September 2022

The month of September has proven to be a watershed period for the Elastos/CR ecosystem. Many developments have come to light in efforts to build an unstoppable environment for commerce, creativity, and community.

ESC economics, specifically bolstering liquidity and accessibility, are improving. Longtime CR contributor Yipeng Su’s DPoS 2.0 Staking model is making waves in giving Elastos consensus a boost through greater efficiency. Security for any blockchain is paramount.

CR Council took user safety into account when agreeing to partner with Paladin to provide additional security for ecosystem projects on the Elastos EVM blockchain. 

ELA has secured yet another top tier exchange listing after successfully corralling Gate.io to include not one, but three ELA versions, thereby providing ultimate convenience to traders.

ElkNet, a leading bridge between many blockchains (including Kava on Cosmos), has continued to push the envelope in connecting Elastos Smart Chain to other networks throughout Web3. There have also been a number of inactive proposals that were terminated. Both the CR Council and Secretariat does their best to hold projects accountable and continue to move forward with initiatives that make Elastos and CR better.

Proposals in the public spotlight this September

Proposal 60: Improving Accessibility of ESC and Bootstrapping Liquidity

In September of last year, Ryan from Glide Finance devised a proposal to create a DeFi arm for CR and Elastos. In order to accomplish the goal of building a DeFi environment, the Elastos Smart Chain would need to become more active; accompanied by adequate liquidity for transactions, trades, and overall commerce. Gas fees were successfully subsidized along with a faucet that’s available to users who wanted to make transactions on the network. Overall, Glide Finance gave a shot in the arm to Elastos and the CR by creating a DeFi hub that allowed Elastos nativesto easily transact and trade on the network.

Another stipulation in the proposal was to borrow ELA from the CR for liquidity purposes. Since November 3rd, 2021, CR has earned 819,043 GLIDE tokens for providing ELA as liquidity on the Glide Finance dApp. These tokens are in the CRC multisig contract. The rewards specifically stem from providing liquidity to the ELA-USDC and ELA-ETH AMM pools on Glide Finance. Not only has this endeavor built liquidity for the CR DeFi hub to thrive, but it has also created more funds for CR Council to utilize on future initiatives and proposals.

Proposal 74: Elastos DPoS 2.0- A New Staking Model

CR thought leader, Yipeng Su, embarked on an innovative proposal changing the overall consensus mechanism for the Elastos network via Proposal 74. Ideas such as “staking rights” were brought into the fold which allowed longer term ELA stakers more voting power in the governance model. With less ELA staked (2,000 vs 5,000), there can be wider community participation based on the DPoS 2.0 model.

When a wider variety of nodes join to become arbitrators in the new Consensus mechanism, the better the security for the blockchain. There will also be a lot more decentralization rather than relying on multiple nodes with high amounts of ELA under the same umbrella.

The Elastos Gelaxy team, led by Shunan Yu, is inviting community nodes to participate in DPoS 2.0 on the test net.

Calling all DPoS 2.0 Supernode Candidates

Everyone is welcome to register for a DPOS 2.0 Node on the testnet. Where?

Here: https://elastos.info/blog/registering-a-dpos-2-0-supernode-on-testnet-complete-instruction-manual/

In other news, the ELA buyback program has officially finished. One of the main objectives of this program is supporting DPoS 2.0 in the coming months. Specifically, the purchased ELA will be used to directly support participating nodes in the early stages of DPoS 2.0. There will be a specific node support plan provided to those interested in joining the new consensus mechanism for Elastos.

Proposal 79: Elacity Web3 Data Exchange CRC Proposal

Sash Mitchell has been an ambassador for Elastos since day one. His passion, expertise, and experience in film and design has given him the necessary skills to embark on a valuable role in the CR ecosystem. Conjured up in 2018, Elacity has been an idea that Sash envisioned showcasing Elastos as a place for trading, commerce, and transacting in multiple digital assets. Before he developed Proposal 79 in April of 2022, the Elacity platform successfully achieved ~50,000 ELA in trading volume for a wide variety of NFTs (~3,000).

Sash knows how valuable the Elastos tech suite is, and how it is a game-changer for anyone interested in securing, owning, and trading their digital assets. The proposal looked to garner funds for a number of services and functionalities for his marketplace.

DIDs and verifiable credentials were an important aspect of the Elacity marketplace in order to validate proper social network accounts and potential KYC for projects. Currently, most NFT marketplaces rely on the popular IPFS storage for NFT metadata. Elacity next wants to utilize Elastos proprietary storage mechanism, Hive, in order to better protect and store its users’ NFT data.

Another service that Sash wanted to implement to Elacity was to have PC2s (like Elabox) for an isolated environment. The combination of a content delivery service and PC2s create an ideal Web3 service for users all across the crypto space. Using Elastos Carrier, NFTs exchanged on Elacity seamlessly transfer between users. Elacity is looking to fully utilize the entire Elastos tech stack in its dApp to harness and highlight the power of the groundbreaking technology Elastos provides.

As of October 1st, Sash has been able to implement most of the Elastos technology into Elacity. Instead of visiting a normal website in which data is stored by a third party, users will have the opportunity to share their own data, from their respective vault, onto the Elacity protocol. Verifiable credentials are also in place for the Elastos community. Visitors of the site can utilize their DID in order to manage their credentials. Verifiable identification, using external social accounts (i.e. Twitter, Discord), is also possible; building trust with potential customers. Once this verification is complete, users earn a blue verified tick next to their name.

