NEO
NEO Global Development (NGD) released its monthly report for April 2019. Most notably, the report announced that NEO founder Da Hongfei is going to assume the role of NGD CEO. Da will be responsible for the strategy and operations of both the NGD Shanghai and NGD Seattle offices. In addition to the announcement, NGD has restructured the format of its monthly reports to incorporate progress of the NGD Seattle office and various other global developer communities.
NEO founder and core developer Erik Zhang published a roadmap documenting the development plan for NEO 3.0. Planned for launch in Q2 2020, NEO 3.0 is an optimized version of the current NEO 2.x protocol that aims to introduce new functionality and allow the blockchain to support large-scale commercial applications.
It should be noted that although NEO 3.0 will begin as a new blockchain from its genesis block, the majority of new functionality will first be deployed to NEO 2.x.
NNT Catch Up
John Wong, Switcheo Exchange VP of engineering, recently discussed the non-custodial exchange’s atomic swap functionality with NEO News Today’s Colin Closser. The conversation included Switcheo’s process as a counter-party, support for atomic swaps with multiple blockchains via SHA-256, and the unique characteristics of using a smart contract for trading.
Nash Exchange‘s Quarterly Event recently took place with user experience feedback from its community beta the primary topic of conversation, with an AMA/Q&A session following the initial presentations. Other topics of discussion included Nash’s burn rate, their vision for initial exchange offerings (IEOs) and more.
CRUZEO Protocol recently released an outline of its proposed “unplutocratic on-chain governance” structure. CRUZEO purported its four-step governance process is “somewhat loosely-coupled, which is critical to preventing malicious attack vectors which can threaten a marketplace with economic and political chaos.”
Developer Groups
NEO News Today released its quarterly community development summary, which covers significant contributions to the NEO protocol and independent projects by community development teams. The report includes progress achieved by NeoResearch, COZ, Neow3j, NewEconoLabs, NEO St. Petersburg Competence Center, O3 Labs, and NEO-ONE.
O3 Labs launched Phase 1 of its fiat gateway, which allows users to purchase NEO directly with a Visa or MasterCard through the O3 Wallet without going through an exchange. Phase 2 aims to provide lower fees and will be released “step by step and per region” in the future to fully comply with regulations.
NewEconoLabs (NEL) released a development report, which covered additional functionality being implemented for the Teemo extension wallet, but also mentions new NEO Name Service (NNS) feature integrations into other projects. NEL also notes that a new Teemo-based version of the NNS DEX is under development that will be separate from the web wallet.
NEXT released its first monthly report for April, which highlights a successful university tour, conclusion of the NEO dApp Global Blockchain Application Development Challenge, and the launch of the NEOLine wallet Chrome plug-in.
Ecosystem
April 29th, Zeux, a digital payment wallet, announced upcoming support for NEO. Zeux offers a mobile application that “allows users to convert their cryptocurrency and pay in just one click,” which can be used to purchase product and services through Apple and Samsung Pay.
April 29th, ExChain released its bi-monthly report for the second half of April. Highlights included developmental progress of the dApp, rewards for upcoming weekly activity, and a co-sponsored event with the NEXT developer group.
April 30th, Alchemint released its progress report covering April’s development and activity. Alchemint continues to expand outside the NEO ecosystem as the project develops on other blockchains, where development for Ethereum has progressed the furthest. Rootstock, a Bitcoin sidechain that seeks to add Turing-complete smart contract functionality to Bitcoin, is also a development target for Alchemint’s stablecoin platform in 2019.
April 30th, Travala released its April monthly report, which included the conclusion of its crowdfunding campaign and the announcement of a new chief financial officer.
April 30th, Trinity Protocol released its bi-monthly report for the second half of April. Highlights primarily included technological progress such as completion of its channel creation contract, and real-time monitoring of information contained in a channel and on the chain.
April 30th, Endorsit released a weekly update, which included improvements to the iOS and Android applications, community rewards distributed, and user test group activity.
May 1st, For The Win (FTW) released a new update and path forward for its NEP-5 Lottery Platform (NLP). FTW has released a new smart contract on TestNet, which allows anyone to create their own lotteries and is coupled with a UI for choosing the desired settings. FTW is seeking users to help test its product, offering “some bounties” to participants who assist with testing the new NLP smart contract.
May 2nd, Switcheo Exchange announced an “Atomic Swap Lucky Draw” promotion. The event is designed to encourage volume on its SWTH/ETH trading pair, which uses atomic swaps (cross-chain trading) to transact directly between the Ethereum and NEO blockchains. The promotion runs from May 6th to May 31st, 2019.
May 2nd, TranslateMe announced updates to its Android application and app plugin for Telegram, as well as concluded a 10-day treasure hunt bounty program. TranslateMe added an update to its rewards program, new language support for Turkish, and a “dual language feature.” The iOS TranslateMe application is tentatively scheduled for launch in May 2019.
May 3rd, NEO News Today’s Colin Closser interviewed David Li, CEO of Trinity Protocol. The duo discussed Trinity Protocol, the blockchain industry, and development during a bear market. In the conversation, Li reflected on Trinity’s longevity, the conditions required for cryptocurrency to succeed, and the future of decentralized finance.
May 5th, NeoFish announced its mining function will begin within the week following its auction. Additionally, FishChain COO, Zheng Guang, participated in a “LOVE NEO” episode with NGD.
Token Listings
Events
May 14th: Da Hongfei – Consensus 2019
About The Author: Dylan Grabowski
Dylan is a reformed urban planner with a passion for covering the Neo ecosystem. His objective as a writer for Neo News Today is to report news in an objective, fact-based, non-sensational manner. When not behind a computer screen, he can be found in the mountains rock climbing. Find Dylan on Twitter (@GrabowskiDylan).
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