[ANN][PART] Particl ● P2P Anon Marketplaces ● RingCT ● v3 UPGRADE this summer!

[nimelo]

Particl Development Progress Report (15-04-2022)



With the week coming to an end, it's time for our weekly progress report. And boy has this week been a busy one with the release of several updates both to Particl Core and Particl Desktop.

So let's not waste any time and jump right into the crux of this update!‌

Particl Desktop Progress Report

This week has been championed by the release of two very important updates to Particl Desktop. Indeed, an odd issue surfaced in which marketplace listings were not being received and decrypted by other peers of the network. While this did not affect the sellers' ability to publish listings, it caused products not to show up for other users creating the illusion of an empty marketplace.

Particl Desktop 3.1.3 Released
https://particl.news/particl-desktop-3-1-3-released/

After relentless troubleshooting and debugging with some of our current vendors, the root cause of the issue was identified and Particl's desktop developer Arnold Bansemer pushed out a fix that resolves this issue.

Although the Particl Desktop 3.1.2 fixed a significant portion of this issue, the patch was later completed with the release of the 3.1.3 versions which fully fixes the problem for good. Because this bug causes significant issues to the marketplace's user experience (you can't see listings), this update is necessary for anyone that wants to use Particl Marketplace.

And so, although we hoped to be done this week with the in-market messaging system, the major issue mentioned just above created delays in its completion. We can, however, report that it is almost complete by now. Once fully ready and internally tested, we'll be ready to issue testnet builds for the Particl community to test out the new major feature thoroughly.

Particl Core Progress Update

As for Particl Core, this was a very busy and productive week as well. We've also seen two releases for the two most popular Particl codebases; Particl Core 0.19 and 0.21. ‌
New Particl Core Releases Available
https://particl.news/new-particl-core-releases-available/

These two releases fixed an array of bugs, notably one that prevented some anon outputs from being properly displayed within the Coin Control menu. It also introduced a few improvements like Particl's 0.19 codebase now having the same default ring size as all other maintained codebases as well as Particl Desktop. This improves the level of privacy of people making anon transactions using the 0.19 codebase by unifying the default value across all environments.

Note that, since these two releases were in pre-release mode, Particl's cold staking application doesn't automatically update to them yet. This is normal. In fact, ever since the release of 0.21.2.8 earlier this week, the build has been updated to deal with a specific issue regarding peer selection and banning. Since then, the 0.19.2.20 has been made into a full release, therefore, Partyman should be able to update.

Additionally, we released today, a new build in pre-release for Particl Core 22.0 (note the change in nomenclature that comes with Bitcoin's latest codebase version).
Release Particl Core 22.0.2 · particl/particl-core
Release Notes: https://github.com/particl/particl-core/blob/22.x/doc/release-notes-particl.md#2202Hashesa4bbfa6322ec52272be567c39c54f543d2c06fb30827d5526c252c5c144f3d6c particl-22.0.2.0-x86_64-l...
particl

Particl Core 22.0.2 introduces a wide variety of improvements and bug fixes from Bitcoin's upstream code, which can be seen by following this link. If you're running a 22.0 node, we highly recommend updating and reporting back to the Particl team if you encounter any issues!

Read the full blog post here: https://particl.news/particl-development-progress-report-15-04-2022/

[nimelo]

Particl Development Progress Report (22-04-2022)



The week has come to an end and you know what that means; it's time for our weekly progress report!

This week, in addition to the development update, we've also included a link to the team's funding allocation report. If you're interested in this data, make sure to scroll down to the bottom of this article for a link to it.

Now let's jump into the crux of this update!

Particl Desktop Progress Report

This week, we've made considerable progress on the in-market messaging system. We have, in fact, completed its initial integration.

Thus, we've spent a good portion of the week testing it in a live environment and have identified three issues that we are now working on resolving, with one being likely fixed already (testing of the fix is ongoing at the time of this writing). We hope to resolve the other two issues by the end of this coming weekend, or early into the coming week.

Once these issues are resolved, the new messaging system for the marketplace app will be ready, which means Particl Desktop 3.2 will also be ready for its testnet round. We are aiming, barring any unforeseen issues, to begin the process of getting the testnet builds ready for release by mid or late next week. We will keep you updated about the process.

Read the full blog post for extensive updates on:

• Particl Core and BasicSwap Progress Report
• Frozen Heart Exploit ❄️ 💔(we're safe)
• Cold Staking Pool Bug 🪲 (fixed)
• BasicSwap 📈
• Core Maintenance and More Onion Seeds 🧅
• SoonTM Development Ltd Spending Report

Read the full blog post now on: https://particl.news/particl-development-progress-report-22-04-2022/

[nimelo]

Particl Development Progress Report (29-04-2022)





With the week coming to a close, it's time for our weekly progress report! This week, we've got some exciting news to share we're sure you'll love in regards to Particl Desktop 3.2, so let's not waste time and get to it right away!

Particl Desktop Progress Update

This week, we've finally completed the integration of the new messaging system into Particl Marketplace! This new feature lets sellers and buyers (or potential buyers) communicate with each other in a free-flow form.



You can now send messages to the seller directly from a listing's public chatroom

This new update introduces user messaging in two different ways. On one end, each listing now has a "public chatroom" in which any user can ask questions to the seller. All messages posted in a listing's chatroom are publicly viewable, meaning anyone can see current and past messages sent this way. This function is likely to replace the "Reviews" functionality, although we would love to get your feedback and thoughts on the matter during Particl Desktop 3.2's testnet round.

On the other end, a private chatroom, only accessible and viewable to the seller and the buyer of an item, is opened up when placing an order. Communications initiated this way are entirely end-to-end encrypted and anonymous, and it is impossible for any third-party or middleman to intercept messages. Messages are propagated through the SMSG network and never go through any central server. Private in-order chatrooms are available from the Order section of the Purchases and Sell pages, depending on whether you are the seller or the buyer.

At this time, the messaging system is tied to the marketplace and isn't a standalone feature yet. We plan on isolating that feature moving forward to make it possible to open private chatrooms with individuals without having to use Particl Marketplace.




