Zenon Network Community Update | December 2023

deeZNNutz -

(Any views expressed in the below are the personal views of the author and should not form the basis for making investment decisions, nor be construed as a recommendation or advice to engage in investment transactions.)

Developer Update

December 2023

Zenon Network | The Network of Momentum

Zenon Network (NoM) is a feeless Layer 1 blockchain. It features a dual token economy with both PoW and PoS. NoM is community run and this update summarizes our activity over the last two months.

SYRIUS (Native Wallet)

  • AlienCoder released a beta version of syrius that has dust protection which allows users to individually accept transactions. In addition. he implemented a default public node framework where node operators can make their endpoints available to users by default when they load syrius for the first time.
  • AlienCoder and Sol are working together to merge the changes into the main branch of syrius.

Dynamic Plasma

  • Implementing Dynamic Plasma is the first step necessary to unleash the full potential on NoM.
  • Vilkris released a design proposal for Dynamic Plasma on the forum. The design ideas are summarized below.

Background and Need for Dynamic Plasma:

  • The current network has a hardcoded throughput limit, which works fine under low utilization.
  • Plasma is conceptualized as a multi-purpose asset: an anti-spam mechanism, a representation of computational resources, and a means for transaction prioritization.

Current Plasma Limitations:

  • The present implementation primarily represents computational cost but lacks robust anti-spam features and a transaction prioritization mechanism.

Proposed Goals and Solutions:

  • Goal 1: Computational Resources: Implement a dynamic algorithm adjusting plasma's price based on network utilization to ensure the efficient allocation of computational resources.
  • Goal 2: Transaction Prioritization: Propose a system where transactions committing more plasma are prioritized, akin to a bidding process, but with mechanisms to avoid endless competition.
  • Goal 3: Anti-spam: Enhance the anti-spam properties of plasma by introducing a dynamic plasma recharge rate and considering changes to the PoW-to-Plasma conversion rate to discourage spam attacks.

Dynamic Plasma Implementation Ideas:

  • Adjust plasma pricing algorithmically, targeting half-full momentums for efficient network resource utilization.
  • Introduce a dynamic PoW-to-Plasma conversion rate that adjusts based on network utilization and the proportion of total plasma generated through PoW.
  • Propose a dynamic recharge rate for fused plasma, making it costlier and thus disincentivizing spam attacks.

Extension Chain

  • AlienCoder is working on the architecture of the Extension Chain. He recently posted some design decisions on the forum.
The idea is to deploy a Tendermint light client 6 as an embedded contract on NoM to provide a bridge between NoM and Cosmos based chains (the extension-chain is a Cosmos chain fork).
“Light clients (and full nodes) operating in the Proof Of Stake context need a trusted block height from a trusted source that is no older than 1 unbonding window plus a configurable evidence submission synchrony bound. This is called weak subjectivity.”
“IBC uses light clients in order to provide trust-minimized interoperability between sovereign blockchains. Light clients operate under a strict set of rules which provide security guarantees for state updates and facilitate the ability to verify the state of a remote blockchain using merkle proofs.”
  • If anyone wants to test the Extension Chain see the information below.

Network name: XZNN
New RPC URL: https://ext-testnet.zenon.community
Chain ID: 73405
Currency symbol: xZNN
Block explorer URL: TBA

Ledger Integration

  • The documentation of phase 2 of the Ledger AZ project has been added to the Github.
  • The following diagram shows a general overview of the development and submission phases. Cryptofish is at the "app dev mode release" phase in the diagram below.

Incentivized Nodes

  • Several months ago MoonBaze enabled an extraData field in go-zenon which allows public node operators to return a ZTS address when the endpoint is called.
  • Dexter enabled this field in the bridge front end which allows public nodes to receive a portion of bridge affiliate fees that don't have a referral code. See below.
  • 0x3639 is adding nodes to the network and is working to deploy a GSLB (Global Server Load Balancing) to my.hc1node.com.

Bridge - Front and Back End

  • Dexter recently deployed many improvements and bug fixes for the bridge. In addition he open sourced the code.
  • The new bridge also implemented incentivized nodes with the following logic:
    • The affiliate links still work as they did before, meaning they have priority, they are persistent and not easy to change.
    • For everyone else who's not using an affiliate link, the following applies:
      • The affiliate address for incentivized public nodes is used if no other affiliate link has been used before.
      • The affiliate address for incentivized nodes is not persistent, meaning it changes with the node currently being used.
      • wss://my.hc1node.com:35998 is the only one included in syrius and the extension, so everyone using it will send the 2% affiliate rewards to deeZNNutz.
      • As a fallback for users with embedded/local/private nodes, the bridge dapp will use one of HCT's nodes, so they will send the 2% affiliate rewards to HCT.
      • Users who choose any other public node without an affiliate address configured, will not send the affiliate rewards anywhere
  • Sumamu and sumoshi21 deployed a new Orchestrator binary which fixed an issue that was causing event queues to become corrupt. Over time they plan to enable an API that will help monitor bridge health.

