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March 26, 2020

What’s Happening so Far in 2020

From a workplace point of view, even being housed in a decommissioned nuclear bunker couldn’t keep COVID-19 from imposing its will. Joining the ranks of our mobile workforce, the rest of the PBSA staff has been working from home for the past couple weeks and will continue to do so as the coronavirus keeps much of the world’s workforce remote.

We hope all of you are keeping safe and respecting the social distancing recommendations as much as possible. When this is all over and life gets back to the closest version of normal possible, we hope to see some of you in person again at conferences, events, and other meetups!

In the meantime, and in case you missed it as it was happening, here’s a glimpse into what’s been happening on the Peerplays blockchain recently. Needless to say we’ve had a busy 2020 so far, and there’s no sign of slowing down any time soon!

Stay safe out there!

Gamified Proof of Stake

A blockchain evolution in the truest sense, the Peerplays blockchain recently underwent the transition from Delegated Proof of Stake (DPOS) to Gamified Proof of Stake (GPOS). The impetus of the move was to get more PPY token holders involved and active within the Peerplays ecosystem.

With the change in consensus protocol comes a change in how rewards are earned on the Peerplays blockchain. Only holders of vesting PPY tokens will receive a ‘participation reward’ by securing the blockchain and its governance through voting on the operations of the blockchain.

This may include items such as witnesses, advisors, proxies, Peerplays proposals, or other features that require decentralized stakeholder approval.

PPY token holders will be able to vest or “stake” their tokens, and only be eligible to vote through their vested balance after a predefined period (proxy voting will still be allowed).

Active voting in governance of the blockchain will be necessary in order to receive participation rewards. When a user participates in voting activity within the distribution period (typically 30 days), their staking time will be set to 100%.

However, with each interval of participation rewards that are paid out, there will be a staged linear decay to their voting power - and thus their reward - over a predefined period which can be voted on by the PPY token holders via the Advisors.

To understand GPOS fully, we recommend reading the full Peerplays Improvement Proposal here.

StreamersEdge Moves to Controlled Beta

The Twitch engagement tool that allows Streamers to create Challenges for themselves has launched in a controlled beta setting. Real streamers are using the app today, engaging with viewers in brand new ways.

Here’s how it works:

The streamer sets a challenge. “At 3pm I am going to play a game of PUBG… and I am going to win it!”

From that point forward, viewers will make conditional donations in favor of the challenge, an added incentive for the Streamer to actually win.

Any donations they make through StreamersEdge are held in a pot. If the Streamer completes the challenge and wins the game - the entire pot goes to the Streamer.

If they fail - even if they come in second place, a valiant effort in any other case - all the money goes back to the viewers!

It’s an exciting twist on how streamers typically engage and monetize their broadcast.

Public launch will follow soon!

Sidechain Operator Nodes

After years of research and development, PBSA has released Sidechain Operator Nodes (SONs) to the Peerplays blockchain Testnet.

The first Cross-Chain Consensus Protocol enables Sidechain Operator Nodes to allow movement of assets from different blockchains through the Peerplays blockchain ecosystem via their Gamified Proof of Stake consensus mechanism.

SONs are elected by Peerplays’ PPY token holders to act as oracles to multiple blockchains. Their only function is to run the software which operates the protocol that handles the assets transfer to and from the Peerplays blockchain.

The SONs, by design, are a trustless, decentralized, multi-node solution. When launched, support will focus on Bitcoin. Later versions will include other popular blockchains like Ethereum, EOS, and Hive, for example.

YOU, the Reader, can take part!

We are challenging developers and blockchain enthusiasts to join us in trying to break our sidechain!

No amount of internal QA and testing can mimic the power of community, and we encourage everyone who’s interested in this revolution to spin up a node, and be the first to break it.

SONs are currently in testnet on the Peerplays blockchain, which makes now the perfect time for anyone to get started as a node operator.

We will provide more specific information on how you can attempt to break the sidechain in the very near future.

Sidechain Operator Nodes solve the problem of moving Bitcoin within the Peerplays ecosystem in a decentralized manner. Ideally, there will be a minimum of 15 operators, but it’s up to PPY voters to decide how many SONs should be operated.

In the meantime, you can read the full Peerplays Improvement Proposal here.

Avalon Meta

Earlier this year, PBSA announced a contribution towards an investment round in Avalon Meta, the Indian startup combining higher education and competitive gaming.

PBSA President and Peerplays Founder Jonathan Baha’i had this to say about it:

“Working with Avalon Meta was a no-brainer for us. We immediately recognized the truly visionary approach Avalon was taking to disrupt education through gaming, all of it powered by the Peerplays blockchain."

"It’s exciting to join them on the forefront to help better educate this generation and those that follow while having fun. Just wish this was around when I grew up!”

Read our original announcement here.

--
The PBSA Team