With the messaging system now ready for the marketplace, we are currently looking at a few minor issues raised within the last few days and, if there's any fix required, they'll be included in Particl Desktop 3.2.

Barring any issue stemming from the current round of internal testing, we'll be ready to release Particl Desktop 3.2 on testnet within the next 24 to 72 hours. Then, if all goes well, we'll be able to release it, on mainnet, a few days after that.

As always, we highly encourage you to come and help us test this new major Particl Desktop release to ensure that no edge case or environment-specific issue is missed by the team. Additionally, as we've mentioned just a bit above, we're also curious about your feedback regarding the deprecation of the Reviews functionality in favor of public chatrooms within listing pages.

Particl Core and BasicSwap Update

New Particl Core Version ✅
Release Particl Core 0.21.2.9 · particl/particl-core
Release Notes: https://github.com/particl/particl-core/blob/0.21/doc/release-notes-particl.md#02129Hashes56c899c09cb11948c9b81e92ff2599fbcf8cd18b10fd3e708064d37b1b1c4bbd particl-0.21.2.9-aarch64...
particl

Earlier this week, we pre-released Particl Core 0.21.2.9, a release focused on network stability, on Github. It includes a variety of SMSG network improvements and also improves the stability of the blockchain's connectivity by banning misbehaving peers more effectively. Follow this link for the full list of changes.

While this is still marked as a pre-release, meaning your cold staking nodes won't update automatically through Partyman, we encourage you to install this new version and report back to the team should you encounter any issues. It will be marked as a full release shortly.

Particl Electrum ✅

Release 4.2.1.5 Particl · tecnovert/electrum
https://github.com/tecnovert/electrum/releases/tag/4.2.1.5_particl
Hashesdb67abb00dc575a4270c88cbd36105ae72355f7edc1c21830865fd8f9769afcb ElectrumParticl-4.2.1.5-arm64-v8a-release.apkf8df945d44de292395cdc20452931fa12d2fd2a1fa9352a794e76be74ab8da15 ElectrumPart...
tecnovert

We've also pushed a minor cosmetic fix to Particl Electrum mobile which changes the display of staking transactions from a negative fee to a correctly marked staking reward.

To that effect, we pushed, a few hours ago, new mobile builds (.apk) for Android that fix this issue.

Core Codebase Maintenance 🛠️

https://github.com/particl/particl-core/commits/master
Commits · particl/particl-core
Particl Core integration/staging tree. Contribute to particl/particl-core development by creating an account on GitHub.
particl

As usual, various code adaptions and merges have been done as part of our ever-ongoing process of keeping Particl Core up-to-date with Bitcoin's latest version. You can always keep track of those changes by following this link.

As a reminder, while this task may appear "mundane" on the surface, it is vital for the deployment of certain functionalities that are critical to the success of our ecosystem.

For example, Taproot, which is now available on Particl, is poised to become an important feature of the upcoming BasicSwap DEX. By not keeping the Particl Core codebase up-to-date with the ongoing Bitcoin developments, integrating such a major feature would not only be very messy and time-consuming, but it would also potentially be unsafe as it would be missing important dependencies.

What keeping up with the Bitcoin codebase allows Particl to do is to leverage all the new exciting updates, features, and functionalities of Bitcoin and integrate them, when and if needed, into our wider ecosystem in a timely and safe manner.

BasicSwap 📈

We do not have anything in particular to mention this week on BasicSwap other than what was mentioned in last week's report. We are still working on finalizing the DEX's user interface and it is the current main focus of our designer and lead UI/UX, Gerlof van Ek.

Exclusive Episode of the Super Dangerous Club

https://youtu.be/djuRy7TZvtY

You're probably already aware of the Super Dangerous Club, the weekly show by Particl advocates Dr. Kap and e-commerce expert Joe Fisher. They talk about various topics touching on technology, geo-politics, futurism, and more.

Last week, they focused their episode on the Particl project and Particl Marketplace. If you're a fan of Particl, then this one is an episode you must not skip.

While the episode itself is not yet released anywhere other than on Clubhouse, we thought of sharing it here in advance for our weekly progress update readers only.


Every week, the show is broadcasted on all your favorite platforms. But to really get into the action, we invite you to come and speak your mind directly with our two wonderful hosts on Clubhouse's live episodes.

To see where the SDC is available, follow the linktree below!

https://linktr.ee/superdangerous

Read the full blog post on: https://particl.news/particl-development-progress-report-29-04-2022/

[nimelo]

Particl Desktop 3.2 Testnet is Live



The long-anticipated Particl Desktop 3.2 update is now publicly available on testnet! You can now download and install the new desktop client and thoroughly test all the new additions and improvements.
User Messaging (Marketplace) 💬



You can now send messages to the seller directly from a listing's public chatroom

This new Particl Desktop client update introduces a new and major marketplace feature: user messaging. It lets sellers and buyers (as well as potential buyers) communicate with each other in a free-flow form.

User messaging is available in two different ways. On one end, each listing now has a "public chatroom" in which any user can ask questions to the seller. All messages posted in a listing's chatroom are publicly viewable, meaning anyone can see current and past messages sent this way. This function is likely to replace the "Reviews" functionality, although we would love to get your feedback and thoughts on the matter during Particl Desktop 3.2's testnet round.

On the other end, a private chatroom, only accessible and viewable to the seller and the buyer of an item, is opened up when placing an order. Communications initiated this way are entirely end-to-end encrypted and anonymous, and it is impossible for any third-party or middleman to intercept messages. Messages are propagated through the SMSG network and never go through any central server. Private in-order chatrooms are available from the Order section of the Purchases and Sell pages, depending on whether you are the seller or the buyer.

Read the full blog post on: https://particl.news/particl-desktop-3-2-testnet/

[nimelo]

Keep up to date on the latest news here https://particl.news/

[nimelo]

Particl Development Progress Report (13-05-2022)

• Particl Desktop Progress Update
• Plans for Particl Desktop 3.3 🗒️
• New Major Development Cycle (Post-3.3) 🚀
• Marketing Strategy in Light of the New Development Cycle 📢

Read the full blog post here: https://particl.news/particl-development-progress-report-13-05-2022/[/list]

[ilog]

Great updates! Can't wait for Particl Desktop 3.3.

