Word on the BLOCK: 15th May 2019

Hello everybody and welcome to the latest Blocknet newsletter! This newsletter is released twice per month to keep the community up-to-date on what is happening with Blocknet. You can view all previous newsletters here.

• Wallet update 3.13.1 is now available and is mandatory for XRouter Service Nodes and XRouter clients. This update improves connection handling for XRouter including a fix for Service Nodes not properly disconnecting after requests and a fix for certain requests not properly timing out. Download 3.13.1
• XRouter integration is progressing well with Horizen (ZEN), BitBay (BAY), BitcoinCash (BCH) Stealth (XST) Decred (DCR) and Stella (XLM) all available on mainnet via XRouter SPV calls and XCloud plugins. See the API docs for usage.
• Work is in progress to update the base blockchain to the latest v18 Bitcoin codebase. This will make the network more efficient, scalable, and secure. This update will also include a move to on-chain governance (proposal voting will be recorded directly on-chain) and move everyone to staking rewards with a single tier block reward. Service Nodes are not going away, but they will be exclusive to powering DX/XBridge and XRouter. Service Nodes will be able to stake, can earn additional fees through XBridge and XRouter, and will not experience anymore long wait periods to activate Service Nodes (looking at 2–3 network confirmations for snode inputs). You will also be able to signal multiple staking inputs to validate your node (no longer need a single 5k input).
• Additionally, there are XCloud services supporting a variety of oraclized data including information on weather, global stock market, world currencies, crypto market, and 4chan threads.
• Private community testing has begun for the world’s first decentralize lite multiwallet, which is being developed by CloudChains Inc and is powered by XRouter. Trades with LTC/BLOCK have been successfully completed on Block DX. Please join our Discord and send a message to @atcsecure if you would like to take part!
• There is ongoing collaboration with the Syscoin team to have Syscoin assets integrated and made available for trading on Block DX.
• The latest release of Block DX is currently undergoing final QA. If you would like to help with testing, visit the #dx-testing Discord channel. This release will contain a simplified setup and the ability to add and update individual wallets.

• Various use cases for XRouter continue to be shared across social media including cases for Business & Industry, Certifications, Supply Chain and Markets.
• A new article was published on CCN: “Exchange Hackings, Security and Freedom: Why Would Traditional Exchanges Embrace a Decentralized Exchange?” This covers recent exchange hacks and illustrates how embracing the Blocknet Protocol will benefit ALL exchanges. Read it here and please share!
• An in depth examination of the history of decentralized exchanges has been published on the Blocknet blog. This is a deep dive that examines the evolution of the DEX and compares various decentralized exchanges to see how they measure up. There is a detailed break down covering the different generations of the DEX and whether they can truly claim to be a decentralized exchange. Read it here. (The comparison chart from article can also be viewed above or a larger version can be viewed here). You can also view the research and sources for this information here.
• YouTube videos are currently being lined up that cover XRouter, project reviews, and interviews.

• Work on a new website has begun. There is currently no estimate on when this will be released, but iterations will be shared along the way for feedback.
• Website / Documentation Portal / API Docs / Discord / Twitter / Medium / Telegram / Reddit / Steemit / Newsletter / Facebook / YouTube / DTube / Instagram / Minds / BitcoinTalk / Proposal Forum / Arlyn’s Blog / Block Node Info / Blockdx.co

• The number of Blocknet nodes recently exceeded 500 for the first time!

• For Superblock 907200 there was a total of 454 Service Nodes, requiring a net of at least 46 votes for a proposal to pass. The results are as follows:

1. 86b-907200 — Passes: 5010 BLOCK 166–0, Net 166
2. aderks-907200 — Passes: 1750 BLOCK 166–0, Net 166
3. aws-april — Passes: 450 BLOCK 161–0, Net 161
4. atc-dev-infra-907200 — Passes: 1200 BLOCK 162–0, Net 162
5. atc-doc-video-907200 — Passes: 7000 BLOCK 178–1, Net 177
6. atc-mm-907200 — Passes: 750 BLOCK 165–0, Net 165
7. blockdx-jsdev-may — Passes: 1500 BLOCK 166–0, Net 166
8. buildserver-cost-may — Passes: 300 BLOCK 166–0, Net 166
9. equipment-907200 — Passes: 275 BLOCK 161–1, Net 160
10. hanniabu-907200 — Passes: 4800 BLOCK 161–0, Net 161
11. michael-dev-may — Passes: 7000 BLOCK 166–0, Net 166
12. reinstateKingBong — Failed: 10 BLOCK 79–113, Net -35
13. Social_Philip_May — Passes: 750 BLOCK 161–0, Net 161
14. UAT-Fattox-907200 — Passes: 2500 BLOCK 166–0, Net 166

• The in-progress (and previous) proposals can be viewed on block-node.info, on blockdx.co or within the Proposals screen of the wallet.
• Please note, proposals are being submitted to the forum individually so please make sure you scroll down and take your time to look over each proposal.
• An introduction to Superblocks and a guide to submitting and voting for proposals, can be found here. There is also a proposal category in the Blocknet Discord for focused and specific discussion of proposals and ideas. Within this category, there is a channel called #anon-snode-feedback for Service Node owners to provide anonymous feedback on proposals.
• For Service Node notifications such as critical updates or voting reminders, join this mailing list. (Separate to the Word on the BLOCK newsletter email list).
• Blocknet Service Node stats can be viewed on Master Nodes Pro, on Masternodes Directory, and on Block Core.

• Volume on Block DX is up. It went from and average of about $1200–1500 a day to $4500–5000 a day.
• BLOCK trading is now LIVE on DigiFinex! Start trading BLOCK now on one of the world’s top exchanges. BLOCK joins over 100 trading pairs in six markets: BTC, ETH, USDT, TUSD, USDC, and DFT on the DigiFinex exchange, which is consistently in the top 5 exchanges. You can register to buy and sell BLOCK here, it takes about 2 minutes and no KYC is required. Check out the full details.

• BLOCK will be one of the first assets to be added to the forthcoming Beaxy Exchange after being on the winning team in a Twitter poll. You can sign up for Beaxy here.
• The Blocknet Protocol currently supports 110 blockchains all of which can be traded on Block DX. A full list of the supported assets can be found on the Blocknet’s Hub. You can also view the current prices, ranking and market cap of of these assets (including BLOCK) on the Coin Hub page.
• In addition to this list, there are another 24 integrations that are unannounced.
• Besides Block DX, BLOCK is also listed on the following exchanges: Digifinex / Bittrex / CryptoBridge / UPbit / CoinSwitch / Nova

Many thanks for reading. We hope that you are as excited as us with what the future holds for Blocknet. A decentralization project fundamentally requires an engaged community, and so if you would like to help with anything, have something to add, use your professional skills or have a problem, we want to know about it.

Please also be aware that a community project is run by a diverse group of people with varying time-constraints (in a number of time-zones) and personal lives, so remember to be kind and patient!

If you want to be the first see these updates, you can receive the newsletters directly to your email by subscribing here. Our next update is due on May 30th. Until then we look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

The Blocknet Team.

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Website / API Docs / Documentation Portal / Discord / Twitter / Medium / Telegram / Reddit / Steemit / Newsletter / Facebook / YouTube / DTube / Instagram / Minds / BitcoinTalk / Proposal Forum / Arlyn’s Blog / Block Node Info / Blockdx.co