An update to ChaosNet and Milestones

An overview to the project progress so far, including expectations going forward.

Summary

The following will be in place going forward:

• ChaosNet will be delayed in order to complete a Code Review, TSS Audit and Economic Review
• A successful ChaosNet will pave the way for a Mainnet launch
• RuneVault will continue, capped at 1m RUNE per week for all participants combined, until ChaosNet is launched.
• The team will refrain from pegging to specific dates, preferring to release completion status of key milestones as a better way to convey project progress.

Background

BEPSwap

BEPSwap was originally intended to be a centralised technology demonstrator for BEP2 asset swaps, and was planned to be launched in Q4 2019. The team were planning to run a 3–4 node system to support it for 6–9 months, before decommissioning it in time for THORChain mainnet. THORChain was planned to debut with ASGARDEX, a cross-chain swapping platform in 2020 with support for Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Targeting a Decentralised Launch

In early Q4 2019, the team made some breakthroughs in how to tackle the cross-chain environment. The two notable breakthroughs was moving from pegged assets to purely on-chain assets, as well as asynchronous liquidity delegation to solve for TSS signing speeds. Additionally, as the RUNE asset established a wide and highly-engaged distribution, (thanks to a successful RUNEVault campaign), the team realised the potential for a decentralised launch with cross-chain support was at hand.

Binance Chain TSS-lib

Originally the TSS library used was a Rust-based TSS library from the ZenGo team. Whilst a good library, Binance’s Golang-based TSS library, which was released on November 2019, was more appropriate for the THORChain tech stack since it could be compiled in the main binary. This required an extensive re-write of the TSS module. The result is the THORNode binary is much more synergistic and testable.

Code Freeze

The team guided for, and achieved a code freeze on 20 November 2019. At the conclusion of the Code Freeze, the team realised the codebase had outgrown its original architecture (inherited from CosmosSDK example applications), and required a refactor to make the interfaces more testable. The team spent the following 6 weeks refactoring the codebase.

Audit

The codebase audit was planned to immediately follow code freeze, however the refactor and TSS re-write necessarily pushed it back. Following widespread discussion in the community on the suitability of THORChain’s liquidity model, the team realised the imperative of a much more extensive code review and audit, which should include the TSS module. A TSS issue could be catastrophic for the network.

Milestones

The milestones going forward are as follows.

Testnet

The team were hoping to have a testnet released this week (test BEP2 assets) but some integration issues have held it up. This will be released imminently to the community and will allow the community to provide more feedback prior to ChaosNet.

Code Review

Review Partner: Certik https://www.certik.org

The Code Review will ensure the THORNode binary is built to a high standard and free of known bugs. The preparations for Code Review have begun and should take around 6 weeks. Since the work can be conducted in parallel, the team would feel comfortable releasing ChaosNet prior to Code Review being complete as long the majority of the binary has been checked.

TSS Audit

Audit Partner: TBA

The team are in preliminary discussions with a well-known auditing firm who have experience with TSS. The audit should take around 6 weeks to complete. The team will release ChaosNet after the TSS Audit is complete, since a secure TSS protocol is important to ensure asset integrity during ChaosNet.

Economic Review

Review Partner: Gauntlet https://gauntlet.network

The Economic Review will explore the action space around both the network’s economic security as well as the CLP liquidity model. The economic security model will be explored first, estimated to take around 6 weeks. The CLP Liquidity Model will be explored as a follow-up, most likely after ChaosNet, but before Mainnet. The data from both explorations should be very insightful to the community as to the viability of the network and its liquidity model.

ChaosNet

ChaosNet will be released as soon as the team feel comfortable, but it is likely to be released after a successful testnet, majority of the Code Review being complete, post-TSS Audit and after the first part of the Economic Review.

ChaosNet will have these design goals:

• 12 nodes, churning once a day
• 100k RUNE min bond
• No more than 600k RUNE staked (underwritten)
• 6–12 pools enabled for swapping
• Successful Ragnarök

MainNet

MainNet will be released post a successful ChaosNet, supporting Binance Chain (BEPSwap). It will be built for, but not with, Ethereum and Bitcoin support. MainNet will be fully decentralised (no team nodes), with no limits on Rune staked.

Asgard Wallet

The Asgard Wallet will likely be released for Binance Chain asset support around the time of Mainnet. Ethereum and Bitcoin support in the Asgard Wallet will come in time.

RUNEVault

RUNEVault is a very important part of the RUNE Asset Distribution Phase. It ensures the RUNE asset is being churned to the correct holdership; those who have demonstrated engagement and long-term alignment in the ecosystem.

RUNEVault has no limits on who can enter or exit, precisely because this sets the expectation for the nature of interaction with THORChain. There are no obligations for RUNEVault participants, because none are needed.

RUNE for RUNEVault comes from the Community Reserve, a reserve of RUNE set aside for exactly this purpose. Out of 60m RUNE allocated, there are 40m RUNE left. Since it has a finite limit, going forward RUNE to RUNEVault will be capped a 1m per week, likely to be reached sometime in January. This will begin the necessary wind-down of RUNE emission. During ChaosNet, RUNEVault emissions will drop off 1% per week, reduced by 0.1% per week until MainNet is ready. This should ensure a smooth transition.

Conclusion

The team thank the community for support and patience. THORChain is a distributed exchange resistant to all forms of attacks, including from state actors and rogue insiders. It has incentives to absorb almost all on-market liquidity and it could be one of the most important networks deployed in this decade.

THORChain debuts some cutting edge technology and is characterised by some unique characteristics:

• 1-way state pegs, allowing any chain to be connected
• Chain-agnostic TSS protocol, allowing any asset to be supported
• Continuous Liquidity Pools, resistant to manipulation
• Minimal governance, ensuring the chain cannot be co-opted
• Plausible deniability for anonymous nodes, protecting identities and staying resilient
• Signalling via economic weight, which drives value into RUNE
• A tightly-coupled liquidity and security model, preventing an unsafe system

The team’s assessment is that the THORChain project has a 6–12 month lead on all competition, so they are continually aware of the imperative of time, but the network needs to be adequately tested prior to genesis.

Onwards.

THORChain Community

To keep up to date with the project, please monitor community channels, particularly Telegram, Discord and Twitter:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/thorchain_org
• Telegram Community: https://t.me/thorchain_org
• Telegram Announcements: https://t.me/thorchain
• Discord: https://discord.gg/V6pNp8A
• Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/thorchain
• Github: https://github.com/thorchain
• Medium: https://medium.com/thorchain