I'm very excited about the upcoming Particl BasicSwap decentralized exchange!

The fully private and decentralized cross-chain exchange for cryptocurrencies aspiring to set new standards.

[nimelo]

Particl Development Progress Report (20-05-2022)



Read the full blog post on: https://particl.news/particl-development-progress-report-20-05-2022/

[nimelo]

Particl Desktop 3.3 — What to Expect



Read the full blog post on: https://particl.news/particl-desktop-3-3-what-to-expect/

[nimelo]

Particl Development Progress Report (27-05-2022)



The week's coming to an end and you know what that means: blog post day!

Without losing any time, let's get down to the crux of this week's update right away!


Particl Desktop Progress Update

As we've mentioned in recent past updates, we've been working on updating Particl Desktop's dependencies to make the client up-to-date with all the latest versions of the packages it uses. This would, notably, fix some launch issues that have been happening with some OS environments such as Manjaro or Fedora Linux distributions.

Today, we can report that the base changes are mostly sorted out and that there are 2 changes left before we can officially mark this task as completed:

    Complete the marketplace tests (ensuring that all updated dependencies work as expected);
    Complete the ZMQ-related changes for electron to ensure that Particl Desktop works without issues on Windows.

Once those changes are done, we'll start the process of building Particl Desktop across the different platforms and then test that all the expected functionality works within these environments. We expect to get started on that during the course of next week.

Once everything is tested and confirmed to be ready, we'll create test builds for internal testing, and if no issues are detected, then we'll end up releasing this as Particl Desktop 3.2.1.


Particl Core and BasicSwap Update
Core Codebase Maintenance 🛠️
Commits · tecnovert/particl-core

https://github.com/tecnovert/particl-core/commits/master

Particl Core integration/staging tree. Contribute to tecnovert/particl-core development by creating an account on GitHub.
tecnovert

We've been keeping up with upstream updates as part of our ever-ongoing effort to maintain Particl Core up-to-date with Bitcoin's latest version. You can always keep track of those changes by following this link.
BasicSwap 📈

This week has been a continuation of the work mentioned in our previous progress report. We've made, once again, some good progress on both the DEX's user interface and the ability to pick up multiple or fraction of orders from its order book, although that feature is not fully ready yet.


Listing Seeding Proposal

With product codes now integrated into Particl Desktop 3.2, we can now move ahead with the marketplace listing seeding CCS proposal.

As a reminder, this CCS proposal, headed by Arnold Bansemer and Cryptoguard, aims at populating the marketplace with a significant number of listings and automating some of the processes involved with the publishing of listings and processing of orders.

In the coming weeks, we'll have the first iteration of this proposal ready after which point we'll iterate it over and improve as we move ahead. Because this proposal is being managed in a personal capacity, its development is not part of the official team scope but is going to be a focus for its owners nonetheless for the next few weeks.

Read the full blog post on: https://particl.news/particl-development-progress-report-27-05-2022/

[nimelo]

Open-Source Privacy in the Digital Age



Cryptography was invented as a solution to communicate through unsecured channels in a totally private manner with complete control over what parties receive the information you wish to broadcast.

In its essence, it dates all the way back to transposition ciphers — a cryptosystem over 2,000 years old — but the idea then was the same as it was during WW2 and as it is today: controlling access to information.

As we live through this challenging information age, obstacles to our privacy and data sovereignty are more present than ever. Finding trustworthy solutions to those challenges can be difficult, and sometimes even misguided.

Can true privacy and security really be effective in this information age? Do they even exist anymore? And if so, how can we make sure that we remain protected online?


The State of Global Surveillance

As we’ve explored before, there is very little we do online that does not ultimately get compiled into a marketable and exploitable database. Every tech giant tracks your online habits in myriads of ways, and they use that information to build customer profiles identifying us, or worse.

And although public awareness has largely increased about that parasitic phenomenon within the last decade — indeed, a 2020 study by the data firm Data Axle found that over 80% of people are more concerned about the privacy of their data than ever before, across all generations. Over 50% even agreed that giving a company their personal information constituted a risk to them — the public is left with very limited and misleading solutions to this problem.

While tech corporations are, with good reason, bearing a large share of the public backlash against data collection, we know today that it is small potatoes compared to the true behemoth of information gathering: The United States’ NSA, PRISM, and the surveillance infrastructure of nearly all US-allied nations.


Big Brother is Watching You 24/7 

In 2013, the Edward Snowden revelations took the world by storm. In reports published by The Guardian and the Washington Post, Snowden’s leak included evidence of a vast network of global surveillance established by the United States government and in which several nation’s intelligence communities participated in one way or another. This massive scale of data consumption and analysis also involved some of the world’s biggest tech companies, some of which were even compensated to the tune of millions of dollars for their compliance with the surveillance program. Described as the NSA enjoying “direct access” to the information of dozens of companies, the scandal involved not also tech giants but also telecommunication providers.

Today the sheer scale of global surveillance can only be inferred, as many of those initial revelations are almost a decade old. There are no signs that the machine has slowed down, and something we know for certain is that the computing capabilities of the Fourteen Eyes surveillance and intelligence sharing network continue to increase exponentially, year after year.


Leveraging Information Technologies

We are faced with a unique challenge; the privacy of much of our lives and of our private conversations has been undermined to a level that only modern technology can make possible. Yet, the same technologies that face us with unprecedented threats to our privacy also offer us many strong protections. To that end, Edward Snowden did, indeed, give us a strong hint: “encryption works”.

Modern end-to-end encryption is an invaluable asset for each of us. Not only does it protect our data from prying eyes, it also helps maintain its integrity and protects any transfer of information against man-in-the-middle attacks of all kinds. Thankfully, encryption protections are becoming more and more common in the current tech landscape, even though encryption backdoors are still a threat to its efficacy against government entities. However, there is a very important caveat to "e2ee"; it cannot be trusted if it's deployed on closed-source software.


