Decent: Testnet No.1 Launched

DECENT is a blockchain-based content distribution platform. The project first started in 2015 with the team behind the project presenting the ambitious goal of liberating the world of media, by empowering both content creators and consumers alike. But how is the DECENT platform able to do all of this? First of all, like all blockchain technologies, the platform will be decentralized, meaning anyone can publish content without having to go through third parties.

DECENT is an independent platform, owned and controlled only by its community  and will never be affiliated with any economic, media or political party. This allows for a platform without censorship, where content creators have their profits maximized. It also allows users to create a variety of applications on an open-source protocol, ranging from blogs, music, streaming, e-book publishing, software sales, indie game development, among others.

Now that you know a little about what DECENT is and what it does, you might be curious to try it out. Although the project hasn’t been officially launched yet, the first Testnet, Ceaser, was launched on the 10th of March. This is the first beta-version of the DECENT network and will allow users to explore the core functionalities of the DECENT desktop client, like browsing, uploading and purchasing content, or even rating the author and checking the transaction history. In order to make this possible, a certain amount of DCT, the platform’s cryptocurrency, will be added to each user’s account so everyone will be able to effectively test the features. However, the DCT distributed will be used only for testing and won’t be available or functioning within DECENT Mainnet.

If you want to become a supporter of the project you are in luck. The DECENT team needs help to test the platform and, in order to do so, they offered several ways for users to report errors on the platform. Although only 200 invitations were sent to the first users who registered through DECENT website, the project will have 3 other testnets, “Caeser” being this first one. All testnets will have code names based on historical figures(Caeser, Alberti, Trithemius, Vigenère) responsible for creating different cyphers. Also, the cyphers stem from each other, meaning they come in historical sequence. Each testnet will allow more and more users to test the platform, but even if you miss them don’t worry, the DECENT team will allow all registered users to test DECENT functionalities prior to its official launch. You can register here! The mainnet, a fully functioning version of DECENT is scheduled to launch in June of 2017.

 

source http://coremedia.info/blockchain-news/item/720-decent-testnet-no-1-launched

Syscoin: Business on the Blockchain

Syscoin is similar to bitcoin in the sense that it acts as a peer-to-peer, decentralized, payment system. But it’s not just a cryptocurrency, it takes the core technologies of bitcoin and expands them with value added services, creating a financial structure in itself. This allows businesses to have the infrastructure necessary to trade goods, assets, digital certificates and data securely.

Syscoin was first launched in the third quarter of 2014, with it’s 1.0 version, and is currently running on the 2.1.2 version. The intrinsic value of syscoin is derived from the services it provides directly on the blockchain. All services are decentralized, ensuring the security of data, certificates, marketplaces, aliases and other future features. However, Syscoin isn’t the only cryptocurrency that expands on blockchain technology, so, what differentiates it from other cryptocurrencies? Let’s take a look at its features.

It offers multi currency support, currently having 3 payment options that can be used in combination: Syscoin, Zcash and Bitcoin. With regards to mining, Syscoin was forked from the Bitcoin codebase, so it’s merge-mineable with Bitcoin. Because of this, users can enjoy a powerful network preventing double spends and other network related attacks.

Syscoin features the world’s first blockchain based e-commerce platform, the Blockmarket. This decentralized, peer-to-peer, marketplace works as browser-based experience that allows users to securely buy and sell any items. Entire stores can be created directly through the marketplace and it’s user friendly, meaning users don’t need to know anything about blockchain technology in order to use it. It uses a basic feedback rating system, ranging from 1 to 5, to measure the honesty of the merchant, buyer or arbiter.

One of the other big features is the alias identity service. It provides a cryptographically secure mechanism that serves as a link to all the other services of the blockchain. How does it work? Every time you use a service it creates a cryptographic proof that verifies the ownership of an identity, and ensures that the owner of an identity is the only one who can make a specific service, be it related to agreements, offers or certificates. Impersonation is avoided by including the Unsigned Transaction Output (UTXO) of a previous alias transaction. The alias identity service uses domain-name like rules.