New ZTS Tokens (Bitcoin, USDT & USDC)

  • @sumamu recently deployed wrappedBTC to NoM. Respond to this tweet if you want to receive a free wSAT. Are these the first feeless "bitcoin" transactions ever?
  • According to this post on telegram $USDT will be available on NoM next week and then $USDC shortly there after.

Bitcoin Interoperability

  • AlienCoder has been working on understanding and documenting Phase I deliverables. Specifically, he has been researching Bitcoin Interoperability and how NoM will leverage the Bitcoin Network.
  • AlienCoder also documented his ideas on how NoM could facilitate P2P mining of Bitcoin.

Gravity Wallet

A new flutter dev, Nostromo, joined our forum to discuss sentinels, dynamic plasma, and a new wallet called Gravity Wallet.

The idea of a basic wallet called “Gravity” is intended to simplify the user experience by focusing on zero transaction fees. It is primarily for fiat-backed stablecoins. The wallet would hold two states: default Gravity and Zero Gravity, which represents the wallet holding a QSR balance. Marketing would be simple: buy QSR and keep it in the wallet for Zero Gravity.

He recently reported "I’m hoping to get the code on GitHub in a few months. The alpha version will be for Android, Windows desktop, and Web."

Silent Alien Update

GeorgezGeorgez

According to a recent telegram post George is working on some thingz, but no one knows exactly what... in true alien style. We all know the Syrius governance module and libp2p are important, but is he working on them???

In a separate discussion with George he reported that he is getting "gud" at stuff across several areas. So that is #bullish.

Marketing Update

December 2023

Twitter Gamez

  • Sol and 0x3639 launched Twitter Gamez, an incentivized awareness campaign on Twitter. After running two rounds they are improving the algo before running the next round.
  • Initial feedback is the FAFO metrics are gud!

Follow the Twitter Gamez Notices Channel

Twitter Gamez Notices
Announcements for @twitter_gamez_bot
Telegram

Chat with the @twitter_gamez_bot on Telegram to get information about each game.

  • 0x3639 released a free "linktree" alternative to display znn related links.
  • Sign up for a free account here: here https://my.znn.link
  • Check out an example site here @LearnZenon

Zenon.org

  • The newly launched Zenon.Org website has been successfully deployed into production. In collaboration with the HyperCore Team, it now features the integration of the NoM Bridge referral system across all its pages. This integration enables marketers using Attribute to automatically pass their referral information to the visitor's browser session. As a result, marketers can concentrate on outbound awareness marketing activities while leveraging the funnels to stimulate interest and drive conversions.
  • Campaign funnels are set to be significantly optimized with the fully developed static funnel framework, which is now complete. @mehowz is in the process of designing and deploying these marketing funnels into the Attribute library.
  • Attribute has recently undergone substantial upgrades, including a new server-side implementation and an enhanced dashboard. These improvements enable marketers to access their performance data almost instantaneously. This real-time feedback allows marketers to quickly test and adjust their campaigns, embodying the principle of 'fail fast, iterate faster'. Additionally, the upgrades now support data from privacy-preserving browsers, enhancing the accuracy of the crypto affiliate program.
  • In a joint effort with the HyperCore Team, Attribute has added a new feature that tracks events when swapping wZNN for ZNN via the NoM Bridge. This feature provides marketers with insights into whether their marketing efforts are leading to increased participation in the Zenon Network.
  • The Zenon Network HyperGrowth team recently outlined its 2024 deliverables in a dedicated post.

CEX Listings

  • MEXC approached the community to list $ZNN on their exchange. Follow the MEXC Listing Discussion on the forum to learn more.
  • Community members are looking into adding $wZNN to topper. This would open the door to "Buy Now" widgets for websites like the one below.

AI Telegram Bot

  • 0x3639 trained and integrated a TG bot /paal into the Main telegram channel. It was trained with .network, .org, .info, important posts from both forums, the whitepaper and many technical articles referenced in the whitepaper.
  • Thank you @shazz for recommending the bot.

Art and Memes

Thank you @Chadass and @DrGreeeenThumb for providing art for this update!

Interesting Commentary

  • "...if the combined value of ZNN and QSR has gone up by a factor of 1000 from where it is now, it may be possible through governance to reduce the Sentinel requirements by a factor of 10, or something along those lines."
  • Why didn't the founding devs launch AlphaNet with dynamic plasma in place?