Closed-Source Privacy is Trust-Based Privacy

Open-source software has a critical role to play in this fight for privacy. Privacy software that can be publicly audited can be verified not to include any backdoors or workarounds, unlike closed-source alternatives that rely on users’ trust in their privacy claims.

Indeed, it was revealed by the New York Times in 2013 that $250 million USD a year was spent by the NSA on inserting backdoors into commercial and encryption products — and the agency worked directly with tech companies in order to do so. That is why open-source software plays a critical role in this fight for privacy.

Software that can be publicly audited can be verified by experts and contributors around the world not to include any compromising elements or contingencies. True privacy relies, in part, on the soundness of the encryption protocol an app uses, and so, one has to be able to peek into the code to ensure no monkey business or poor implementation goes on.

Of course, even open-source code can fall victim to zero-day exploits and black swan events like we've seen with Heartbleed, but the likeliness of an attack or backdoor being successfully deployed on open-source applications like Signal, for example, is multiple times less likely than on closed-source software that relies exclusively on user trust.


To Hide the Signal You Must Generate Noise

In a perfect world, it should not be up to the individual to bear the burden of protecting their privacy. One's initial inclination might be to expect democratically elected legislative bodies to secure those rights for us. That is, however, utopic and detached from reality. That's because respecting people’s privacy is against the interests of those in power, and they'll fight it up tooth and nail again and again, often in the name of national, societal, or personal security.

For this unfortunate reality, information privacy, especially in an era of informational warfare, ultimately cannot be left to increasingly globalized governmental entities, and especially not for extended periods of time. The interests of power, like nature, will find a way.

Strong, seamlessly integrated encryption and its integration within open-source software will allow us to develop communication structures resistant to the abuses and silencing of mass data gatherers — but only if the product can be trusted, is easy to use, and is open to all, outside of politics.

To hide the signal, you must generate noise!

[nimelo]

The SMSG Network — Enabling Dapps With True Privacy

Learn more about what makes Particl decentralized applications truly special and private!



Particl is a decentralized ecosystem of privacy and liberty focused applications. Its network enables decentralized applications (dapps) and smart contracts in a manner similar to Ethereum, Avalanche, and Solana. Particl, however, presents major differences from those other protocols.

Most “dapp networks” make exclusive use of ‘smart contracts’ — automated programs that run on blockchains and execute actions based on certain conditions. And while smart contracts deployed on blockchains are certainly revolutionary, they can carry certain security risks and technical limitations — notably in terms of scaling and data storage.

Typically, in order to support smart contracts, a blockchain has to be built (or forked) from the ground up, with smart contract functionalities already in mind from the beginning. That’s because smart contract compatible blockchains usually require a VM integration for the smart contract code to execute.

While smart contracts are often touted as the end-all-be-all of what makes dapps possible, there are a few other ways to build and deploy decentralized applications. Such is the case with Particl and its use of the SecureMessaging (SMSG) protocol.

The Issue with “Privacy-Focused dapps” Within the Web3 Community

While a number of other dapp networks claim to offer “smart contracts with privacy”, they usually focus on one or another aspect of what makes a dapp private. Unfortunately, they fail to check all the boxes that would truly set them aside traditional web applications. They either:

    Use traceable payments or traceable forms of currency;
    Leak contract contents publicly to anybody, at any time;
    Leak the IP addresses of their users, compromising the identity and privacy of users;
    Rely on third-party servers/nodes/hosts controlled by large corporations with questionable ethics or intentions;
    Are not entirely non-custodial, making it possible for coins to be lost, stolen, or even seized by central authorities

For a dapp to be considered truly private, or truly decentralized, it should ideally check all of these boxes. Else, they are just glorified “web2” applications trying to exploit users by capitalizing on the web3 hype, but without providing its promised benefits. And we know that is often the case, as we’ve explored before, making it potentially very damaging to a user that expects to be acting in total privacy or in full control of their assets when they are, in fact, not.


Truly Decentralized Apps Done Different

Particl does dapps too, as is quite obvious with the one-of-a-kind Particl Marketplace, but it does so in a way that's completely different than the rest of the dapp networks.

Its blockchain is built using the latest Bitcoin code, which, unlike its Ethereum counterpart, does not support “turing-complete smart contracts”. It does, however, absolutely support smart contracts — just a more rigid and tight version of them. Although already powerful enough to create wonderful applications without intermediary, Bitcoin smart contracts are also expected to expand in utility with the integration of Taproot and the upcoming Taproot-based TARO protocol. Subsequently, PART will adopt these features.

The purpose of Particl’s blockchain within its ecosystem is many:

    Allow users to send, receive, and hold an untraceable currency in a wallet or through its dApps (i.e., Particl Marketplace or the BasicSwap DEX);
    Create and interact with smart contracts;
    Allow for a community governance of its dapps and of the network as a whole

Notably, the privacy-focused Particl blockchain does not take the role of hosting and running the ecosystem’s dapps, and does not manage any data on-chain. That’s because that role is, most often than not, not managed by smart contracts, but instead by a completely separate layer: the SecureMessaging (SMSG) P2P network.


SecureMessaging (SMSG) — A Game Changer for Dapps

The SecureMessaging (SMSG) network is Particl’s secret sauce and what sets it aside from any other “dapp networks”. It is its own custom-built and unique P2P messaging network that stands at the very core of its ecosystem. Inspired by the BitMessage protocol, the SMSG network is a decentralized storage network (DSN) that stores and transfers data across nodes in a privacy-preserving manner, encrypted from end to end (E2EE).

What SMSG does is enable a private and secure data transfer layer for dApps to leverage. Contrary to smart-contracts, which often run through centralized third-party nodes, every user of Particl dapp is a SMSG node, ensuring an optimal level of decentralization but also making active and passive network analysis much more complicated.

As a result, you create complex applications without middlemen and data mining without relying on over-complicated smart-contracts that may leave glaring holes open for attackers to exploit.

SMSG powers Particl dapps, like the Particl Marketplace and the upcoming BasicSwap DEX, but without bloating the blockchain with excessive data and without leaving any permanent record.