Earlier this month, the Syscoin team is very happy to announced that Syscoin’s Full Node is now certified and available in the Azure Marketplace as part of Microsoft’s Blockchain as a Service initiative, allowing users to deploy a fully-hosted Syscoin node with a few simple clicks.

In conclusion, the blockchain technology offered by syscoin is valuable and can be easily adopted by businesses today, without much hassle. Also, the team behind syscoin is determined to keep improving the network and technology, especially if the network keeps growing. recently, the Syscoin team has also been focusing on bringing the innovative Bitcoin proposals to the Syscoin cryptocurrency, including SegWit and Lightening Network:

“Syscoin core 2.1.2 includes a new feature that was brought in from the upgrade of Bitcoin Core. It allows “signalling” and participation of segregated witnesses (SegWit) on the network. F2pool which is the largest Syscoin mining pool has pleasantly turned pro-SegWit recently and as soon as they start signalling SegWit blocks our network will be ready to accept them.“ Syscoin team

 

source http://coremedia.info/blockchain-news/item/719-syscoin-business-on-the-blockchain

Sigwo Technologies: Blockchain as a Service Platform

Virginia, March 15th, 2017 – Sigwo Technologies LLC. 

Sigwo Technologies, is announcing the Jupiter eSyslog platform as a boundless way to ensure server logs are securely stored in recoverable, encrypted, and immutable databases. With eSyslog, insider attacks are easily detected as the logs are always available, even after a catastrophic disaster or system’s administrator error. Insider attacks are often conducted by disgruntled employees or contractors with elevated privileges.

During an attack, the perpetrator will aim to destroy evidence of their attack from the server logs and other logging systems to obfuscate their malicious activity. With eSyslog implemented, even if all the server logs are destroyed, corrupted, or otherwise rendered unusable, log data will still be preserved across all the connected nodes. 

All data stored on the eSyslog platform is massively replicated across dozens of VPS nodes, in addition Sigwo Technologies maintains archiving nodes deployed in different cloud-based data centers on different continents for increased availability and retention.

From legal perspective, the data digital signature, time-stamping, encryption and storage mechanisms for information stored on the eSyslog platform, provides evidence sufficient for a court of law for prosecuting any attacker.

An example of how Jupiter would have helped in a real-life scenario; In a recent conversation with a security company’s President, he had wished this system was available 8 months ago to save his company's customer PCI compliance log data. In an unfortunate event, following a data center VM host server reboot, the server admin had forgotten to restart the centralized Syslog collector which was essential for PCI data collection. This resulted in 8 months of lost customer PCI compliance data collection when the server admin deleted the VM. This is a paramount use case of Jupiter’s eSyslog and is in testing stages of implementation to protect their syslog data and compliance rating from another disaster.

The Jupiter eSyslog platform is based on the NXT world leading blockchain technology developed by Jelurida B.V. the company behind the NXT and Ardor blockchain technology.

 

Steven Grove founder of Sigwo Technologies LLC:

Sigwo Technologies will eliminate the need for system administrators to have previous knowledge or expertise in blockchain technology. This will be achieved by providing consultancy services to fully integrate Jupiters's eSyslog as a viable and enduring security solution.

Lior Yaffe NXT core developer and co-founder of Jelurida B.V.:

The un-matched reliability, security and scalability provided by the NXT blockchain provides the Jupiter eSyslog platform the necessary tools to provide a world leading blockchain as service platform. We are delighted to work together with Sigwo Technologies to make eSyslog a de-facto standard in storage and maintenance of system log information. More information about the NXT private blockchain solutions is available at https://www.jelurida.com

 

About Sigwo Technologies:

Sigwo Technologies builds customized and resilient data storage, encryption, and provenance applications for today’s businesses in efforts to increase data protection, data restoration, builds customized private decentralized replication nodes, and provides subscription based blockchain as a service support.

Contact:

Steven Grove

steven@sigwo.com

(540) 300-1875

https://sigwo.com

 

source http://coremedia.info/blockchain-news/item/718-sigwo-technologies-blockchain-as-a-service-platform

SuperNET Tuesday Update 14/03/2017

Last week, we failed to deliver the usual Tuesday update due to some unexpected issues. However, the SuperNet Tuesday Update is back in force and, as usual, it brings good news! This week, we are going to talk about an attack mounted on the Komodo blockchain, and how it was found and corrected. We are also going to talk about Iguana and its development.

