If you have not done so, please review Part 1 and Part 2 of our intended use of funds. While we have an understanding of what we intend for our roadmap, its timing, execution and scope will heavily depend on the success of the Token Sale on June 28th.
We will set up three core competency teams working in parallel on three different goals:
1. Protocol: Genesis Launch Dec 2017
Our plan is to launch the Nimiq Mainnet by the end of the year. Building the protocol will be our main focus until we achieve that goal. A condition to launching the Mainnet is completing all of the advanced features of the protocol, because changing the protocol after the launch is ‘expensive’ (think impact of hard forks, etc). Advanced Features include: sophisticated light-clients, memory-hard proof-of-work, lightning network primitives and primitives for the P2P-Exchange.
In August, we plan to kick off the peer-review process and a bug bounty program on HackerOne to harden the protocol.
It is important to note that we do not have to finish the complete ecosystem of applications before launching the Mainnet.
Ideally, we expand our team working on the protocol to around 12–16 members including blockchain researchers, developers and security testers.
2. Peer-to-Peer Exchange: Beta June 2018
A frictionless exchange into local currency is crucial to mainstream adoption. First, we will focus on researching and prototyping from August until December. Then, we will finalize the development plan to implement Nimiq’s decentralized web-based peer-to-peer exchange. Finally, implementation will kick off January 2018. We estimate that around June 2018 we will be able to launch a Beta version. By the end of 2018, we should have matured our approach for full scale.
Ideally, we will work with a team of 10–12 people including blockchain researchers, developers, UI/UX designers, and web security experts.
3. Wallet App: Beta July 2017
We plan to release a basic version of the web-based wallet app as early as possible, because it is the visible ‘heart’ of our frictionless payment experience for customers. In effect, we are already working on the first version. We would like to get community feedback as early as possible in order to identify necessary changes to the Nimiq protocol that will allow us to deliver a truly frictionless, simple payment experience. We want to evaluate how we can help people secure their private keys and how to answer all of their questions during the payment process. In its final version, the wallet app will allow for advanced key encryption features, contactless payments via NFC, a seamlessly integrated P2P-Exchange, compatibility with hardware cold wallets such as Trezor, the ability to work offline, and the ability to print paper wallets for cold-storage.
Ideally we will work with a team of 5–7 people including blockchain developers, UI/UX designers, and web security experts.
Ecosystem Expansion
We intend to expand the ecosystem to include more applications. First, we will build a Paypal-like payment gateway for online businesses. Then, we plan on delivering a “cash register” app for merchants to streamline the process of receiving over-the-counter payments. In the long run, we aim to host the full payment process for developers, merchants and customers in order to provide a first-class experience exceeding the standards of commercial providers.
Other Milestones
A number of administrative milestones before launching the Mainnet include: 1. setting up the Nimiq Endowment Foundation that will vest 2.5% of NIM (over 10 years) and support the Mainnet and ecosystem in the long-run; 2. setting up the non-profit organization to support projects with a social or ecological impact that will vest 2% of NIM (over 10 years) and is managed by an independent committee. While those setup efforts will start in July and August 2017, we don’t expect significant actions or operational decisions to require resources prior to two years into operation of the Mainnet.
Summary
This article outlines the next 2 years of the Nimiq project. We will roll out the Wallet, the Protocol and the Exchange prior to the end of 2018. We want to thank the community for the overwhelming support, and we are looking forward to building the world’s most accessible Blockchain and Ecosystem with you.
As always, thank you for your support!
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