Telos Network — Weekly Report — October 18, 2018
Boring is Underrated
I often tell people that one of my goals for Telos is that it become “the boring blockchain.” Boring generally isn’t a compliment, but perhaps we should rethink that. “Dramatic” and “suspenseful” are great descriptions for a movie, but really not that great for a blockchain designed to support billions of dollars worth of value and information. For a blockchain like that, boring is practically high praise.
I am trying to make Telos boring.
A blockchain is boring when it runs as it should. It’s boring when small changes or incidents among block producers have no noticeable effect on the operation of the chain. It’s boring when there is a long governance document describing how the chain should operate…and it actually operates that way. It’s boring when you practice launching a blockchain network dozens of times so that the one time you actually do it, the launch is flawless. It’s boring when there is a regularly published guideline for how much RAM is expected to cost and it is almost always within 10–15% of that price. It’s boring when someone’s tokens are stolen and then promptly recovered through due-process arbitration. It’s boring when people only care about the DApps running on the blockchain and don’t think about the blockchain, itself, any more than we think of the “world wide web” today. This is the kind of boring that I want Telos to be. Frankly, boring is highly underrated.
In another triumph for boring, the Telos Contributors Group again voted “No Go” on launching the network this week. Why was this boring? Because anyone who looked at telosfoundation.io/launch before the livestreamed vote could easily see that there were still tasks that were not green checkmarks. So of course we were never going to vote “Go” on that call. Our next vote is on October 31st at 16:00 UTC.
The Telos Contributors Group is now scheduling livestreamed calls twice each week on Tuesdays and Fridays at 16:00 UTC. They are civil, businesslike, and boring as hell. Just the way we like ‘em!
— Douglas Horn
Checklist Updates at a Glance
In-Progress → Functional/In Testing
- Telos Foundation System
- Agree upon ABP launch group (six across globe)
Functional/In Testing → Complete & Tested
- TF RAM administration
- Inverse-weighted voting
Complete & Tested → Functional/In Testing
- Telos Foundation voting tokens
- Removal of non-producing BPs
- Ratify/Amend contract
Here’s What We’ve Accomplished This Week:
- Launch Group Voted No-Go this week
- ChainRift to list BTC/TLOS and EOS/TLOS
- Telos Launch Directors perform 17 practice runs
- Telos public key prefix changes from TLOS to EOS
- Network Maintenance Updates
- Governance documents approved
- Telos Improvement Proposals introduced and voted on
- Telos Command Reference Published
- More Telos Foundation Nominees
Launch Group Voted No-Go this week
On October 17th, Telos Network Launch contributors unanimously voted No-Go on activating the Telos Blockchain Network. The Telos Blockchain Network will only activate when all Launch Checklist items are completed, and several milestones reverted from ‘Completed & Tested’ to ‘Functional/In-Testing’ this week.
The items were contracts that relied on the new form of Telos voting for worker proposals, arbitrator elections, and ratifying or amending governance documents. While the voting system worked correctly, an exploit was discovered that would let votes be counted multiple times in some scenarios when they had been voted and then moved and re-voted. A solution for this exploit has been found and now the voting system is being re-written and tested. This necessitated a move from “Complete & Tested” back to “In Testing.”
While this move is unfortunate, overcoming setbacks like these is a reality of software development. Better to find and fix them now, rather than after the launch. The next Go/No-Go vote is scheduled for October 31, which should give us enough time to resolve the great majority of outstanding tasks. You can track our progress with the Launch Checklist: https://telosfoundation.io/launch
Watch the latest Go/No-Go call here: 
- ChainRift to list BTC/TLOS and EOS/TLOS
We are excited to announce our partnership with ChainRift, a cryptocurrency exchange led by an experienced team that shares our commitment to establishing a truly community-led blockchain network. They will be the first exchange to list the first BTC/TLOS and EOS/TLOS trading pairs.
Read the full press release here: https://medium.com/@teloslogical/telos-chainrift-collaboration-announced-9840bf902fd1
- Telos Launch Directors perform 17 practice runs
The Telos Launch Directors, Jerry Huff (BlindBlocArt), J.T. Buice (Big Iron BP/Kainos), Josep Rosich (EOS Barcelona) and Jesse Shulman (CalEOS) have spent the week testing a variety of launch scenarios in preparation for the upcoming network launch. So far they have performed 17 complete launches on the Telos Stagenet, a private version of the Telos Testnet that is used to test all new system software before it is moved into production. Testing continues as new issues are flagged and corrected by the development team.
- Telos public key prefix changes from TLOS to EOS
Changes in several EOSIO wallets have caused the Telos development team to revise its previous position on the chain’s public key prefix. Previously, the Telos public key prefix was changed from EOS, as it exists on EOS to TLOS. The rationale for this was that it would help Telos members better maintain their key pairs in a future when there are multiple EOSIO chains.
