Rise - Decentralized teams forming around it
ETCDEV progress
After an exhausting year it all started to fall in place. Team ETCDEV worked on a new implementation of the Ethereum Virtual Machine - EVM - that was specifically designed to be able to run on low powered devices. The reason for this decision was ETCDEV’s plan to make ETC THE blockchain for the upcoming Internet Of Things - IOT - that the world is moving towards. The EVM is called SputnikVM and it’s source is publicly available on the main github account of ETCDEV. Among work on the Virtual Machine they also put a significant amount into stabilizing the main ETC client called geth-classic. Although people could use developer tools from the Ethereum ecosystem because the chains were mostly compatible, ETCDEV was not satisfied with any of the existing solutions and started building the so called Emerald Platform which includes Emerald SDK to make the life of a developer easier. Their project called Emerald Wallet gets out of beta release and serves as a demonstration of how the different tools from the SDK can be used to build a project on ETC chain. The team also makes an exciting announcement that they will be working with OpenStack on their Cloud Passport Program where OpenStack will use ETC sidechain that will be connected to the ETC mainnet. By that time ETCDEV has expanded to a total of 14 members. On ETC Summit 2018 that was held in Seoul they announced they are working on sidechains called Orbitas that will be able to run a different consensus algorithm - for instance Proof of Authority - while still having the security of the Proof of Work mainnet because of the snapshots. They also began working on a Just in Time compiler for SputnikVM which could improve the speed of EVM by 30-60x [1].
IOHK progress
IOHK team Grothendieck makes their first release of the Mantis client, making it probably the most concisely written Ethereum client to date. IOHK has been doing a lot of research in the space and one that is particularly interesting to ETC space is their Non-Interactive Proofs of Proof-of-Work [1]- NIPoPoW - that if implemented could reduce the size of the light client to less than 1 Megabyte - this can be achieved because the number of blocks needed is reduced to logarithm of the total number of blocks in the chain. Another possible usage is to use it to build sidechains with it. There’s an ECIP proposal open that is a starting point for the work in the paper and the work is likely to happen once everyone agrees on it - for more information here’s a presentation from Dionysis Zindros who is one of the authors of the research paper.
ETC Cooperative founded
Another team called ETC Cooperative gets founded and a long time ETC supporter Anthony ‘pyskell’ Lusardi becomes its director.
The Ethereum Classic Cooperative (the “ECC”) was created to financially support the growth and development of the Ethereum Classic protocol, a next generation blockchain platform for a new internet infrastructure. The ECC believes that the Ethereum Classic protocol can enhance the ways that information and value are shared in a digital economy, and is committed to doing its part to realize this potential. Featuring a flexible and intuitive smart contract programming platform that is powered by ETC, Ethereum Classic can propel the development of a global, secure, and decentralized Internet of Things.
The information regarding their financials can be seen on their website
Through May 31st, 2018, the Ethereum Classic Cooperative has accrued $976,985
ETC Labs founded
Another team appears out of nowhere called ETC Labs which is an incubator for projects working on the ETC chain with an initial operating capital of $50 million [1].
Ethereum Classic Labs is among the first incubators to accelerate innovative projects on the Ethereum Classic Blockchain (ETC). We are entrepreneurs and technologists who believe that good ideas thrive in a vibrant ecosystem. Our mission is to develop the ETC ecosystem, and to support entrepreneurs and their enterprises. Whether you have a great idea but are unsure of the full range of applications, or you already have a great product but need help taking it to market, Ethereum Classic Labs can help. We provide office space, advice, support, and access to a community of peers. We also provide direct investment in exchange for equity and/or tokens to help your start up grow.
They plan to have 3 rounds of incubator programs per year incubating a total of ~50 projects yearly. ETC Labs had a successful launch [1] on 25th October 2018 and started incubating their first batch of projects. Each team is offered a technical as well as financial supporting and a workspace in San Francisco offices.
The Callisto mess
There is another team called Ethereum Commonwealth led by an anonymous programmer Dexaran. The team raised some funds in an ICO they held and later decided to make their own chain called Callisto. There was a bunch of confusion on the internet regarding Callisto and a lot of articles got it wrong [1]. Callisto was never a sidechain to Ethereum Classic main chain. Nobody from ETCDEV or IOHK said it was, this was very poorly communicated by the leader of the Ethereum Commonwealth Dexaran and the fake news spread all over the internet. Callisto forked the Ethereum (ETH) client and set it’s balance state to that of the ETC network. Apart from the airdrop for those that held ETC, it had nothing to do with ETC in particular. Ethereum Commonwealth is offering free auditing of Smart Contracts for anyone that asks them and they’ve already successfully audited a few.
Summary
- ETCDEV expands on a total of 14 members and ships Emerald SDK, SputnikVM (performance optimized EVM) and starts working on sidechains
- IOHK releases their long awaited Mantis client and plans to bring NIPoPoWs to ETC chain
- ETC Cooperative is founded and plans to supports ETC development and marketing
- ETC Labs is founded and is an incubator for ETC projects
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