcoming feature activation at block 1,150,000 (around 27th of May 2023) will complete the framework of the new features for the existing token functionality, introduce a more secure setup for the solo miners and modernize the alias framework.
Summary of the features :
- Introduce Smart Tokens Ownership transfer (SIP-43)
- Secure solo mining setup (SIP-46)
- Modernize the Alias frameworks (SIP-48)
Introduce Smart Tokens Ownership Transfer
Most platforms use smart contracts to handle token creation and serve activities like buying, selling, and transferring within the smart contract. Signum’s approach is different. On the Signum blockchain, tokens are situated similarly to the blockchain’s native coin (Signa) in that they are unique entities that can be transferred or traded directly between accounts. Their position is directly attached to Signum accounts, not taken via a smart contract.
All possible activities are governed by the blockchain nodes’ existing transaction types and logic, making the current token setup “smart”:
Issue a smart token
With this transaction, you can define a ticker, description, number of digits, initial supply and if it is mintable. The transaction-id gives the unique token id by creation.
Mint smart token
With this transaction, the owner of the smart token can mint new tokens, which will be directly added to the owner’s account. The smart token needs to be created as mintable. Otherwise, the transaction will be rejected.
Transfer smart tokens
With this transaction, Signa and balances of one up to 4 different smart tokens can be transferred to a receiver account.
Buy and sell smart tokens
With this transaction, any smart token can be sold or bought with Signa on the on-chain DEX order book.
Set Treasury Accounts
With this transaction, the smart token owner can highlight accounts of the smart token use case. Token balances in these accounts will not be used when calculating circulating supply, nor will they receive any payment from the Distribution to holder transaction by this smart token.
Distribute to holder
With this transaction, any account can pay dividends and other income to existing smart token holders efficiently and without burdening blockchain resources. This transaction type allows transferring a given amount of Signa or other smart tokens (or both) to defined smart token holders in one transaction!
Token Ownership transfer
A missing part of most common blockchains nowadays is the possibility of transferring the ownership of an existing token to a new owner in a secure way.
On the Signum blockchain, you can now transfer ownership with a straightforward transaction to a new owner — no need for passphrase sharing or complicated smart contract handling — just a smart transaction which costs 150 Signa, similar to a token creation.
The transaction’s receiver will be the token’s new owner and will have, from this moment, the ability to mint new tokens (if mintable), set Treasury Accounts or transfer the ownership again. The issuer or old owner will lose the right to do so once the transaction is added to the chain. This transaction does not impact any smart token balances.
An intelligent way to solve a right-transfer of use- or business cases most efficiently with the Signum blockchain.
Note for smart contracts on handling smart tokens
Signum smart contracts can manage smart tokens by code. Issuing, minting, transferring, checking balances on its contract or even sending a distribution to the holders for a smart token is possible.
The current limitation for smart contracts is that they are not able to setTreasury Accounts or transfer the ownership of a smart token, nor can they create buy or sell orders for smart tokens on the on-chain orderbook.
Secure Solo Mining Setup
Signum offers a simple setup to start solo mining. Currently, only a full node and the miner software are needed. BTDEX also provides a solution for solo mining. From a security perspective, the only downside to running a solo miner is leaving the passphrase in the clear text either in the node’s configuration or in the mining software.
This new feature will allow solo miners to use a proxy pool to sign the blocks. If the passphrase that generates this block signing leaks, the miner can register a new one. This way, a miner can forge solo blocks without using the original account passphrase.
In the node configuration, the proxy pool’s passphrase must be set to sign the blocks. This new passphrase will be placed under the config entry RewardRecipientPassphrases.
Modernize The Alias Frameworks
Aliases have been available on the Signum chain since the genesis block.
What are Aliases?
Aliases are unique names which can be owned and traded on the Signum chain. With each Alias, the owner has a data room of about 1,000 characters which can be used for any data set. Besides that, the owner of the Alias can change the data collection at any time. Based on the Signum standard SIP-44, the owner of an Alias can define different kinds of Aliases types from a simple Signum account pointer, a domain forward setup by SIP-47 or a creating its own web3 Identity, or combine types in one generic format. Besides the standard field of the SIP-44, custom fields can be easily applied and support the needs of any use case.