However, recent code changes from Block.One have changed the future plans for EOSIO key prefixes. In the near future, keys will begin with the prefix PUB_K1_ or PUB_R1_ instead of EOS. EOS will be the only legacy prefix to be preserved in the code. Wallet makers like Scatter have responded to this change for their upcoming versions. The key prefix is merely a convenience for users and is not used in hashing functions. For the benefit of users and to ensure that Scatter and other wallets will be able to easily access the Telos mainnet, once launched, we decided to revert our key prefix to EOS. This expands usability for all and the concern over confusing token prefixes is much less daunting because in the future, very few chains are likely to use the EOS prefix at all. Probably only EOS, Telos and a few others.
- Network Maintenance Updates
The Telos testnet has passed 8.5 Million blocks with high stability throughout the week. The testnet is preparing to re-launch with build 2.5.1.1 today or tomorrow. This will include new voting, BP rotation, and kick features. It will also included the revised public key prefix. An injection of the Telos snapshot with all addresses including those that have performed the key recovery process is scheduled for early this coming week.
- Governance documents approved
Last week, the Telos Launch Contributors group passed key governance documents: the “regarb” Human-language Contract, Telos Blockchain Network Data Protection Policy, and Telos Blockchain Network Arbitration Rules and Procedures.
“regarb” Human-language Contract
The “regarb” Human-language Contract establishes how arbitrators nominate themselves and was approved by members of the Telos Blockchain Network contributors group on October 12, 2018 with a vote of: Yes — 20, No — 0, Abstain — 0.
https://medium.com/@teloslogical/telos-regarb-human-language-contract-e1a4d0650128
Telos Blockchain Network Data Protection Policy
The Telos Blockchain Network Data Protection Policy affirms the responsibility of Telos Blockchain Network participants and block producers responsible to follow data protection laws and individual regulatory requirements. This contract was voted into effect by members of the Telos Blockchain Network contributors group on October 12, 2018 with a vote of : Yes — 22, No — 0, Abstain — 0.
Review the full document here: https://medium.com/@teloslogical/telos-blockchain-network-data-protection-policy-f5b9fbc65a5b
Telos Blockchain Network Arbitration Rules and Procedures
The Telos Blockchain Network Arbitration Rules and Procedures outlines how elected arbitrators will resolve disputes . This contract was voted into effect by members of the Telos Blockchain Network contributors group on October 12, 2018 with a vote of : Yes — 26, No — 0, Abstain — 0.
Read the full document here: https://medium.com/@teloslogical/telos-blockchain-network-arbitration-rules-and-procedures-d91d5081dbf8
Read the annotated “explainer” version here: https://medium.com/@teloslogical/telos-governance-explained-the-tbn-arbitration-rules-and-procedures-28002852b4f7
- Telos Improvement Proposals introduced and voted on
A number of Telos Improvement Proposals were introduced, voted on and withdrawn from consideration this week. The recent increase in Telos Improvement Proposal activity is the result of ongoing discussions about equitable token distribution to specific contributor groups and working members of the Telos Foundation.
TIP-12: A mechanism for establishing director salaries for the Telos Foundation. Approved with a vote of: Yes–42, No–0, Abstain–0.
TIP-13: Lower the maximum airdrop in the Telos Initial Distribution from 40,000 TLOS to 20,000 TLOS per EOS wallet. Approved with a vote of: Yes–4, No–30, Abstain–4
TIP-14: Increase the Telos Founders’ Reward Pool from 6 million TLOS to 25 million TLOS. Rejected with a vote of: Yes–6, No–30, Abstain–6
TIPs 15–19: withdrawn by the author.
TIP-22: Adopt initial RAM buy for launch of 25,000 TLOS for account creation. Approved with a passing vote of: Yes–34, No–0, Abstain–0.
TIP-24: Adequately Rewarding Telos Contributors. Introduced for consideration.
TIP-25: Contribute unclaimed TCRP funds to free Telos account creation fund. Introduced for consideration.
TIP-26: TFVT Distribution. Introduced for consideration.
Review all of the Telos Improvement Proposals on our GitHub repository: https://github.com/Telos-Foundation/tips
10 Telos Command Reference Published
This document lists useful commands and their EOS.IO counterparts, which will be especially helpful once the testnet relaunches with EOS prefix keys. https://github.com/Telos-Foundation/telos/wiki/Telos:-command-reference
- More Telos Foundation Nominees
There are currently fifteen (and counting) excellent nominees for the Telos Foundation Board , but we are still accepting applications in order to build a diverse and competitive selection pool. Candidates or those nominating should send emails and short bios to hello@telosfoundation.io
Read all nominee profiles here: https://www.telosfoundation.io/foundation
Join the Telos conversation and get more info!
Telegram: https://t.me/HelloTelos
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HelloTelos
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TelosFoundation.io
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheTelosNetwork
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/TelosNetwork/
Discord: https://discordapp.com/channels/466757729508261889/468500684858327040