SMSG's Network Topology

SMSG occupies several important functions within the current Particl ecosystem:

Data storage and transfer: The network can store almost any type of data and transfer it from one user to another, or to the entirety of the network, in a completely end-to-end encrypted and decentralized manner. The identities of the sender and receiver(s) of that data remain anonymous at any point in time to unauthorized parties and there’s no server involved at any point of the process.

Secure communications: Text, too, is data. The SMSG network allows for two or more parties to communicate with one another through an instant messaging protocol, without relying on any centralized servers. All messages are end-to-end encrypted and can never be decrypted by an unauthorized party.

Execute smart escrow instructions: A critical part of the Particl Marketplace dapp is its unique two-party escrow system which relies on a simplified Bitcoin-style smart contract. Instead of coding several functions and conditions into the smart contract itself, which carries its load of risks and potential vulnerabilities, the Particl smart contract instead listens to instructions received from the SMSG network based on the action of participating users. This simplifies the smart-contract process, which in turn limits vulnerabilities, and offsets the complex interaction with the escrow to the SMSG network. When it comes to smart contracts, simplicity is security.

Host marketplace listing content: Because hosting listing data (i.e., product descriptions and images) directly on-chain can quickly bloat a blockchain and make it incredibly large, the Particl Marketplace dapp relies on SMSG’s private data storage functionality to store and provide that information.

Enable complex DEX with orderbooks: With the help of SMSG and ‘scriptless scripts’, a type of off-chain smart contract, cross-chain DEXs can now exist with complete order book functionalities that don't require central parties to store and process its data. While the atomic swap technology lets two users swap cryptocurrencies with no intermediary, a secondary messaging layer is necessary to carry data between the two chains without the use of wrapped assets or third parties — which is precisely where most of the challenges related to cross-chain DEXs lie.  SMSG takes the role of safely and privately aggregating the information (order details, order prices, user actions, etc.) and communicating between users of two different blockchains, like Particl, Bitcoin, and even Monero.

As we can see, a lot can be accomplished with Particl’s basic smart contracts using the SMSG network. It is what puts the Particl ecosystem in a league of its own and the reason why Particl’s dapps possess a level of privacy and decentralization that is unmatched — there isn't any compromise and they truly check all the boxes mentioned in the section above!

Improving SMSG Beyond its Current Capabilities

As we’ve seen, SMSG is a great P2P network that enables private data storage and processing, secure and encrypted communications, and even anonymous dapps. But it’s also faced with a significant challenge — that of scalability.

Indeed, for all its glory, the SMSG network is limited in terms of scalability and could bottleneck when Particl reaches a large enough level of adoption. While it can support a lot of data and many thousand of messages per day, it could hit its throughput limit should too many people use it at the same time, or if it’s made to support a particularly heavy data load.
SMSG 2.0 — More Scalability and More Functionality

This is the reason why the Particl team plans, as part of its roadmap, a major overhaul of its code, which includes the exciting release of SMSG 2.0. This SMSG update will make Particl’s unique open source P2P network scalable enough to support any level of adoption — a must when building dApps that seek to challenge the status quo!

Additionally, it will not only support data storage and transfer anymore, but also support the hosting and browsing of content on it, similarly to how the Tor network functions. Imagine browsing web pages and using dapps straight from the SMSG network and without connecting to the "clearnet". That's what where we're headed at!

We’ll be covering all the juicy details about SMSG 2.0 and much more information about how it will power the Particl ecosystem moving forward in an upcoming Particl News blog post shortly, so, as always, keep your eyes peeled for future updates coming to Particl News!

Read the full blog post on: https://particl.news/the-smsg-network-enabling-dapps-with-true-privacy/

[nimelo]

Particl Development Progress Report (10-06-2022)



Particl Desktop Progress Report

The week has been spent mostly dealing with getting the marketplace to run in the updated electron version, and we can confirm that this is all completed and sorted by now.

We've also been able to continue with fixing some of the bugs reported, with only one last issue left to fix. This issue relates to disappearing listings on the marketplace. Once it is resolved, we'll then need to do a final set of tests across all the different operating systems, just to check that there are no unexpected surprises for each. This process is going to take a few days, but we expect it to go smoothly.

With that being said, next week will mostly be focused on pushing this whole change out of the door onto new testnet builds.


Particl Core and BasicSwap Progress Report

Core Codebase Maintenance 🛠️
Commits · tecnovert/particl-core
Particl Core integration/staging tree. Contribute to tecnovert/particl-core development by creating an account on GitHub.
tecnovert

We've been keeping up with upstream updates as part of our ever-ongoing effort to maintain Particl Core up-to-date with Bitcoin's latest version. You can always keep track of those changes by following this link.

On top of these usual merges, we've added a minor improvement to the display of cold staking information.


BasicSwap

We're happy to confirm that we've nearly completed an important update to BasicSwap, which allows for the fast syncing of a full Bitcoin node using BTCPayServer's "datadir" file. That means BasicSwap can be configured to quickly sync the Bitcoin blockchain so that you can get started swapping cryptocurrencies in just a few minutes! Keep in mind that Monero can simply connect to a public node, so Monero swappers can get started super fast as well! 🎉

Additionally, we've also almost completed a major change to BasicSwap's behavior that allows for multiple or fractional orders to be picked up to complete one trade. For example, if you wish to swap XMR for a total of 0.15 BTC, but there isn't any order of precisely 0.15 BTC on the order book, this change allows you to either take a fraction of a larger order or multiple smaller orders.

While these two major changes are nearly completed, there are a few DB-related changes that still need to happen before they are fully ready, but that should be completed shortly.

Finally, we've been making additional back-end improvements to the BasicSwap protocol and have been making steady progress to the DEX's user interface as well.

Read the full blogpost on: https://particl.news/particl-development-progress-report-10-06-2022/

[nimelo]

Particl Development Progress Report (17-06-2022)



Another week that ends, another progress report sees the day. This week, we've been finalizing both the testing and bug fixing for the upcoming Particl Desktop 3.2.1 release as well as critically approaching launch-readiness for BasicSwap's open beta phase.

So, without further ado, let's jump right into it!