Alias creation
It was only possible to create an Alias with a combination of letters a-z/A-Z and numbers 0–9. This new feature adds one extra character, the ‘_’.
Given this additional character, it will empower the user to create aliases in a way they use them on other social networks or emails. The maximum length is not changed, being 100 characters.
STLD (Signum Top Level Domains)
With the current framework, the Alias system had only one dimension.
The upcoming change will introduce Top Level Domains (TLDs). Compared to an URL, we now have a framework which allows the user to register the Alias as a second-level domain and decide in which top-level domain (TLD) this Alias should exist.
With the upcoming upgrade, Signum will provide the following STLD by default:
- blockchain
- coin
- crypto
- dao
- decentral
- dex
- free
- nft
- p2p
- sig
- signa
- signum
- sns
- w3
- wallet
- web3
- x
- y
- z
Aliases created without an STLD (e.g. all Aliases created before this feature activation) have the .signum STLD for free.
Example:
Suppose a user creates an Alias without an STLD selection like “Spaceship”. In that case, this Alias gets registered for “Spaceship” and “Spaceship.signum”
Suppose a user created an Alias “Spaceship” with the STLD, for example, “crypto”. In that case, this Alias is now only registered for “Spaceship.crypto”.
Custom STLD
Besides the default STLDs, any Signum account can create a new STLD on the Signum chain. This way, specific use- or business cases can build and benefit from their namespaces.
As Aliases have a quarterly renewal cost, the chain will send those payments to the owner of the STLD. The following new transaction types are needed:
- Register a new STLD
- An STLD must have a unique name.
- An STLD consists of a combination of ^[a-zA-Z0–9]{1,40}$ with a
maximum of 40 chars
- The minimum transaction fee is 0.01 Signa
- The minimum amount to pay is 100k Signa (one hundred thousand)
- The receiver account is the Zero (burn) account - Sell an STLD public
- Similar to a public sale of an Alias - Sell an STLD private
- Similar to a private sale of an Alias
Alias renewal process
With this feature activation, every Alias becomes bound to a renewal subscription.
Every time a new alias is registered (or if the owner sells a legacy alias after the upgrade), a subscription is created with a deadline of 3 months (adding 7776000 seconds to the current timestamp) and a value of 12.5 Signa.
This subscription works similarly to a regular Signum subscription. When it expires, the payment gets executed, and a new deadline gets set.
Suppose the current alias owner does not have enough balance when payment for the renewal subscription gets executed. In that case, the related Alias is deleted along with its renewal subscription, making expired aliases available again for any user.
Suppose the user cancels the alias renewal subscription. In that case, the Alias is also deleted and becomes available for other users to create as fresh and new.
Suppose an alias that already has a subscription assigned to it gets sold. In that case, the chain transfers the subscription to the new alias owner with the current deadline.
If the Alias gets deleted, the chain will automatically cancel any active private or public sale for this Alias.
If the Alias has no TLD set (but using the default .signum) or is one of the default STLDs, the amount paid by the renewal transaction gets burned along with the subscription fee.
If an Alias uses a custom STLD, the renewal amount gets distributed to the current owner of the STLD, and the subscription fee gets burned.
New Node Software
You can download Signum-node 3.7.0 at https://www.signum.network/wallet.html or directly from Github https://github.com/signum-network/signum-node/releases/tag/v3.7.0.
Discover Signum
Signum is the world’s first truly sustainable blockchain, featuring world-class applications on a sustainable leading-edge blockchain architecture. Unlike other cryptocurrencies, Signum powers its native cryptocurrency Signa (SIGNA), with a minor fraction of energy use and e-waste. Signum empowers users and developers worldwide with innovative blockchain solutions for everyday life.
Find out more at https://signum.network/ or join a Signum channel below.
Get Signa: https://signum.network/exchanges.html
Twitter
Telegram
Discord
Reddit
Youtube
Documentation
NFT-Portal
Defi-Portal (including Aliases)
Your
Signum-Network
