NEO
Neo Global Development (NGD) announced Poly Network, a new protocol alliance formed to facilitate cross-chain transactions between all participating blockchains. Intended to become a cornerstone of the next-gen Internet, Poly Network aims to be easy for participating blockchains to integrate by not issuing its own token or requiring the use of built-in smart contracts. Initial collaborators on the project include Neo, Ontology, and Switcheo.
The Neo Foundation (NF) released its financial report for the first half of 2020, which includes the NF’s expenditures and assets under management. The financial reports portray the NF’s fiscal health and are released at a six months cadence. As of March 2020, the NF had unlocked a total of 15,000,000 NEO. Between January and July, the NF spent 555,581 NEO, or 3.7% of the available funds, on NF and NGD operations, ecosystem project financing, and investing in Eco Fund projects. Cumulatively, on June 30th, 2020, the NF’s total portfolio was valued at approximately US $524,303,997.
NGD Seattle released a refreshed version of its Neo Smart Contract Debugger for Neo3 Preview3, bringing with it the first completed implementation of time travel debugging support. The new debugger version includes support for exception breakpoints, making use of the recent addition of try/catch exception handling support in Neo3’s VM. A trace debugging demo was also provided alongside the release, showing users how to use the new functionality with included trace files, neo-express checkpoints, and step-by-step instructions.
NGD Seattle lead, John deVadoss, released an op-ed on the importance of interoperability and interconnectivity in the broader blockchain ecosystem, and how the development of standards can create a neutral code for any party to access and utilize.
NNT Catch Up
Neo News Today (NNT) hosted NGD researcher, Wang Yong Qiang, on Byzant, a new series that provides insider perspectives from knowledgeable individuals in the Neo ecosystem and broader blockchain industry. Wang was asked to share more information about the changes to the economic model in Neo3 and its intended effect on Neo’s governance and decentralization.
Ecosystem
August 17th, Switcheo announced its sixth node validator for TradeHub, Huobi Mining Pool, who has vast experience running and maintaining nodes for Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, and more.
August 17th, Moonlight affirmed its commitment to interoperability and cross-chain support. The team noted that both Moonlight and Vivid can support multiple chains for handling claims and proofs, as long as the chain has contract infrastructure.
August 17th, Nash released its second Beyond the Chain podcast episode with guest Jeff Bussgang to discuss startups, communities, and product-market fit. In the interview, Bussgang noted Nash’s curated community and lauded the team’s ability to carryover community-building efforts from the early days of COZ to the bootstrapped Nash project.
August 18th, Switcheo announced its seventh node validator for TradeHub, Binance Pool, a large centralized exchange with a seasoned staking branch operating nodes on Bitcoin, Tezos, EOS, and more.
August 18th, Switcheo began accepting deposits and staking of the NEP-5 SWTH token on its standalone matching order chain, TradeHub.
August 19th, Phemex participated in an AMA on the Neo subReddit to field questions from the r/Neo community. In the AMA, Phemex CEO, Jack Tao, discussed the platform’s recent listing of NEO, why he and his team built the centralized exchange, plus more.
August 19th, Switcheo announced its eighth node validator for TradeHub, Stakewith.us, an entity with more than US $30 million in assets under its secure validation infrastructure across Kyber Network, Cosmos, Kava Labs, Band Protocol, Terra, and more.
August 20th, Switcheo announced its ninth validator node for TradeHub, O3 Labs, a team that has operated Neo nodes in the past and whose O3 Wallet can connect and enable trading on the Switcheo platform.
August 20th, Nash noted several updates, which included the ability to claim GAS without NEO in the user’s wallet, integrated support for the Nash Pay merchant system, and more.
August 21st, Moonlight released an overview on how its analytics feature allows users to get insights on profile views. The step-by-step guide offers information on how to create a link and where to see the analytics.
August 21st, Switcheo started distributing block rewards to TradeHub validators and users who have staked their SWTH tokens. The launch of TradeHub, dubbed phase zero, allows NEP-5 SWTH token holders to conduct one-way transfers to the standalone chain for staking purposes. Phase zero SWTH staking participants are incentivized with higher than usual reward yields. However, they are unable to transfer their SWTH back to the Neo blockchain until phase one of the TradeHub rollout, which currently has no definitive launch date.
Events
August 25th: Switcheo co-founder, Ivan Poon, to speak at Indonesia Blockchain Week 2020
August 26th: Switcheo co-founder, Jack Yeu, to speak at Indonesia Blockchain Week 2020
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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