Particl Desktop Progress Report

This week has been spent mostly troubleshooting and fixing some last remaining issues with the intended Particl Desktop 3.2.1 builds. There have been a couple of little issues discovered during testing, although nothing with a major impact at the moment or that is problematic to fi. Indeed, most of them have already been resolved by now.

Ultimately, the testing of the changes has been going well for now. In fact, it is quite likely to be complete, and for Particl Desktop 3.2.1 builds to be released either later today or over the weekend. Because the scope of the back-end changes significant, notably as it deals with dependencies, these will be testnet builds. We highly recommend everyone in the community to give them a try and see if everything runs smoothly, again largely because of the significance of the changes that have gone into it.


Particl Core and BasicSwap Progress Report

Core Codebase Maintenance 🛠️
Commits · tecnovert/particl-core
https://github.com/tecnovert/particl-core/commits/master
Particl Core integration/staging tree. Contribute to tecnovert/particl-core development by creating an account on GitHub.

We've been keeping up with upstream updates as part of our ever-ongoing effort to maintain Particl Core up-to-date with Bitcoin's latest version. You can always keep track of those changes by following this link.
BasicSwap 📈

This week, we've upgraded the BasicSwap DEX to work using the latest versions of the Litecoin and Monero cores. This has led to the appearance of a lot of minor and obstructing issues, but this has been successfully resolved.

Additionally, the latest feature upgrade mentioned in our previous update, namely the ability to pick multiple or fractions of orders and to quickly sync the Bitcoin blockchain, are now ready and will be merged to the main repository imminently.

As for the DEX's GUI progress, it's been going very well and we're finally nearing its completion. Once that is complete, we'll run one final internal testing round along with the closed beta group and will be ready to release the open beta publicly right after!


Read the full blog post here: https://particl.news/particl-development-progress-report-17-06-2022/

[nimelo]

Particl Development Progress Report (24-06-2022)



✅ Particl Desktop 3.2.1 on testnet
✅ Particl Desktop 3.3 updates
✅ Core maintenance and minor bug fix
✅ BasicSwap progress
✅ Vote to get $PART listed on Qortal's trade portal

The week's coming to an end; a progress report appears. That's how it goes! This week, we've been making progress on all fronts while maintaining the Particl Desktop 3.2.1 testnet round that's currently ongoing and working along the feedback received from the community.

So without further ado, let's jump into the nitty gritty details of this week's development progress!


Particl Desktop Progress Report

Testnet Status
Shortly after the publication of last week's progress report, we released, on testnet, the latest version of Particl Desktop (3.2.1). So far, we have received very few reports of issues from the community. And so, the builds seem to be stable on the various environments that used to be problematic, which means we'll be able to release it on mainnet within the next few days. Should there be any issue with the

Particl Desktop 3.3
Aside from taking care of the current testnet round, most of the rest of the week has been spent digging into the coming changes for Particl Desktop 3.3.

At this time, we're currently working on changing the way Particl Core interacts with Particl Desktop so that it doesn't necessarily automatically starts when the desktop client is launched. That's part of the user configuration-related updates coming to Particl Desktop 3.3.

Indeed, you will have the option to launch Particl Core automatically, and that may be the preferred way for the vast majority of people, but you will also be able to manually start it after the application launches. This will allow you to configure various startup options first, such as having core connect via Tor from the first launch. Or providing more controls for connecting to an already running core service.

Particl Core and BasicSwap Progress Report
https://github.com/tecnovert/particl-core/commits/master
Core Codebase Maintenance
Commits · tecnovert/particl-core
Particl Core integration/staging tree. Contribute to tecnovert/particl-core development by creating an account on GitHub.
tecnovert

We've been keeping up with upstream updates as part of our ever-ongoing effort to maintain Particl Core up-to-date with Bitcoin's latest version. You can always keep track of those changes by following this link.

Minor Core Bug Fix (Edge Case)
https://github.com/tecnovert/particl-core/commit/8a644caea6ec4c6cd95cfbf4d6e7d403ebd83485
wallet: Only mark anon/blind tx outputs as change if wallet owns inputs.

We've pushed a minor commit that fixes an edge case with Particl Core. It changes the code so that outputs will be marked as "change only" if the script they're received on is derived from the internal key chain and the containing transaction spends outputs from the wallet.

Before this fix, the only criteria was that the output script was from the internal key chain, meaning if a transaction was sent from another wallet to an internal key (path m/1/...), the receiving wallet would treat all the outputs as "change" despite not owning any of the inputs to the transaction. And because change outputs are hidden in the output of some RPC functions, the transaction would not show in listtransactions or listsinceblock without a debit entry. It would, however, show in filtertransactions, but without output details.


BasicSwap
This week, we've merged minor BasicSwap DEX improvements and have been working through the process of finalizing the first version of the GUI for the open beta phase before we run a final internal testing round. As always, we've been making steady progress and haven't encountered many obstacles, although there is nothing specific or that stands out to be mentioned. In this case, no news is good news!


Vote to get Particl Listing on Qortal
Qortal Wallet & Trade Portal Supported Coins - Online Poll - https://strawpoll.com/polls/LVyKxQjwbn0
What’s your opinion? Vote now: Namecoin (NMC) should be added to the Trade Portal., Namecoin (NMC) should be added to the Wallet ONLY., Namecoin (NMC) should NOT be added to Qortal....

Particl is currently listed as one of the voting options for a poll the Qortal project is running. If you want to see PART available on their non-custodial wallet or trade portal, then all you need to do is follow this link and vote for Particl! Let's make our voices heard! 📢


Read the full blog post on: https://particl.news/particl-development-progress-report-24-06-2022/

Particl V3.1 is Available now on Mainnet - Download from the official Particl website:  particl.io - Always verify your downloads!

[nimelo]

BasicSwap — The Fully Private Cross-Chain DEX



As we near the major beta release of the long-awaited BasicSwap DEX trading platform, we thought now was a good time to officially present it, its release features, and the path ahead in more detail.

The upcoming release is in open beta and, therefore, still a work in progress. But rest assured: the currently available functionality is already quite impressive and there is a ton to be proud of right out of the gates. Let’s check out what that’s all about!





