Blocknet: 2017 in review and what to look forward to in 2018!

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With 2017 coming to an end, we wanted to provide the community with some updates regarding what is on the horizon for Blocknet in 2018, but first let’s take a look at what this community has accomplished so far.

2017 was a busy year for Blocknet! With the launch of the new production chain, the Service nodes launch on mainnet, the partnership with VSA to build the Blocknet UI (as well as the UI Reveal) and the implementation of the Community Governance System, it has been a very productive year. This is what was achieved…

Blocknet in review 2017:

Service nodes launch on mainnet.
Implementation of the Community Governance System.
Expanded to 11 contributing developers: Dan(@atcsecure), Arlyn(@synechist), Michael(@michael), Jeff(@86b), @aderks, Steve(@sawtoothgeek), Andrew(@arackcheev), Olag(@boa), Vladmir(@corvaxx), Andrey(@xenix), Kamel(@infinity7592).
Members Hanni(@hanniabu) and @philipmarshall stepped in to drive supportive tasks and social media.
Community-created service node toolkit(@ishkb1): https://block-node.info/
Community-created node earnings calculator(@stormingj): http://bit.ly/block-roi
Community-created informational website(@hanniabu): https://blocknetprotocol.com
Partnership with Bitfinex to use Blocknet’s protocol to power Ethfinex, which is Bitfinex’s decentralized exchange: https://blog.ethfinex.com/the-ethfinex-roadmap-7c7cd82c835c
Partnership with Dynamic Solutions to use Blocknet for connecting their dual-blockchain architecture (Duality and Sequence). https://dualitypost.wordpress.com/2017/06/03/duality-the-internet-of-blockchains/
Partnership with Bitnation for using Blocknet’s protocol for microservices. https://cointelegraph.com/news/governance-moves-forward-via-bitnation-blocknet-horizon-partnership
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/c5OJMj
Migrated from Slack to Rocket Chat (https://rocket.blocknet.co:8443/)
Partnership with VSA to build the Blocknet DX UI.
UI reveal and early demo.
Establishment of community funds totalling 130k BLOCK: http://blocknetdx.forumotion.com/t10-community-fund-proposals-redeem-fund-allocations
Integration and successful trades of 30 officially verified supported coins:

BitBay (BAY), Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Blocknet (BLOCK), Dash (DASH), Decred (DCR), Digibyte (DGB), Dogecoin (DOGE), Dynamic (DYN), GameCredits (GAME), Faircoin (FAIR), HShare (HSR), LBRY Credits (LBC), Litecoin (LTC), Monacoin (MONA), MonetaryUnit (MUE), Namecoin (NMC), NavCoin (NAV), Particl (PART), Peercoin (PPC), PIVX (PIVX), Potcoin (POT), Qtum (QTUM), Sequence (SEQ), Stratis (STRAT), Syscoin (SYS), Vericoin (VRC), Verge (XVG), Vertcoin (VTC), ViaCoin (VIA).

Recent Developments

In addition to the above, there are some other recent developments we would like to mention:

