ARTIS FAQs
General What is ARTIS?ARTIS is a Blockchain built to serve as a foundation for decentralized applications by providing an open-source ecosystem sharing many similarities with the Ethereum Blockchain and therefore enriching the application space for new business models.
Is ATS a coin or a token?ARTIS is a unique Blockchain that does not run on top of any other Blockchain. As an independent platform, it has its own coins called "ATS".
Is ARTIS money/currency or a smart contract platform?ARTIS is compatible with the Ethereum development ecosystem and provides the same Turing complete smart contract functionality.
Why don't you use an Ethereum-based token instead? What's the need for a blockchain?ARTIS addresses three major blockchain problems: scalability, energy consumption and a fair distribution of coins to 'accountable pseudonyms' (uniquely registered humans called Members). For ARTIS, the concept of 'Streems' (literally flowing cash) demands a change of the protocol which would be difficult to get through an EIP (Ethereum Improvement Proposal). Furthermore, we need a consensus with fast finality and can't use Casper, the soon activated PoS consensus for Ethereum. But the most obvious reason is the distribution of the base coin, which is needed to pay for transactions. For ARTIS approximately 75% of ATS will be distributed to members of the ARTIS network, and this will allow a broad application of real-life use cases.
Is ARTIS competing with Ethereum?No, the future will have many interlinked Blockchains while the technology and applications are still evolving.
What are 'Accountable Pseudonyms'?Blockchains are based on the principle of 'anonymous transparency'. Online anonymity often appears to undermine accountability. In ARTIS, humans will have the possibility to be registered anonymously and receive ATS for free. Find out more about 'anonymous transparency' in this Whitepaper:
https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/papers/accountable-pseudonyms-socialnets08.pdfHow exactly does the secure and safe identification of humans work?ARTIS will solve this difficult problem in the beginning by hosting pseudonym parties. To create accountable pseudonyms, a combination of in-person social gatherings (Parties) and technical infrastructure (a pseudonymous sign-on service) will be used. This ensures that one real person gets only one virtual persona on any participating online service. For more details, see this whitepaper:
https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/papers/accountable-pseudonyms-socialnets08.pdf Beyond that, various biometrics, random location-based challenges and in-app games are evaluated for a more scalable but still trustable solution.
What is the lab10 collective eG and who is behind this organisation?The lab10 collective eG is a cooperative based in Graz, Austria. All its projects are supporting the transition to a free, fair and educated society. It consists of 37 members and continuously grows in members and talents who join the purpose-driven and profit-oriented cooperative. Meet the team and find out more at
https://lab10.coop/en/teamSustainability
How is ARTIS sustainable?As opposed to Blockchains that use the energy-intensive Nakamoto consensus algorithm (Proof of Work), ARTIS will work with Tendermint, a known Proof of Stake algorithm which is much more resource efficient.
How are ATS coins distributed?To receive ATS, people have to register as unique humans. Each registered and signed up Member will continuously receive a "streem" of coins.
What is a human-centric distribution of coins?While everyone can use the ARTIS Blockchain, humans can become a member through registration. The coin distribution will then build on the unique user base to evenly distribute coins among all ARTIS members and allow them to use other services on this Blockchain.
How do you implement decentralized governance?For technical suggestions and improvement proposals, the global developer community can contribute through open source platforms (similar to how Ethereum uses EIP (Ethereum Improvement Proposal) to manage suggestions). For non-technical proposals, ARTIS plans to use its trusted network in combination with Liquid Democracy to allow decentralized decision making.
How decentralized will ARTIS be?The ARTIS network comprises Trustnodes, Freenodes, Registrars and Members. The consensus will happen on Trustnode level. These Trustnodes will be scattered all over the world assuring different legislations and high resilience. After an application process, the real identities of Trustnodes, Freenodes and Registrars will be known within the system. This ensures global distribution and a real web of trust can be formed and maintained.
Real-life use cases (& Streems)What can I build on top of ARTIS?ARTIS allows all sorts of business models which will work on a smart contract platform. Time based payments, like subscriptions, wages or instalments can leverage the power of STREEMs. Beyond payments, you can think of time based value transfers like handing over a house to an heir over time or provide pocket money to your children.
What's the use of Streems, if I can have instalments?Convenience. Just imagine a service where you pay-per-use like urban parking or consuming media. When you start using the service, you don't always know for how long you are going to use it. You just have to start a STREEM (automatically) and end a STREEM (automatically). Transaction costs arise only at the start and at the end. In other use cases, STREEMs avoid risk asymmetry caused by discrete payments in advance or afterwards.
What is the simplest real-time use case for Streem?For example paying for parking: As you park your car, the parking spot sends a trigger and your car (its wallet) streems money automatically for the service. It stops streeming once you leave the parking lot.
Does ARTIS only support Streems or also discrete payments?Yes, discrete payments are supported as well and on a technical level they are handled differently than Streems.
Can I deploy my Ethereum DApp on ARTIS?Yes. Because ARTIS shares the same code base with Ethereum and uses the EVM, you can deploy any Ethereum-based application on ARTIS as well and use Ethereum development tools.
When can I use the ARTIS blockchain?The development of ARTIS is currently in full swing, with the testing phase running until November 2018. Starting in December 2018, a defined set of trusted nodes will develop the system cooperatively. If you would like to participate in the ARTIS development, please contact us.
