ArcBlock Community Technical Q&A 9/19/2018

On September 19th, the thirteenth ArcBlock Community Technical Q&A took place in the Telegram group. The conversation between CEO Robert Mao and ArcBlock’s community members is as follows:

Q：Have you decided the consensus protocol? Is it Algorand?

As you might know, Algorand published their white papers without the details of the random generator algorithm (which is critical to Algorand as a whole), and they have started their own company to implement these details. Therefore, it is unlikely we will be able to use Algorand directly. We might end up implementing our own algorithm.

Q: When to launch the testnet? If you do not launch the testnet this quarter, how will you be able to launch the mainnet in Q4?

We are on schedule, and will announce details later. Please keep in mind, ArcBlock is an application platform, not a traditional public chain. Consensus algorithm isn't a critical part of ArcBlock’s development.

Q：Robert, any news about the giftcard app?

We haven't forgotten about it. For the time being, our focus has shifted to the development of our hackathon events.

Q：Any new partners joining the ArcBlock team lately?

We will announce that news when we are ready.

Q：Any news about a test chain or mainnet?

Our plan is to first release an API service for our programmable token (ABT), and OCAP will be the only programmable interface for our ABT chain. From the external side, you will see a new set of capabilities in OCAP.

Q：Does the chain test speed result match your target?

We have not yet reached our performance target, but we’re working on it. We have decided we will focus on implementation, then worry about performance later. Since our design is relatively simple, I am optimistic about reaching our goal speed.