We have expanded to 15 contributing developers with the addition of Alexander(@alexander), Josip(@josip), @ftriboix, and Kay(part-time). Alexander will be working on furthering xBridge development, contributing to the DX API, and performing code audits and reviews (LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-ivanenko-52b82476/). Josip will also be working on furthering xBridge development. (LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josip-maricevic-a0b58959/), while @ftriboix will be dedicated to Blocknet’s Ethereum integration. The most recent development is the addition of Umpei Kay Kurokawa whom will be enhancing the orderbook functionality (LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/umpei-kay-kurokawa-b96a3a10/).
Thanks to the quick work of @ftriboix, integration of Ethereum and all ERC20 tokens is now roughly 50% complete!
The DX API, which is being worked on by the DX Tool Team and the Euro Team, is currently 75% complete with many improvements.
The DX UI, which is being developed by VSA Partners is 75% compete.
The DX UI integration, which requires the DX API to be complete, is now expected to be completed in January. This is a slight delay from what was hoped, but we believe it is better to delay a release than to make compromises.
Integration and successful trades of 10 additional verified supported coins. These will be announced soon!
Blocknet Wiki is being worked on by Baron and Philip Marshall which is approximately 50% complete.
A Blocknet DX visual explorer is being worked on by @infinity7592 and is now 25% complete.
API documentation auto-generation is 50% complete and will soon be accessible through a web page.
Coinmarketcap updated to source link to the new Github repo and added a link to Rocket Chat and Telegram. Telegram has seen a 10% growth in members in the past week!
Community representatives have been selected by the community. They are @stormingj and @thebaron.
A dedicated Korean Telegram channel(https://t.me/Blocknet_Korea) with a huge thanks to @cricket for helping manage this channel!
Multisig accounts still need to be tested. Until reliable functionality can be certain, the community funds will be held in regular accounts. The spending of these funds will still go through a 4-of-7 approval process consisting of Dan(atcsecure), Arlyn(synechist), Michael(michael), Jeff(86b), Hanni(hanniabu), Justice(@stormingj), and Baron(@thebaron).
Creation of a community funds tracker for transparency on fund usage: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xFm5LJsRNN62-9XZFqfDckUt2x8ps3pUOBISUxNQYpc/
Creation of a project tracker for transparency on progress: https://trello.com/b/NQLsFMzK/blocknet-progress-tracker
Creation of a translations tracker for open community contribution: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1G9J8Bpnna9UOFNUmQb33yCP7hj5q6a3uO4ak3Vf5LNo/
Initial talks of producing a high quality Blocknet video. (@Mav137, @bob) https://docs.google.com/document/d/1S1yKy8hDrF3p6h-1MlUzJxRGfAZFui-qSz88ECsM1Gs/edit (In early planning stages)
Arlyn is continuing work on the whitepaper.
The community-driven marketing group is taking form with the addition of #marketing-investors, #marketing-users, #marketing-developers, #designers, #video, #events, #pr, #documentation, #support, #support-users, and #support-developers. This separation of groups will help the community better organize initiatives as well as allow for an influx of new members.

What is on the Horizon for Blocknet in 2018?

Moving forward into 2018 there are many exciting developments to look forward to:

The beta “soft launch” of the Blocknet DX UI is to be expected in January.
Blocknet DX launch with SPV multi-wallets.
Marketing campaign.
A facelift of the current website in preparation for 2 brand new websites (Blocknet protocol and Blocknet DX sites).
Rocket Chat improvements.
Blocknet Whitepaper.
A Blocknet presence at cryptocurrency events, forums and meetings (currently in the planning stages.)
Integration with Ledger Hard wallet.
Blocknet DX TradingView integration.
Arbitrage trading bot library.
DX API enhancements.
DX order book enhancements.
Visual DX explorer: @infinity7592 (Early demo has been shared).
Analytics site (think bfxdata.com, but for the Blocknet DX).
0x integration (addition of Ethereum and all ERC20 tokens to Blocknet DX).
Ethfinex integration (Bitfinex’s order book on Blocknet DX).
Blocknet DX mobile app.
Blocknet DX website.
Newsletter Updates.
API documentation web page.
“Offline orders” feature (orders stay live after wallet is closed).
Decentralized leveraged trading (p2p loan swaps locked to longs/shorts).
Decentralized ICO dApp.
Modularisation of core components (network overlay, blockchain router and data transport).
Abstraction of core services into dedicated APIs (service lookup, inter-chain messaging, and decentralized exchange).
An additional 70 coins for the DX are being worked on and are at various stages of integration.

Note 1: Upcoming milestones are subject to change, and some require new ground be broken in crypto, and thus are to be interpreted as intents, not commitments. Development is in an agile manner and so is not to deadlines; Rather, continual progress is to be expected.

Note 2: All names in brackets are Rocketchat community handles.

A very merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous new year to the community! 2018 will be fantastic!