Attack on Komodo detected and fixed

For those that are not actively keeping up with Komodo, this may have flown under your radar. However, Komodo has recently overcome a small emergency caused by an attacker trying to exploit a bug found on the Komodo code. Thanks to the Komodo team, the attacker didn’t actually cause any damage as the situation was promptly fixed.

During the weekend, one of our notary nodes detected an attack that had been going on for 30 hours. At the time, the attacker was acting discretely by generating small amounts of KMD. However, after he understood he was detected, the attacker tried to get as many coins as he could in order to sell them, which led the team to take further action. Following the announcement and the warning issued by the team, the Komodo blockchain was rolled back (restoring the blockchain to a previous point in time).

Our fork did not invalidate the first illicit block (30.000 KMD). Those coins were left to the attacker (bug bounty). Major exchanges disabled their KMD wallet before the attacker moved any coins.

Without the rollback, KMD coin supply would have expanded about 10 % as the attacker would have been able to create over 10 million KMD. We managed to avoid all this by just rolling back a few hours.

We have also fixed the bug that caused this vulnerability. The reason for it was a missing condition in our code which did not check the value of the second output. Basically, any amount would have been accepted.

We firmly believe that no more similar issues will arise. However, we are prepared to deal with them if they do come along and with the help of our faithful community and notary nodes, we are positive that we can fix these issues easily.

For more info, check out the full article and our slack channel conversation about the bugfix.

Iguana Development

Development on the Iguana side continues steadily as the team continues to make regular releases to our Github. These releases are routinely checked and tested by our group of bug hunters after each release.

We have also hired a new developer whose sole function is to create the installers’ build. This will ensure that the wallet can be downloaded and installed with no problems through any O.S.

Our most recent release is currently being tested. If no major bugs are found we will push the installers as the next official release.

So, where do we currently stand? New Iguana versions have been released and multiple bugs have been found and fixed on each of these releases. We have also added multiple features. These releases, however, are not publicly available on our website, since they are not considered official releases and rather tests. These can still be downloaded by anyone from our github but installers always come with a delay. Once we have installers ready without major bugs we will start our marketing efforts but for now, we’re keeping the new releases within the community so that we can silently push Iguana towards perfection!

Conclusion

Overall, we are rather pleased with the way things are evolving. Everything is quickly falling into place behind the scenes and all bugs found are being exterminated with ease. No major development roadblocks have come along and even the aforementioned attack on our blockchain has come as a blessing in disguise (rather now than later)!

We are doing a lot and sometimes it may be hard to keep up with what SuperNet has in store for the community. A recent blog post by Polycryptoblog details the upcoming features and tools that are coming in 2017. Have a look:  https://supernet.org/en/resources/articles/10-things-that-are-coming-to-supernet-in-2017

 

source http://coremedia.info/blockchain-news/item/717-supernet-tuesday-update-14-03-2017

SuperNET Tuesday Update 28/02/2017

This week, on the SuperNet Tuesday Update, we’re going to talk about the new international community project, through which we intent to make SuperNet and its related material globally available. We are also going to address the development of the Iguana multi wallet and the delay of its latest release. 

On the Komodo side, we are going to address the latest release of the Native Komodo Wallets, which are available on github.

Komodo International Community Project

In an effort to extend its outreach and to make SuperNet a truly global project, the team has launched the Komodo International Community Project. At this point, we are calling out community members from individual countries to become SuperNet ambassadors in their homelands. 

The functions of the SuperNet ambassador are to translate Komodo-related content, create and manage social media accounts through which announcements can be made, and possibly to create a local language newsletter. Local ambassadors can also resort to instant message apps like Telegram or Slack to create a hub for the community.

At the moment, we have attained a Russian ambassador that goes by the nickname of @dk on the SuperNet slack. He has created a Twitter account and Telegram group for the Russian community with roughly 200 active members. There is also a Russian channel on telegran for Komodo here.