BasicSwap in a Nutshell

BasicSwap is both a cross-chain and private decentralized exchange (DEX) protocol and a trading app that allows you to swap one cryptocurrency for another without any middleman or third-party being involved. It lets you make or take orders on a distributed order book and execute swaps that are safe, trustless, unrestricted, and private. All of this combined sets BasicSwap apart from the unfathomable number of so-called DEX’s out there, and creates an environment that is totally free of any central point of failure. And best of all: it’s all available without trading fees.

In the coming days, BasicSwap will be released as a powerful and very easy to use DEX client with useful features exclusive to its protocol. It offers a uniquely private and decentralized way to swap several cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Litecoin, but also privacy coins like Monero (XMR) or Particl (PART) with no compromise to your privacy and a heavy focus on ease of use.

Any layer-1 (L1; Bitcoin, Monero, Ethereum, Firo, Particl) blockchain that supports atomic swaps can ultimately be handled by the protocol. Subsequently, if a L1 blockchain with residing layer-2 (L2) tokens is connected to the BasicSwap protocol, their native tokens (i.e., Ethereum’s ERC20 tokens like Chainlink, 0x, or Tether) become supported naturally as well.

A DEX Trading Platform and Protocol at the Same Time

BasicSwap is a DEX trading platform and an open-source trading protocol at the same time. While its open beta phase will be exclusively in the form of a distributed local client, its underlying protocol can be used by any outside contributor to build other DEX platforms with different features or services offered.

This much will become increasingly apparent and useful as we near the beginning of Particl’s upcoming new major development cycle in which the ecosystem will adopt a much more modular and interconnected approach, essentially allowing dApp developers to easily and readily integrate swap or trading functionality into their own dApps or third-party services without having to re-implement these functions from scratch.

Who is it for?

Decentralized exchanges generally come with certain limitations compared to centralized alternatives. But it’s certainly useful for many, and in other cases, a literal life-saver. So why, exactly, should you rather use a decentralized exchange rather than centralized solution and what benefit can BasicSwap give you that others can’t?

This is an enormous update, far too big to post here please check the link below for the full post


Read the full blog post here: https://particl.news/basicswap-the-fully-private-cross-chain-dex/

[nimelo]

Particl Desktop 3.2.2 Live on Mainnet

Particl Desktop 3.2.2 is now available on mainnet and fixes a bug related to listings and order messages not being received properly.



Particl Desktop 3.2.2 is a new desktop client update that fixes a bug with the marketplace where, in some cases, listings and other messages were not being received or processed from Particl Core when the market service was not running.

The desktop client update is already live on mainnet and the patch should fix any issue with missing listings or order messages. 

While this update may seem minor in scope, it fixes an important issue that can significantly impact the user experience (either by not seeing available listings or, in the case of sellers, missing customer orders). For this reason, we strongly recommend updating your desktop client.

Download Particl Desktop 3.2.2 on mainnet: https://github.com/particl/particl-desktop/releases/tag/v3.2.2

Read the full blog post: https://particl.news/particl-desktop-3-2-2-live-on-mainnet/

REMINDER: ALWAYS VERIFY DOWNLOAD LINKS POSTED ON THIS THREAD

[nimelo]

Particl Development Progress Report (01-07-2022)



With the week coming to an end, the time for our weekly development progress report arises! This week has been a busy one with two Particl Desktop releases and the important detailed announcement of BasicSwap, Particl's upcoming private, free, and unrestricted DEX.

So let's not wait any longer and get down to the details right away!

Particl Desktop Progress Report

Desktop Client Updates ✅

This week, we've released two Particl Desktop updates (3.2.1 and 3.2.2). Both of these desktop client updates are intended to fix bugs and improve the overall user improvements with a few tweaks to the desktop client and marketplace dApp.

Notably, Particl Desktop 3.2.2 fixes a particular bug that caused, in some circumstances, listings and orders to not show up on some user's clients due to the market service not being able to receive SMSG messages from Particl Core when offline. This is now resolved.

Because both of these clients fix a lot of issues, we strongly recommend updating your desktop client as soon as you can so that you can benefit from the most up-to-date Particl experience.


Particl Desktop 3.3 🛠️

As the two previously-mentioned Particl Desktop client updates occupied most of this week's time, the work related to Particl Desktop 3.3 mentioned in last week's development progress report is still ongoing.

    We're currently working on changing the way Particl Core interacts with Particl Desktop so that it doesn't necessarily automatically starts when the desktop client is launched. That's part of the user configuration-related updates coming to Particl Desktop 3.3.

    Indeed, you will have the option to launch Particl Core automatically, and that may be the preferred way for the vast majority of people, but you will also be able to manually start it after the application launches. This will allow you to configure various startup options first, such as having core connect via Tor from the first launch. Or providing more controls for connecting to an already running core service. — Quote from last week's progress report

Particl Core and BasicSwap Progress Report

Core Codebase Maintenance 🛠️
Commits · tecnovert/particl-core
Particl Core integration/staging tree. Contribute to tecnovert/particl-core development by creating an account on GitHub.
tecnovert

We've been keeping up with upstream updates as part of our ever-ongoing effort to maintain Particl Core up-to-date with Bitcoin's latest version. You can always keep track of those changes by following this link.
BasicSwap 📈

As we find ourselves in the final phase of BasicSwap's closed beta, we are preparing the ground for the open beta release.

As such, we've published an in-depth presentation of what BasicSwap is, what makes it unique, what benefits you can draw from it, and how it's going to foster a more private, free, and open financial system with no central point of failure. Yes, we know this is a bold claim, but we completely own it and will let BasicSwap speak for itself when it goes live. Stay tuned for more BasicSwap updates coming very soon to Particl News.
BasicSwap — The Fully Private Cross-Chain DEX
Match and settle cryptocurrency trades in a trustless setup without any central point of failure or fee.
cryptoguard

Aside from this announcement, we've been running various tests and minor updates to BasicSwap, which will keep on going up until the release point.