TechnicalIs ARTIS an Ethereum Blockchain fork?No, but ARTIS shares the same code base with Ethereum: We are building on the achievements of a large and established community instead of re-developing everything from scratch. It will be easy for developers who already know Ethereum to develop for ARTIS.
What Consensus is ARTIS using?ARTIS will be using Tendermint, a well documented Proof of Stake consensus algorithm to avoid the energy-intensive Nakamoto consensus (Proof of Work).
(How) can I mine ATS?The increase from 3bn pre-mined ATS to the maximum amount of 21bn ATS will be system-generated and given to the ARTIS Network (Trustnodes, Freenodes, Registrars and Members). Thus, to receive ATS, you simply become part of the ARTIS Network.
What are the different kinds of nodes?The ARTIS Network consists of Trustnodes, Freenodes, Registrars and Members. Each of them has different responsibilities in the network. Trustnodes will manage a certain amount Freenodes, while each Freenode can have up to 100 Registrars. And every Registrar can register up to 500 unique humans (Members).
What happens when Ethereum launches updates?Updates on Ethereum are constantly watched and implemented in ARTIS (if compatible). Furthermore, developments and improvements are actively provided to the Ethereum ecosystem as open-source.
What programming language is required to write DApps for ARTIS?Every EVM compatible smart contract language (e.g. Solidity) can be used for ARTIS.
What virtual machine does ARTIS use?Our Virtual Machine will be the same as the one Ethereum is using - the EVM.
What transaction costs can be expected on the ARTIS blockchain?When applications use STREEMs, transactions will most likely be very inexpensive due to the low number of transactions and the direct implementation in the protocol. Transaction fees for discrete payments and one-time value transfers depend on the load on the Blockchain. But due to the Trustnode network, it will be easier to raise block gas limits and maintain low block times assuring low transaction fees and high throughput. Proposed scaling suggestions like sharding will come in handy to further scale the number of possible transactions per second and avoid raising transaction costs.
How can I join the ARTIS developer community?For now, subscribe to our newsletter on the
https://artis.eco/en/why-artis page.
About ATS coin (financial & funding related questions)What is ATS?ATS are the coins in the ARTIS blockchain and are needed to use this public blockchain. In ARTIS, humans will be registered anonymously and will get freshly minted ARTIS coins ("ATS" or "Shilling") via a Streem.
How can I get ATS coins?ATS tokens (ERC20 on Ethereum) will be swapped for ATS coins as soon as the ARTIS mainnet is live (planned for December 2018). Once the mainnet is live, it is also possible to become part of the ARTIS network (Trustnode, Freenode, Registrar or Member) and get freshly minted ATS coins directly.
How can I invest in ARTIS?You can either be part of the Closed Funding Round with investments above €100k or wait for the Token Generation Event (TGE) end of May 2018 and the following Open Funding Round until the end of June 2018. To be informed about all the details, please sign up for our newsletter.
Why should I invest in ARTIS?ARTIS is a flagship project that is leading the way to a future worth living in. To find out more, click here
https://artis.eco/en/investmentWhat happens with my investment?Your investment will go towards the ARTIS Foundation (to be founded), a non-profit organization located in Europe. It will provide financial support for the protocol and platform development and other important 3rd party activities enriching the open-source space and the ARTIS ecosystem.
Where can I buy ATS (after the initial coin distribution, Dec. 2018)? After the initial coin distribution is over, ATS tokens may already be traded on some exchanges. And once they can be swapped for ATS coins, it is likely that even more exchanges will be interested in listing ATS. However, due to the dynamics of regulation on centralized exchanges and unclear developments on decentralized exchanges, no guarantees regarding listings can be given.
What can I do with my ATS coins?You can (directly as well as indirectly) pay for any service launched on top of the ARTIS Blockchain. ATS coins are also needed to pay transaction costs.
What is the total supply of ATS?The initial coin supply will be 3,000,000,000 ATS. The increase will depend on the network growth and the involved infrastructure. However, the maximum coin supply is capped at 21,000,000,000 ATS.
What will happen after reaching the maximum of 21,000,000,000 ATS?ARTIS is supposed to provide a certain coin circulation even after reaching the maximum supply, so that the ARTIS network is continuously rewarded with ATS. Discussed ideas are a demurrage on obviously frozen accounts (lost private keys), fees for businesses that benefit from this public platform and members could get ATS through loyalty schemes. It should be kept in mind that it will take at least 10 years until the maximum coin supply is reached, assuming 250m registered members.
What happens to unsold ATS tokens?If there are any unsold ATS left at the end of the open funding round, they will be kept separate for later financing rounds. Based on the established baseline for the Ether-ATS valuation during the open funding round, any later financing round will be conducted at a higher price for ATS, taking into consideration the current market price to avoid any downward price pressure.
Misc / complicated questionsIf money is streemed, how does the real-world accounting, which needs a specific amount and date, work?Accounting in the real-world is typically a period-based activity, e.g. monthly. In systems working with Streems, the total amount paid during a specific time period will be used for accounting. This specific amount would have to be stored in the accounting software.
If money is streemed, how do you pay taxes?The easiest way of paying taxes in the future would be to directly Streem e.g. 20% of a taxable transaction to the financial authorities. This, by the way, could also be done for other one-time transactions. Legally, this is not possible (yet), but a progressive country (e.g. Sweden) may prefer using a more streamlined system to reduce accounting efforts and increase transparency.