In Spain, @beor will be the local ambassador. He has created a Twitter account through which he will make announcements and answer questions.

We are currently looking for a Chinese ambassador which can perform these tasks. This is currently the only paid position for ambassadors, although community members from other countries are encouraged to contact us if they wish to lead their local community. 

Iguana Update

The new Iguana version is estimated to be released this time during next week, although slight delays are always a possibility. However, GUI lead developer, Satinder Grewal is feeling optimistic about the development. He stated:

“EasyDEX-GUI team is small but very proficient. In last few weeks we have applied many performance improvements and fixed multiple bugs. In between this time we are already iterating the 4th or 5th version of the Basilisk Mode coin wallets in EasyDEX-GUI, which is quite a lot of work. The Basilisk Mode is challenging and that is the most time-consuming task in this upcoming update. As most users will be using Basilisk rather than the Full and Native Modes, it has to be improved for their convenience. We already have a good amount of tasks ahead for the team regarding the next release after this upcoming release. These are going very busy in backend JavaScript development, while on front-end users might not feel much of a change.

I’m am optimistic with the development progress to have a release in coming few days, or least starting of next week. It all depends on how the GUI team and the rest of the team, who are working on different parts of the combined wallet product, finish the tasks.”

We have recently published an Iguana development update in which Satinder, our lead GUI developer talks about some of the changes that will be present in the upcoming launch of Iguana. Here’s how Jl777, SuperNet lead developer, summed up his expectations for the coming release: 

“The feedback we got about the various GUI issues have been mostly all corrected from what I have seen, so the next release should have a much better user experience. We are looking to release the new version within a week. However, there is always a possibility for slight delays, but these delays are just small, short-term setbacks. All in all, it is just a matter of time for all of our features to come online.”

https://supernet.org/en/resources/updates/gateway-to-decentralized-future-iguana-development-update

Native Komodo Wallets

Despite slight delays in Iguana GUI, the new native GUI wallets for Komodo. have been released and can be downloaded on github. These are normal wallets and don’t have the same features as Iguana does. It’s also worth noting that these are still in development and are currently being tested.

Although Komodo for Windows is not yet officially supported, thanks to fadeddreamz, an experimental build has been provided. Before installing the GUI wallet on Windows you need to install ZCash on Windows.

Native Komodo wallets released: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1605144.msg17945648#msg17945648

To stay updated on the latest developments from the Komodo Platform signup for the newsletter. You can also join the Slack to engage the SuperNET community.

 

source http://coremedia.info/blockchain-news/item/714-supernet-tuesday-update-28-02-2017

The Launch Date of the First Testnet of DECENT Network 'Caesar' Announced

The idea behind DECENT is to create a blockchain-based content publishing and sharing network.

The idea behind DECENT is to create a blockchain-based content publishing and sharing network. It will allow people and companies to create a variety of applications on the open-source protocol. Those apps can be used for blogs, music publishing, streaming, e-book publishing, software sales, indie games development and more. Because of its decentralized nature, DECENT eliminates the need for a third party involvement and, by doing so, maximizes the content creators’ profits. It also uses strong encryption protocols, ensuring not only that information will remain secure and confidential, but also preventing access and modification from third parties, making it censor-free. The platform has the potential to empower content creators and consumers alike.

The great thing about the DECENT team is that they recently started sharing detailed information about the development of the project on a regular basis, via documented dev-sprints made every two weeks. The first document revealed some updates, like the design package format and the first basic functionalities of the subscription system. Basic functionalities involve managing active subscriptions and a price-and-duration matching mechanism.

The second sprint brought several necessary additions to the Network’s core functionalities like the seeding plugin, an essential feature that deals with the network’s’ core functionality, and the content distribution itself was implemented. IPFS protocol and libtorrent, based on a p2p principle, were introduced as well as making file transfers between consumers and content producers possible. Improvements to the DECENT wallet were also made, like the option to see the account’s balance, and the Command Line Interface(CLI) has been temporarily integrated into the GUI wallet, making the development process even more efficient;. Finally, the implementation of “Travis”, a testing software, will simplify the work of the developers.