As for the DEX's GUI, all of the independent modules and pages are now completed and we're in the final process of stitching everything together. This is the last remaining part before we can start the last round of internal testing, and we'll then be able to release the open beta publicly.

Update on Marketplace Listing Fees

Back in February, we proposed a hardfork that was accepted by stakers. This added Taproot functionality into the Particl blockchain, but also fixed a bug with the dynamic marketplace listing fee functionality.

Since then, stakers have signaled to the network that they wanted lower SMSG fees, effectively massively reducing marketplace listing fees. We wanted to take the opportunity, this week, to update you on what the current figures are.

When Particl hardforked in February, the SMSG fee rate was standing at 20767. After a few months of signaling, it now stands at a mind-blowing 37!

For reference, we've polled a seller with ~300 listings on the marketplace and they've stated that, in the past 30 days, they've only paid ~2.77 PART in listing fees for the totality of their listings, listed every day.

Without applying any conclusion to the numbers above, we felt necessary to update the community on the current figures so that it can decide whether the fees should keep going down, stay as is, or be raised. As a reminder, this blog post explains, in detail, how to signal your fee preference as a staker.
Adjusting Marketplace Listing Fees
Adjust the Particl Marketplace listing fees using your staking power.
cryptoguard

If anything, this shows that the bug fix back in February was successful and that the community can now effectively and promptly adapt listing fees to any situation, preference, or need. This is a great news for the future of the platform and the network's commitment to decentralized governance!

Read the full blog post: https://particl.news/particl-development-progress-report-01-07-2022/

[nimelo]

Unhosted Wallets and the Fight Against Out-of-Touch Policies

Recent European Parliament developments on “unhosted wallets” regulation highlight the growing need for the uncompromising decentralization of asset custody and exchange.



Recent European Parliament developments on “unhosted wallets” regulation, passed under the guise of legislation against money laundering and terrorism financing, highlight the growing need for the uncompromising decentralization of asset custody and exchange in the cryptocurrency world.

Regular users, heavily targeted by the ruling, saw many of their freedoms treated as contingencies by the European regulatory body — once again demonstrating to those affected that they must carve their own path.

MiCA & TFR: Dinosaurs’ Attempt to Rule the Web
Crypto assets: deal on new rules to stop illicit flows in the EU | News | European Parliament
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20220627IPR33919/crypto-assets-deal-on-new-rules-to-stop-illicit-flows-in-the-eu
Transfers of crypto-assets will be traced and identified to prevent money laundering, terrorist financing, and other crimes, says the new legislation agreed on Wednesday.

The European parliament passed this week new wide-ranging regulations touching several aspects of the cryptocurrency ecosystem. The texts, dubbed MiCA (markets in Crypto Assets) and TFR (Transfer of Funds), aim to “ensure crypto-assets can be traced in the same way as traditional money transfers”. Moreover, they will stand for every country in the union, without the possibility for individual nations to hold a contradictory framework for regulating the target entities.

While notably introducing rigid rules for creating and maintaining stablecoins, MiCA also establishes a regulatory entity similar to the DASP, or Digital Asset Service Provider licensing authority. ‘Over-collateralized’ stablecoins, even those with a proven track record such as Dai, fall on the wrong end of this supranational ruling; only stablecoins with proven and audited 1:1 fiat reserves held by licensed third-party custodians will benefit from compliance with the new law. Decentralized finance and DAOs are not addressed in the ruling, leaving some question marks as to their current and future legal status in Europe, but it's easy to see where this is going in a longer timeframe.

An attempt was also made to further oversee what EU regulators creatively dubbed “un-hosted wallets” — wallets to which the user itself owns the private keys. While miraculously stopping short of legislating transfers between individual private wallets, this new regulation will impose KYC requirements on transfers between a cryptocurrency exchange and personal wallets for amounts going above 1000 euros.

This partial inclusion entails that Europe will require the ability to verify whether this “un-hosted wallet” is effectively owned or controlled by users residing within the union; all exchange platforms and individual wallet owners will need to be identifiable and subject to scrutiny in order to abide by the ruling.

Although Germany’s intervention ultimately derailed the more pernicious aspects of this attack on true asset ownership and privacy, the rhetoric around this in extremis last-hour reversal of only some of the most extreme aspects of the law reinforces all we need to know about the regulatory bodies trying to dictate what the future of money will be.
Uncompromising Privacy, Self-Custody, and Decentralization

People familiar with cryptography will understand that these frameworks will do next to nothing to curtail money laundering and terrorist funding — it is, instead, a textbook manifestation of regulators’ constant need to justify their legislative powers. These rulings, while unsurprising, highlight the growing need for an uncompromising decentralization not only of asset custody but also of standard trading exchange environments within the cryptocurrency world.

Liberating Society From Out-of-Touch Dinosaurs

Central to Particl’s vision is enabling a truly private, decentralized, and free (as in freedom) circular economy where you can freely participate without national and supra-national entities forcing their invasive and restrictive policies on you.

This paradigm shift requires a technological revolution that puts you, not corporations or special interest groups, at the very center and allows you to live completely "outside of the system" and of their reach.

Such an environment inevitably involves the moving and trading of assets — a role our upcoming and open-source BasicSwap decentralized exchange helps fulfill. It also involves complex activities such as commerce, a critical economic activity sector being liberated by Particl’s fully decentralized marketplace. But there's also information and its capacity to flow freely and safely between people without friction or middlemen with no room for identifiable data or central authorities. That's where a distributed, server-less messaging system, where all messages are encrypted by default before being uploaded to the network, gets all the spotlight.

Total privacy, distributed services, and strong encryption are, once again, pushed to the forefront. These solutions, when used to their full potential, offer nothing but a complete technological revolution against the backward ideologies and interests of nearly all national and supranational legislative bodies around the globe.

Because on their turf, the fight is never over — only battles are won, one at a time.


Read the full blog post: https://particl.news/unhosted-wallets-and-the-fight-against-out-of-touch-policies/

[nimelo]

Particl Development Progress Report (15-07-2022)

Get up to speed with all the most recent Particl developments!



Read the full report here: https://particl.news/particl-development-progress-report-15-07-2022/