The next level of trust for Elacity is to be fully KYC’d for potential whitelists or other events requiring more information from the user. Through KYC-Me, anyone can earn a special KYC DID which will grant the user a special green verified tick mark. Email notifications can also be enabled by managing credentials on the site. Users can then receive offers, sales and other updates from the Elacity marketplace.

Mintable assets will be possible on Hive in Version 1.5.4. Instead of relying on IPFS, which needs to be pinned in order to save metadata from getting deleted, Hive ensures all data is stored, protected and permanently accessible by users.

Carrier 2.0 integration is the final piece remaining to be implemented from Proposal 79.

Proposal 87: Proposal for a Partnership with Paladin Blockchain

While Elastos has top tier security via DPoS and AuxPoW secured by Bitcoin, there is always room to enhance security for the network. With this in mind, Proposal 87 was crafted in order to achieve another layer of protection for the Elastos blockchain. Ryan from Glide Finance developed a relationship with the Paladin service who specializes in auditing smart contracts and in turn increasing blockchain security for a plethora of networks across the industry.

The ultimate goal is to utilize Paladin to all aspiring and completed projects building on Elastos as the go-to auditing and security provider. Not only will they provide services to projects but will also oversee the DeFi ecosystem on ESC. The partnership with Paladin will add to the continuity of future dApps in the ecosystem. Furthermore, the added layer of security from a respected auditing service gives peace of mind for other projects when building on Elastos.

Proposal 88: List ELA on Top -Tier Exchange Gate.io Supporting 3 Main Token Types (Mainchain/ESC/ERC20)

Elation Studios has been one of the superstars in the CR arena. This group has successfully managed the contracting of market making (MM) agency, Kairon Labs. Elation also established CR as a legal entity, along with many other productive initiatives.

Elation is at it again with Proposal 88, adding ELA to the second-largest trading volume exchange in the world, Gate.io. All three ELA versions (Mainchain, ESC, Ethereum ERC20) are now listed on Gate.io. In the past, Elastos users would have to use bridges to move their ELA tokens. Now, all three of these ELA tokens can be sent to Gate.io without extra steps.

The ELA listing on Gate.io officially launched on Friday, September 30th. Currently, Gate.io only supports the ELA-USDT pair. It is expected to activate more pairs in the future when market conditions improve and additional liquidity is secured. 

The ELA listing on Gate.io event was an overwhelming success in terms of participants. 18,000 Gate.io users participated in the ELA trading competition – 7000% oversubscribed! ~60,000 users on the platform were exposed to this contest. Ultimately, ELA has gained a whole lot of exposure to more people in the crypto industry. 

The Secretariat approved the phased payments for this proposal, and will close it given that this proposal was successfully completed.

Proposal 89: ElkNet Bridge Liquidity Bootstrapping – Improving Access to ESC from Other Blockchains

Proposal 89 provides a much needed DeFi portal into other networks and blockchains via the ElkNet Bridge. Currently the Elastos DeFi ecosystem relies on TokBridge and Glide Finance to bridge assets from networks such as BNB Chain, Ethereum and Heco Chain. However, certain limitations exist for these services in terms of the number of blockchains they can bridge to. There are also high minimum amounts for transferring funds. 

Elk Finance has been one of the earlier partners in the CR/Elastos community. With the trust of the network along with 20 blockchains integrated with Elk Finance, there’s a clear fit with Elastos. As described in Elk Finance’s recent Lodge Letter, both CR and Elk Finance are providing liquidity for an ELK/ELA pool in efforts to boost liquidity on the ELK platform. Specifically, 40,000 ELA from CR, paired with commensurate ELK from Elk Finance, deepens the liquidity for everyone. Lower price impact was the goal and this is now the case.

Termination of Silent Proposals

Recently, the Secretariat proposed to terminate some existing proposals that haven’t been making the necessary expected progress. Identifying inactive proposals is possible using tracking records. Owners of these proposals, as directed by CRC, provided updates on progress and the termination procedure began as appropriate.

The Secretariat and CRC will therefore unlock some unclaimed funds from these proposals. This will increase the available funds in the CR Treasury. For more information on these actions please refer to the Meeting Minutes posted in the September 6th Biweekly Council meeting. 

Conclusion

Cyber Republic continues to make progress on a number of fronts. The DeFi sector of Elastos is becoming more robust in its liquidity, security, and interoperability. More and more partnerships are solidifying Elastos’ stamp in the Web3 and crypto space.

Elacity, the NFT and digital asset marketplace, is becoming one of the main projects built with Elastos tech at its core. It is special in that it fully utilizes all the Elastos technology currently available. Extending Elastos’ presence on decentralized and centralized Exchanges through partnerships with Elk Finance and Gate.io are positive moves. More accessibility is a good thing!

Although some projects don’t get the tasks accomplished as promised, CRC and the Secretariat have been able to retrieve these unused funds so they can be used for future projects.

The DPoS 2.0 Consensus is on the verge of making its debut. This new staking mechanism will be a big step towards more decentralization, security, and ultimate trustlessness. Although we are in bear market territory, CR and Elastos continue to build towards brighter days ahead. Each proposal and action are taking steps in the right direction for the future Web 3.0 – Elastos and its Cyber Republic.