Another update, released at the end of January, featured 4 testing levels, that are planned to be launched during the 4 upcoming months, and the launch of the mainnet, the official DECENT Network that is scheduled for Q2 2017. The first testing level, named “Caesar”, is set to be released on the 10th of March and offers a unique chance for people to gain exclusive access to the DECENT network. Users just need to sign up using an email address, but the opportunity is time limited and the sooner you sign up the earlier batch of invitations you will be included in. This first release will demonstrate the whole transaction model of the DECENT Network, its core functionalities and security features, all complemented by the user-friendly GUI. Users will receive a certain amount of DCT Tokens, necessary to participate in the testnet. Publishers will have the option to upload any digital content and set its price, and consumers will be able to search for the content and buy it if they choose so.

Apart from the development process, the team is also focused on the marketing side. They have been working hard on ensuring that the technology is adopted globally. The CEO and founder of DECENT, Matej Michalko, will be attending several events across Europe. He recently moderated a discussion panel at Vienna’s venture capital & private equity conference. The panel discussed the potential of Blockchain Technology in relation to the FinTech sector and took place on the 14th of February. On the 21 st of February, Matej went to London and spoke at a meet up hosted by Coinscrum and on the day after he introduced the DECENT Network at an event in UCL University. In both events, he elaborates on the company’s goals and plans, and also described the future potential of the technology and the milestones achieved so far.

To learn more about DECENT, visit the official website and blog.

 

source https://coremedia.info/blockchain-news/item/713-the-launch-date-of-the-first-testnet-of-decent-network-caesar-announced

Beyond the Void Releases Closed Video Beta

Beyond the Void is the first blockchain-based real time strategy game, also known as RTS.

Beyond the Void is the first blockchain-based real time strategy game, also known as RTS. It was designed for competitive play between players and it features MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) elements. A video of the closed beta version of the game was just released and can be seen here. The closed beta is still being tested but looks highly functional. The final version is scheduled to be released in June of this year on a free-to-play model, like most other MOBAs. This contrasts with the traditional pay-to-play model, in which you have to buy the game or pay a subscription before you can play it.

The developers have integrated blockchain technology into the game by creating a token-based system called the Nexium (NXC). These tokens are issued on the Ethereum Blockchain and transferred through smart contracts. This will result in an economic system that allows players to buy, sell, trade or offer theirs in game items.

These items are assets on the Ethereum blockchain that do not reside exclusively on the game server. As such, they can be transferred, bought and sold outside of the game. This also adds a decentralized element to these items which continue to exist even if the game server is hacked or loses information.

Now let’s look at the gameplay! Beyond the void will be an easy to learn but hard to master the game. It’s meant for competitive play and if well made has the possibility of making a success in the esports scene. Akin to it’s long lost brothers, League of Legends and Starcraft, Beyond the Void will be a highly strategic game that will feature an Elo ranking system. The matches will be one-versus-one battles and, like all MOBAs, the game will be constantly evolving and always in need of balancing every time a new element, mothership or card, for example, is introduced into the game.

The game features a futuristic setting where you control a ship, called the Mothership, which basically will be your character or champion. The map contains 6 planets that you can conquer, working as turrets once conquered and asteroid fields where you can find Cubes, which will be the game`s farm or loot. The map is also customizable by players and very dynamic, meaning that everything is constantly changing position while orbiting the sun. You also have Event cards that help shape the scenario or gameplay to your advantage.

The small team behind the game is made up of four people, each one adding something different to the game. Maxence is the original developer who came up with the idea for the game. The fact is that both MOBA and esports are fast growing markets and projects like Beyond the Void are poised to bring cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology into those spaces.

The system employed by Beyond the Void creates a new generation of gaming platforms where the players, and not the game developers, own the ecosystem and where in-game purchases are not restricted to the game itself. We may come to see collaborations of multiple projects of this kind, where a piece of armor, weapon, spaceship, playing card(whatever the game features) may be available for transfer between multiple games, thus creating a new age of compatibility in the gaming industry, a gamer’s paradise!

 

source https://coremedia.info/blockchain-news/item/712-beyond-the-void-releases-closed-video-beta